BANGKOK (UCAN) – Bangkok may be filled with skyscrapers and glitzy malls, but in certain parts of the country, people do not have proper access to drinking water.

University students from the capital area recently experienced this reality at a Jesuit-run work camp in a village in the northern Chiang Mai province. Forty-six participants from 15 universities, who attended the Xavier Voluntary Students Work Camp, spent two weeks building a small dyke for villagers, organizing games and activities for the children, and providing them meals.

At an evaluation meeting held May 8-10 at Xavier Hall, the Jesuits’ residence in Bangkok, participants of the camp shared they now have a better understanding of the lives of poor people, whom they used to shun. Some even said they wanted to dedicate themselves to working for marginalized people after graduation.
The students took part in the work camp in Ban Gilsawaek of Maecham district, Chiang Mai province, in March under the supervision of Jesuit Father Maharsono Probho, the national university chaplain. For two weeks, they built a cement dyke 11 meters long and 8 meters high to dam water for drinking and other daily needs.

The village, comprising 60 families, have had to use a small well two kilometers away. This situation contributed to sanitation problems in the village.

According to Father Probho, the annual camp is open to students of all religions. Twenty-one of this year’s camp participants were Catholics.

The community that the Xavier Voluntary Students Work Camp selects for its outreach work is “also not necessary a Catholic community,” said the Indonesian priest.

He explained that the camp aims to increase participants’ social awareness and to open their “eyes, minds and hearts to vulnerable people.”

The group later conducts its own social analysis and reflection to become aware of how social problems are in fact “structural problems” arising out of an “abuse or violation of people’s rights,” said the priest.

He said the Ban Gilsawaek villagers grow corn as animal feed but do not receive an adequate income because over supply. The villagers are also in debt, and increasing deforestation and the use of large amounts of water for this form of agriculture add to their woes.

Father Chanchai Temarunrung, from Chiangmai diocese, who initiated the water management project at this village, helped students reflect on their service to the villagers during their May meeting.

Natthida Niropas, a third-year student of Chulalongkorn University and chairperson of Xavier Voluntary Students Work Camp Group, said this was her third time joining the camp. She added that her experience of the sincerity and thoughtfulness of villagers has inspired her to be the same to others.

Rayakorn Sanitsom, a second-year student of Kasetsart University, said the camp helped her to understand better the way of life of poor villagers and the challenges they face. She added that she was moved by how they are able to continue living joyfully in spite of the hardships they face.