CapitaLand Hope Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Asian property giant, CapitaLand, has funded World Vision Singapore with another S$72,900 to continue its sponsorship of 135 needy children and their communities from Bo Kluea, Thailand.

CapitaLand employees went a step further in May 2008 on an overseas community work trip with World Vision Singapore to build a dormitory for over 190 children in the mountainous areas of Bo Kluea, Thailand.

Here is an account of their trip:

The CapitaLand team was made up of 11 staff from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India and China. They spent five days at mountainous Bo Kluea in northern Thailand to help complete a school dormitory that was sponsored by CapitaLand Hope Foundation. 

Although the volunteers hardly knew one another, they were quick to form teams and pick up tools to start work at the site in Baan Sawa School. All of them were determined to sweat it out for underprivileged students who were eager to move into the dormitory. Without a dormitory, these children would have to walk an average of 8 km (one way) just to go to school.

As the Foundation is also sponsoring 135 needy children in Bo Kluea, a special session was arranged for the staff volunteers to meet with these sponsored children where they had lunch and presented the children with little gifts. The volunteers also visited a few families of the sponsored children. It was an eye-opener to see that they were living in run-down wooden huts and side by side with chickens, pigs and cows.

After almost a week of manual work, the colourful dormitory was proudly handed over to the Baan Sawa School’s principal and students. With a great sense of achievement, our volunteers waved goodbye to the school. Many vowed to return one day to help the children again.

Here are what two CapitaLand volunteers had to say:

Natasha Soni, CapitaLand Retail, India "It sure was one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I am pleased that CapitaLand gives such opportunities to its employees wherein you can actually go and work for the needy people and kids. It has certainly made a big difference in my life. Now I appreciate my life more after seeing how the kids had to travel for hours to reach their schools. I also got to see the interiors of some of the villagers’ homes and how they live. It was sad to see that God has given so little to some and so much to some other people. I learnt a lot from the kids I spent time with and from the villagers. Apart from the village people, I met 10 wonderful people from my own organisation and learnt a lot from each of them in one way or another. I made some very good friends. This was my first time in Thailand so obviously it gave me a chance to learn about a new culture. As the dormitory construction was almost complete when we reached, we just had to do the final touch up. This gave us more time to spend with the school kids and play games and interact with them. Overall it was one of those experiences in my life which I would never forget – a very satisfying one." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Somyot Baibong, The Ascott Group, Thailand "I'm very glad for the chance to take part in the volunteer expedition to Bo Kluea.  I had wanted to help the locals when I first signed up. But at the end of the day, I found that I have gained a lot of valuable experiences.  I saw how hard their lives were and how difficult it is for the students to go to school.  I will not hesitate to volunteer again if there is another chance to.  Thank you for giving me this opportunity, which has been an indescribable experience.”