Art and Creation

Just a few hours after getting home from Hong Kong training I was on our way again with our team which made a 10 hour journey to southern Thailand for a chance to visit a couple public schools and a church to teach children about art and creation. We were joined by the Thai artist Paiboon aka Khruu Bum. This gave us a a chance to further develop relationships with the schools and local church there. The days activities included songs and games led by La and Waen. Khruu Bum would then lead a session which introduced techniques for teaching the kids how to make landscapes based on things in their environment like the trees, mountains, animals etc. It was really a lot of fun as he incorporated music, games and drawing caricatures to get the students motivated and involved in learning. Once he introduced the techniques for drawing the pictures and coloring them, Sarah read the story of Creation from the Bible and introduced new English words for them to learn from the story. By then the morning was gone and it was time for lunch. In the afternoon after more games and songs, I followed up the creation story by trying to relate it to art and how God used 6 days to complete His creation and how he created this world for us to live in and flourish, and how everywhere you look around you, you can see His creation in our surroundings and the lives of the people next to us. It was a start at least.

The rest of the afternoons was completing the art, having it judged, singing songs and camp evaluations. The weather was so hot, we were glad by the time 4pm rolled around.

Each place was uniquely different when we visited. The first school principle was really laid back on time, and wasn't overly concerned about anything. He was very sociable and very Thai, so it was relaxing being around him and working with him. The teachers did a great job of helping and organizing the kids and everything seemed to go really smooth.

At the second school, we arrived and all the kids were in the woods (literally) under a tent where a monk had been reading prayers with them and lots of incense was burning next to an altar under the tent. That kind of threw me off, and I wondered if this was where we were supposed to be reading from the bible! Thankfully they moved us, but coming out of that darkness meant more to me than just the literal sense. It was like we were invading their homes as many of the monks had huts scattered around. The principle there was kind of anxious too it seemed, and was pacing up and down the rows of students and watching everything we did with an eagle eye, but they said that they really appreciated us coming and welcomed us warmly and even sent us with a bunch of food! That was really nice of them.

At the church, we had kids of all ages running around. Some of them got the art concept, others just had a great time scribbling and running in circles, playing games, or even one kid drank like 6 cups of red soda!! They are always so welcoming to us at that church that if feels great whenever I visit.

On Sunday, we went to church and made our way back to Bangkok with Pastor Suchart's wife in tow. For the rest of the pictures from this trip click here!