Open House - Part 1

Carol has the Community Learning Center (funded, in part, through the generosity of friends and family) dedicated during an open house. It was the culmination of a year's planning and implementation by Carol and her co-teachers. The idea of an open house was a new concept. The staff spent three days preparing for it (classes cancelled!!!) The local government official cut the ribbon and three Peace Corps Staff members drove 5 hours to attend the dedication! The rgistration table is shown in the last photo.

Open House - Part 2

The play. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears - the Musical!" was such a hit, that Bob's students were asked to perform it again at the Open House. Notice the expressions on the faces of some of the members of the audience (click picture to increase the size). Some of the Peace Corps staff posed with the drama club. (We are now negotiating a contract with a prominent Broadway theatre!!)

Open House - Part 3

Carol presented an award to the student who designed the mural painted in the Learning Center (which can be seen,in part, in the second picture). In addition, many door prizes were awarded!

Open House Part 4

Two long line of booths were set up to allow school organizations to display their projects. We even had the YouthPEP team (which we had helped form) set up a game booth to give information about the prevention of HIV/AIDS (see last two pictures).

Thailand Youth Festival

Bob and his Thai counterpart took 15 students to the Thailand Youth Theatre Festival in Suphanburi. It was an exciting event for the students, most of whom had never been very far from their village. They attended workshops on make-up, stage fighting, voice projection, and acting. There were also a lot of games. Bob led an impromptu game. The 300 students sat in circles with their drama team and passed around an object. When the music stopped the 16 students had to come up and act out a situation. Bob had judges pick the winner of each round. The winner received a prizes for each member of the drama team.

Getting Ready for the Play

The students enjoyed using make-up.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears - the Musical

The students did an excellent job, especially when the three bears danced to "We are Family" and Goldilocks did her disco moves to "Born to Be Wild". The audience reacted with enthusiasm to her dancing and acting abilities.

After the Performance

The students received many compliments from the new volunteers (Group 120) that attended the Festival. They posed for a few final photos before returning to their village. Hopefully, they took back some great memories and an increased confidence.