During my recent trip to Thailand we stayed in a very remote area situated closely to the border with Burma. With many people illegally crossing the border into Thailand, these immigrants were not recognised as Thai citizens and lacked basic rights.

The children we met while here often had left their families behind in order to access education and hopefully escape the depravation they were subjected to. However, conditions are very basic and without their parents, daily life is very hard. Witnessing the brutal reality for these people opened my eyes to how lucky we are to have things we take for granted, such as running water and electricity.

Not only was I thrilled to be given the opportunity to experience life as a local but they to were appreciative that we had come to help them and were eager to learn about our culture. When I first arrived to discover the hole in the ground that was to become our toilet, the bucket with murky water which was our shower and the mat on the floor which was our bed for five weeks, I couldn’t help but question what I had let myself in for.

However, by the end of the project I was actually sad to leave such a simple way of life, one where technology was not the centre of everyone’s daily routine but instead pulling together as a community is the key to happiness. Seeing the smiles on the faces of the children just because we had spent time with them was extremely rewarding and I hope I made a difference to their lives, as much as they made a difference to mine.

Chloe Stuart (Graduate 2013)