GVI

Phang Nga Achievement Report

November 2015

GVI Healthcare (Community Projects): Supporting local children and young adults who
have physical and learning disabilities.

United Nations Millennium Development Goal: 8. Global Partnership for Development

Summary

GVI Phang Nga has a very strong partnership with the Camillian Social Centre, Takuapa. It is
the main focus for volunteers who come for the Healthcare program, which is one of the 2
programs offered under our Community projects banner (the other is Teaching Children).
Our Healthcare Volunteers spend time engaging with the children and young adults at the
centre who have learning and physical disabilities.
This month, the report will include information on how our partnership continues to be
strong and make a difference in the lives of the children and how we have introduced
language therapy at the Social Centre enabling these children more opportunities and
resources to be able to communicate their needs.

Report

The Camillian Social Centre provides children with day care/respite, physical therapy and
opportunities for social engagement and development, their services are provided free of
charge and without any discrimination of race or religion.
The Camillian Social Centre is the only organisation of its kind in far southern Thailand, with
2 larger sister centres in Rayong and Chiang Rai.
They support children and youth who are living with disabilities, most commonly Autism,
Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and physical disabilities.

Healthcare Volunteers spend approximately 9 hours per week at the Camillian Social Centre
with the aim to enhance the emotional, social, psychological and physical functioning of the
children and general wellbeing through structured arts and crafts activities as well as
through play.
This is achieved through a routine of
Arriving at the centre and greeting all of the Children
Doing stretches with the Children (during this time one of the older Children receives
a one on one English lesson which is tailored to his interests).
Introduction of the weeks topic with flashcards and floor games
Lunch
Relax/Sofa time
Physical Group Games
Craft (related the weeks topic)
Farewelling all of the children

Something we had been noticing was the difficulty we were having communicating with
some of the children due to their disabilities and we also noticed these children were
seeming to become frustrated as they wanted to communicate with us.

One of our former Field staff members, Sharne Lucas is a qualified speech therapist and
before she finished up in her role here 5 weeks ago she put together a visual
communication book for one the children as well as a communication board for all children.
She also put together an emotions board.

The communication book is made for a particular child who cannot speak at all, she usually
grunts and points in order to have her needs met. Her book includes photos of the different
rooms and equipment in the centre as well as her individual belongings and the other
children. She is able to point to the photos to assist her in communicating her wants and
needs to us.

The Communication board is an A4 sized sheet with small pictures of basic communication
needs like me, you us and I like, dont like, stop and go. There are about 24 different
pictures and pointing to these as you speak to the children can really assist their
understanding in what you are saying to them. We also encourage them to use it as they
communicate to us.

The emotions book is a variety of pictures displaying pictures of faces with different
emotions. The children love saying the different emotions and have now developed a good
understanding of their meanings. They can point to these pictures to tell us how they are
feeling or to ask us how we are feeling.

We also started implementing a Daily board this Month, this is a whiteboard where we go
over what our day is going to look like. We now start everyday by going through this, it
includes the day of the week, the weather and pictures of the things we do during the day
and the children have to put them in order. This has been so well received by the children
and we now make sure we start every day with it.

Lastly we have put together language therapy training for Healthcare Volunteers to undergo
when they arrive. This is to assist them to understand the different resources we have put
together to use at the Camillian Social Centre and teach them how to use them effectively.

Something else we have been able to assist the Camillian Social Centre with this Month is
their charity bike ride. This is an annual event held to raise funds for the Centre.
GVI Phang Nga has shown a great deal of support for this event and this year is its 3rd year
running.

In the lead up to the event staff assisted Somchai, who runs the centre in sending emails,
proof reading flyers and posters for the event. As well as helping with getting promotional
photographs for the event.

Staff members Deb Simpson and Talia Gale participated in the bike ride and were able to
raise over 13,000 baht together.

Staff members Carlee Vandenberg and Kelsie Hamilton also supported the event by bringing
some of the volunteers along and engaging with the children while the staff were busy with
the event which saw over 250 people race 25kms from Khao Lak to the Camillian Social
Centre were a lunch was put on by many of the local hotels who sponsor the centre.

It was a fantastic event that GVI Phang Nga is proud to support and hope to continue to do
so in the coming years.

You can get firsthand experience in this project, or read more about the amazing work our
volunteers are doing within the local community by visiting our website. Please like our
Facebook page, check out our blog and follow us on twitter for the latest information
straight from the field.

Healthcare Volunteers introducing the Daily Board and emotions book to the Children at
Camillian Social Centre

We use the communication boards at craft time so the children can use them to tell us what
they need from us

Promotional Photos of Camillian Children and Staff with GVI Volunteers and Staff for the
Annual Ride for Children Charity Fundraiser

Staff members Carlee, Deb, Talia and Kelsie and Volunteer Sophie at the starting point of
the race.

Starting point of the race, Police Boat in Khao Lak. Deb and Talia ready to race!