The day I discovered I'm worse at art than a six year old

We began our first ‘work’ day at Moo Baan Dek with an orientation talk in the school assembly room with the vice principal. Enlightening as it was, our attention was firmly fixed on the progress of a huge tarantula clinging to the ceiling in front of us…sure enough, it soon lost its grip and plummeted to earth as though in slow motion- it was our very own epic introduction to the month of madness that lay ahead.

But, just to prove that I did pay attention that morning despite the efforts of the attention-grabbing arachnid, here’s a bit about the workings of Moo Baan Dek. It was set up in 1979 as an alternative to mainstream Thai education, having seen so many struggling pupils dismissed without attempts by teachers to discover the root of the problem. Moo Baan Dek focuses on vocational subjects such as music and art, which the children can make money from, although they are always encouraged to further themselves academically: one of the older kids we met is planning to go to university next year. The kids aren’t forced to attend lessons: they go because they choose to, they want to learn. Punishments for misbehaviour are decided in a council meeting every Friday, which all the kids attend: they are each given a democratic voice. Punishments are usually just chores such as cleaning or litter picking. Most importantly, however, Moo Baan Dek is not just a school: it is a surrogate family for kids who have none, and the principal Meh Aew (‘Meh’ meaning ‘mother’) is seen by many of the kids as a foster mother. For more info visit the website: http://www.ffc.or.th/mbd/history.html

We took a tour of the school and saw the library, the outdoor dining area where the kids eat all their meals, the art rooms and the gift shop, where the kids get to sell their handiwork to tourists and keep the profits. We joined the kids for some batik painting, where I sat pretending to be creating my own masterpiece while actually letting my little helper do all the tricky parts for me.

My little helper

My other little helper

Batik

How to do batik painting:
1) stretch white fabric tight over a square wooden frame
2) sketch a design, usually floral, onto the fabric using pencil
3) using a special tool, trace the outline in hot wax, then wait to dry
4) when dry, paint canvas: the wax should form the outlines to shapes, and water can be used to blend colours
5) leave to dry, then treat to remove wax and preserve colour
6) the finished product should be a colourful picture with white outlines

The day wasn’t over yet: after being used as human climbing frames by the younger kids for far too long we moved on to the football pitch to challenge the older local boys to a game of football or, as the Canadians would say, soccer.

Volunteers vs locals

The day I discovered I'm worse at art than a six year old

Kanchanaburi, Thailand