Dear Friends:

Hello, my name is Guillem and I am from a little town near from Barcelona. I am a graduated in economics and I came here to help and learn as much as I can about all the wonderful actions that Andaman Discoveries does. I arrived three months ago to Andaman Discoveries. It is situated in Kuraburi, an amazing town full of kind and smiley people. The staff has made me feel like at home since the beginning and it's been really easy for me to adapt to the Thai lifestyle.

I was a bite worried about the food and the language. But the truth is that the food is delicious and the people is really helpful and it is really easy to get in contact with them.

I will be here for the next three month and I can't wait to see the exciting experiences that are left for me.

Thanks to Thailand, Kuraburi and AD to allow me to live this once in a lifetime experience.

Enjoy reading the newsletter and hope to see you soon around here!

Guillem

Andaman Discoveries community projects - September and October, 2010:

Action conservation with local youth groups
Youth Network Meeting and Conservation Seminar, 10-11 October
Sponsored by the Planeterra Foundation.

To mark international environmental day on 10-10-2010, we convened 2-day seminar for 15 conservation groups including 66 youth, and another 24 community organizers. Participating youth groups came from Buddist, Muslim, Moken, and Burmese backgrounds,

and the resulting intercultural exchange was richly rewarding for all. The seminar built pride and skills in the next generation of environmental champions.

Local exchange visits and skills workshops
Community Network Meeting and Conservation Tour, 4 October
Sponsored by the Planeterra Foundation.
35 people from 9 community-based tourism groups joined in the bimonthly meeting of the North Andaman Community Tourism Network. October's meeting took place in the scenic village of Tung Nang Dam.

Community tourism and conservation learning tours
"Best Practices" Homestay and Sustainable Agriculture Study Trip
Sponsored by the Planeterra Foundation.
17-19 September, 2010
This study trip visited the well-known homestay village of Koh Pitak and the "sufficiency agriculture" project at the Chumpon Cabana hotel. The 25 participants included 14 villagers from Ban Lion, 7 officers from the district government, including the chief, and 4 staff from the project team.
 

Kayak Training
Sponsored by the Planeterra Foundation.
28-29 September, 2010
Participants included 6 guides from Ban Lions, 2 guides from Ban Talae Nok, 4 trainers, and 5 "pilot guests." The objective of the training was to provide a new activity for local guides to lead, and to offer guests a way to explore the mangrove ecosystems without disturbing local fauna, as opposed to the walkway that has been proposed by the local authorities.
To start the training, the guides from Ban Talae Nok shared their previous experience, as their village has been offering kayak tours for just under two years. Then, trainers reviewed technical and guiding skills, and then helped the guides practice and improve their skills with "pilot guests."
Overall, the guides displayed great potential during the kayaking practicum; and knowledgeable instructors with a wealth of experience helped to sustain enthusiasm thorough the training.

Marketing Training - Handicrafts & Community-based Tourism
Sponsored by the Planeterra Foundation.
22-26 September, 2010
Since the community-based tourism (CBT) and the tie-dye groups started in Ban Lions, the community members have been improving capacity through product development and marketing outreach.
The objective of the Bangkok trip was to allow 5 members of the tourism and handicrafts groups to gain experience in marketing and improve their services and products by staffing their own booth at the Thailand Tourism Fair.
Simultaneously, the tie-dye group met with Thai Craft Fair Trade, a company marketing handicrafts made by Thai village groups

2010 International Forum, Hong Kong

Bodhi and Guillem went to the 2010 International Forum in Hong Kong invited by the Cambridge University Education Without Borders, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the AIESEC. We were pleased to share this educational forum with such honorable speakers and with all the students who assisted. Bodhi gave a speech about Andaman Discoveries and how he began his projects in Thailand as a social entrepreneur. The others speakers were Prof. Alan Barrel from Cambridge, Mr. Tit-Shing Wong director of Jetta Company Ltd, Ms. Candace Johnson from Luxemburg and Dr. Rob Valli from University of Illinois. All the organizators treated us in an excellent way and we would like to tell that the organization of the event was perfect.

All the conferences enriched our knowledge from different angles but all of them came from the passion and the beliefs of all the parliamentarians. Hopefully, the students from the Polytechnic University and other universities in Hong Kong who attended the forum will gain the different tools and strong motivation in order to become whatever they want to in the future.

World Travel Mart 2010

October saw the departure of our long term volunteer, Laura Pelegrina.  Laura came to Andaman Discoveries through the EVS (European Volunteer Services) partnership, which places volunteers in projects worldwide for 8 months.  Laura was able to make a lasting impact in the organization, taking on board our social marketing campaign, encouraging and keeping active our bolgging page and of course keeping our guests past and present up-to date with our regular Newsletter.  Laura also undertook a language and cooking course while part of the project and was able to turn her hand to Thai cooking with ease, we can all vouch for this as the staff and volunteers lucky enough to be around on her cooking days were able to sample her delicious fare.

Laura will be missed in Kuraburi and we hope that she will return one day in the not too distant future.  You can read about Laura's adventures on www.andamandiscoveries/blog