Corporate social responsibility program with Mitrapap 70 school
Updated: Jan 22, 2019
48 meeting delegates from China visit Mitrapap 80 school and engage in meaningful and philanthropic renovation activities.
Delegates met at the lobby of Oriental Hotel at 07.30 a.m., ready to be part of this CSR adventure. A double-decker bus is organized to take the group from downtown Bangkok to Amphawa, 90 km South of Bangkok. The journey took 90 minutes and the group was taken care of well by Yui, the young and enthusiastic tour guide. Local snack and drinks were served inside the bus.
Arrival at the school
Arriving at Mitrapap 70 school, delegates were received by a concert played by the students with bamboo instruments. Delegates were overwhelmed by the hospitality and courteousness of the teachers and the children. The group met under the large Sala for an introduction speak by Apple, Beunite’s lead facilitator.
First activity – Brainstorming children’s games.
The first CSR activity of the day was brainstorming children’s games. 48 delegates were split into 4 teams and each team were had to come up with an idea of how to turn the old, washed out children’s game that was painted on the school yard into a new, shine, attractive and funny game. Here, teams had a chance to be creative and to work in teams. Some teams tested their idea and the students who were standing around watching joined in enthusiastically. Each team came up with some great ideas, team “red” for instance, suggested to game “Dragon Head”, whereby kids had to line up holding each other’s shoulders and the head of the snack had to catch the tail of another snake. This game was hilariously funny and the kids of course unanimously voted for the red team.
Yellow team, in contrast suggested a game made of a grid with different numbers whereby kids must stand on the side tossing in a stone, or an empty coconut shell and the person who is hitting the highest number is the winning team.
Team blue suggested an activity that can be played with four teams. Each team consists of about 5 pepole, standing in a line. One person chases another and the person that is running away can stand in front of any other team’s line and the person on the back of that line must continue running, and so forth.
In the end, team yellow won the competition and could implement their game by drawing it onto the school yard.
Second CSR activity – Gardening and painting children’s games
All teams except team yellow proceeded with the gardening activity. More than 1,000 flowers in pots were on their disposal. Teams brainstormed first, then sketched and finally planted their own flower garden. Team green, for example, was ingeniously creative and planted the flowers in the form of their Logo, a large Z and a large F, standing for Zung Fu.
Lunch at Lumpawa Ampawa Resort
At 12.15 the teams proceeded for lunch at Ampawa Lumpawa Resort.
Sumptuous local food was served on a exquisitely decorated buffet line. The menu was as follows:
1. Fried Rice with egg
2. Red curry with chicken and coconut shoot.
3. Chicken coconut milk soup with banana blossom.
4. Stir-fried mixed vegetable
5. Deep fried fish cake
6. Papaya salad Thai style with crab.
7. Spicy shrimp paste and fresh vegetable
8. Mixed fruits
9. Drinking water
Third CSR activity - Painting the classrooms
After lunch, in the early afternoon the task was to paint the classroom. It was 8 years ago, when the classroom was touched up the last time and the wall was terribly washed out. High time for an enthusiastic CSR group to bring it into shape. Prior to the event day, the students of each class could choose their preferred color and some classes chose cream, some blue and some red. Painting took about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
After the painting, it was snack-time and break and during the break ZV China executive were eager to give some gifts to the students. The kids had to line up behind a giant cookie jar waiting to receive their gift. They smiled and did the typical Thai wai when they received their presents. Fresh coconut ice cream was served before the agenda continues.
Forth CSR activity – Playing children’s games.
The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the games we played with the students. A colorfully designed grid that was painted by the yellow team awaited the kids and everybody was eager to try out the game. Yellow team had the first go and explained the game to the children. Each team had to stand on one side of the square and one player stepped forward to toss a coconut shell onto the grid. On each square there was a number painted on. Depending on the square (number) the shell came to a halt, that number was added to the team’s score. I.e. when team A hit the large 10 in the middle, 10 points were added onto their score. This game was played by teams taking turns, until each child had a chance to toss the shell.
Team red and blue also played their games with the kids which as even funnier. Team red played the dragon head game in which each team were standing in line and the head of the line (head) must catch the tail of another line (snake). Students were running, jumping, screaming and laughing. This added momentum to the day and was a fantastic wrap up of the day.
At 15:30 it was time to depart but not before a final group picture and handing out of certificates. Beunite handed over 10,000 Baht donation to the school and received standing ovation by the teachers. Everybody was happy and it was a fantastic ending of a delightful CSR day.
The group departed by bus and stopped at Amphawa Floating Market before heading back to Bangkok.
