Visit Omkoi for Community Projects

On 10 April 2011, a team of 2 lecturers and 9 students went to Northern Thailand to do overseas community project. This is the first time we have started a community project in this area. We spent altogether 10 days in Thailand, of which 7 days is in the karen rural villages.

During the trip, we went to the 1st village to install install solar powered LED lanterns at 7 houses which do not have lights at Mae Ramit. The altitude of the location is 1200m above seas-level.

We stayed there for 3 days in a local church. We also had our 3 meals daily cooked by the villagers.

We started to install the solar lanterns after we settle down.

At night we have cultural activities with the locals and their children. We also had a camp fire. The temperature at night is cold, about 13 degrees celcius.

Next we went to decorate a small library and add more English books to their collection at Phapudung (village 2). It was a day trip. The location is 980 m above sea level.

Lastly we travel to another village Dung Loi (village 3) to paint a newly completed children activity hall. We stayed there for 2 nights under the courtesy of the village chief. We had all 3 meals at the village chief house. We had some left over paint, so we painted the church.

  

 At night we had camp fire and celebrated with the locals, singing songs, has a performance, some entertament.

 

Finally, we have friends who have helped us to make our stay more pleasant in Omkoi. Our thanks to Pastor Puwasak, his wife and ACT worker, Jeffrey and Pastor Noh .  Also to the village chief at Dung Loi.

Visit Lombok, Indonesia

In February 2011, I visited Lombok, Indonesia, to recce for possible community projects for the local community; to meet with local staff to discuss scope of projects and make necessary arrangements to accomodation for future trips.

We visited Lebuan Pandan and viewed a demonstration farm plot which is experimenting drip irrigation farming.

Next, we visited  Rembitan where a Sasak couple who provides Batik making skills training for young people in an Art Gallery. We discussed possible projects such as building vats for dyeing and washing of batik and teaching of conversational English.

Finally we visited Senaru to discussed possible projects in surrounding villages including building of volleyball court, particiapting in a biogas project and accomodation at a traditional house.

Sai Ngam Church and Community

On December 2010, a team went to Sai Ngam,  Thailand, to replace a faulty inverter for the solar lighting at Sai Ngam's church. The faulty inverter's cooling fan died and causes over-heating on the inverter. The new inverter does not require cooling fan to operate, hence it is expected to be more reliable.

Now both churches at Sai Ngam and Nam Plamoong uses the same inverters, i.e. without cooling fan. We will continue to monitor the reliability of these inverters so that if found reliable, we will use them at other installations.

In addition, the team also identified 5 houses at Sai Ngam village without lights at night. Their solar powered lights have broken down and they uses candle lights at night. It is a fire hazard when they use the candle lights. 

We have design a simple rechargable battery operated LED lamp which uses their existing solar panels to charge the rechargable battery during the day.

 The lamps have a red LED indicator to show that during the day, the sun is charging the battery. The lamp is connected to a switch mounted on the wall for ease of switching "ON/OFF" the lamp at night.

 The lamp is a low power LED (100mW), which is brighter than a candle light. The 5 houses are installed with these lamps. Each house is given 2 lamps which provides sufficient lighting for them to see and walk around the house at night.

Lamp Specifications:
LED 100 mW
1 AA Metal Hydride Rechargable Battery, 1.2V at 2700 mA-Hour
A single Full Charge able to operate 18 hours.

Industrial Training Skills at PKH

On October 2010, I visited Project Khmer Hope (PKH) at Kg Speu, Cambodia, again for 4 days to see the progress of the Industrial Skill training. It is a 9 months full-time course. The training is progressing well and the 23 students have completed almost three quarter of the training.



English Lessons at Night



  

The topics that they have completed are:

1. Technical Drawing
2. Basic Electrical Wiring Skills
3. Fundamental Mechanical Hand Skills
4. Maintenance of Mechanical Machines
5. Aircondition System Maintenance & Repair (Split Unit)   
6. Maintenance of Refrigeration System

 

Welding Project



Metal Work Project

The last training programme will be Basic Carpentry, Masonry and Plumbing which they will complete by the end of the year. As a team project, they have constructed a dining chair and concrete bench.

  

Dinning Chair (Carpentry Work)



After they have completed the technical training, the students will undergo a short introductory lessons to prepare them for the hospitality industry. They can then work as maintenance technicians in the hotel industry.

   

Masonry Work (Concrete Bench)



The students are also taught about the 5S systems which is generally accepted by industry. It is about improving quality, reducing costs, and improving safety which are all key concerns for anyone who works for a manufacturing company or other organization. Many companies implement lean manufacturing in order to reduce excess wastes that occur within a company. They will learn the 5 concepts, namely:

1. Sort
2. Set in Order
3. Shine
4. Standardize
5. Sustain

Currently they are in the process of improving their Tools and Store room by having a proper inventory system with a proper sign in/out records system. We hope to see this implemented in 6 months time.


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Store Room



Tool Room