Volunteer in Thailand either in our school or day care center will have a direct and lasting impact on our children and students’ lives. Join us!
We have two volunteer positions available:
- Volunteer English Teacher
- Day Care Assistant
Volunteer in Thailand with us and you will have memories that will last a lifetime. We want enthusiastic volunteers to come and get involved. This is not a 9 – 5 Monday to Friday job, nor is it a place where volunteers turn up for two weeks, take some photos with some children in the morning then chill out on the beach in the afternoon.
Here, volunteers come and have a lasting impact on the lives of our students and children, volunteers do make a difference!
Volunteer in Thailand – English Teacher
Volunteer Teachers work across all of our projects. A volunteer could be teaching English at the Technological College for People with Disabilities, then playing some English games at our School for Children with Special Needs.
In the afternoon go to School for the Blind and take children for a walk on the beach, then on Saturdays go to our Children’s Village where the kids will run a riot for two hours. Most volunteers teach English in our schools and our college.
Volunteer in Thailand – Day Care Assistant
We also aim to have at least one volunteer in our Day Care Center. Volunteers will work full-time at the Father Ray Day Care Center where they will work alongside the local Thai staff caring for and educating some of the poorest toddlers in Pattaya. Each morning 60-80 toddlers arrive to spend their day in a safe environment and we need help at meal times, in the classrooms, in bathrooms, and play time.
Volunteers work in the Day Care Center every Tuesday to Saturday. Volunteers work alongside the Thai staff as if they are full-time members of staff, carrying out some of the same responsibilities as the full-time staff.
On Monday afternoons, volunteers will travel across town to the School for the Blind. Volunteers arrange activities, play games, go swimming, and take kids to the beach. Here we just want to make these lives brighter. Students are aged from kindergarten age, up the to early twenties. The highlight for many of the volunteers (and children!) is when we take the children to a local water park on some Sundays at the end of term, a highlight of the year/term for the children!
We have other volunteers working at the Foundation, teaching in our Technological College for People with Disabilities, our School for Children with Special Needs, and our School for the Blind.
All volunteers have slightly different schedules depending on the projects they support. Whilst in the Day Care Center, volunteers are sometimes the only volunteer supporting that project, the volunteers all live together. All volunteers support our evening social club on two evenings per week and our weekly swimming sessions twice a week at our college for adults with disabilities.
Tasks & Roles
All volunteers work roughly 5 and a half days per week over a six-day schedule. On occasion, volunteers also help with various events including fundraising events and helping to take children to a local water park on Sundays.
Most volunteers will teach English at our Technological College for People with Disabilities and our School for Children with Special Needs in the morning, then teach one hour at the School for the Blind. Volunteers also use their mornings and time throughout their day to prepare for their lessons. To have a really good lesson takes a certain amount of planning.
In the afternoons, volunteers spend time with the younger children at the School for the Blind, this includes time in our activity room for children who are blind and have other disabilities, as well as swimming, and trips to the beach. Volunteers then teach English to visually impaired students in Grades 1 to 9. Some volunteers will support other projects, this depends on the needs of the projects each term.
One or two volunteers work in our Day Care Center. A Day Care assistant becomes a full-time volunteer working alongside Thai staff within Day Care. Duties include helping to care for the children, helping to prepare meals and snacks, teaching them basic English, helping with the running of the Day Care Center, and most importantly, playing with the children! Volunteers in our Day Care Center spend most of their time working in Day Care, but also support other volunteers.
All volunteers are required to help with our Speaking English Club at the Technological College for People with Disabilities, which is one hour long, 2 evenings per week. This is an informal club to encourage students to speak English. This is a social and fun activity where students play games, do activities, and learn English. Volunteers also help students go swimming on Mondays and Fridays between 5 pm & 6 pm. Some students may only require assistance getting in or out of the pool, others require assistance swimming, and some come to the pool only to socialize.
Living
Volunteers have been supporting the Father Ray Foundation for 45 years. Unfortunately, the Father Ray Foundation is no longer able to provide accommodation and the meals as previously supplied. Volunteers get their accommodation, volunteers pay around 3000 Baht per month for a simple single bedroom without any air-conditioning, which covers water and electricity. Meals cost as little as 40 Baht per meal.
Pattaya is around 90 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok’s main international airport. Pattaya is a resort city on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Bangkok.
The main site of the Father Ray Foundation, where the accommodation is located, is in the center of Pattaya, 2.5 kilometers from the beach. The foundation is well located for transport links within the city.
Volunteers will be picked up from Bangkok’s main airport. We recommend that when travelling that you have your own travel insurance cover in place.
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