Volunteers and NGOs: who are they?

During these last years, in Italy especially due to the longlasting migrant crisis, there has been great discussion around volounteering organizations and other kind of organizations such as the NGOs. The debate certainly did not help the reputation of these organizations and the output of it is that there is a widespread lack of trust in them and in their members increasing suspicion and wariness.

In some cases, this has arrived to trigger open hostility towards this world. An example of this is the case of Silvia Romano, an Italian volounteer in Kenya that, after being kidnapped, has received loads of negative comments and insults on the web. Continue reading “Volunteers and NGOs: who are they?”

La vita nella casa-famiglia di Take Care Kids a Pattaya, Thailandia

Abbiamo parlato della Thailandia e di Take Care Kids con il suo fondatore (qui il link), ma in questa avventura Giorgio non è solo,

con lui ci sono infatti anche volontari sia thai che italiani. Tra questi c’è anche Laura con cui ho parlato di volontariato (qui il link) e ne ho approfittato per farle domande per capire come si svolge in concreto la vita di un’associazione come Take Care Kids e quella dei volontari che collaborano nella casa-famiglia. Continue reading “La vita nella casa-famiglia di Take Care Kids a Pattaya, Thailandia”

Prendersi cura dei bambini nelle baracche di Pattaya, Thailandia: la Take Care Kids Foundation

“Quando uno viene a fare un’esperienza di lavoro in Thailandia, per quanto lunga essa sia, vede poco o niente della Thailandia”, sono queste le prime parole che mi dice Giorgio al telefono dopo che mi sono presentato a lui dicendogli di avere vissuto lì per un periodo. Il suo tono non fa trasparire nessun sentimento di supposta superiorità, è piuttosto quello di uno che ha la consapevolezza di saperla lunga ma non tutta perché sa anche che c’è ancora molto da scoprire.  Continue reading “Prendersi cura dei bambini nelle baracche di Pattaya, Thailandia: la Take Care Kids Foundation”

The Take Care Kids Foundation in the slums of Pattaya, Thailand

“When one comes to work in Thailand, never mind how long it last, he will see very little or nothing at all of Thailand” these are the first words Giorgio tells me on the phone, straight after I introduced myself saying I have been living there for a while. In his tone there is no haughtiness but the awareness that he knows much but not all about it because there is still much to discover. This is his starting point, his knowledge is not based on the amount of years he spent there, still appreciable considering he lives in Thailand since 2003 (and his first time in the country has been in 1996), but on the fact he passed all these years digging in the mud in the seek for reality. Continue reading “The Take Care Kids Foundation in the slums of Pattaya, Thailand”

The life at the group home of Take Care Kids Pattaya, Thailand

We already talked about Thailand and Take Care Kids with its founder (here the link), but in this adventure Giorgio is not alone, with him are also the volounteers both thai and italian. Among these there is Laura, with whom I talked of volounteering (here the link) and took the chance to ask her questions and understand how is in concrete the daily life of an association like Take Care Kids and the one of its volounteers cooperating in the group home. Continue reading “The life at the group home of Take Care Kids Pattaya, Thailand”