After the successful community mural project done with the girls of Baan Vieng Ping Orphanage in September 2009, CCT collaborated on another mural in October, with Freedom House, a school for Burmese migrant workers and refugee children.   CCT brainstormed with the children and young adults, to create a mural that would address four topics: the meaning of freedom house, the characteristics of an ideal home, things that inspire happiness, and dreams for the future.  Amp’s skills in Photoshop resulted in a design that included everyone’s contributions and ideas.  The students took turns painting, and then three CCT volunteers, Katie, Aimee, and Stefanie, went back the next day to complete it.  The mural is gorgeous and eye-catching to passers-by.  Now that it’s on display, everyone can enjoy it!

CCT is lucky enough to have Alice, a new drama teacher who is working to develop a drama program for the organization.  In December, CCT had its first drama workshop at Wat Pa Pao, a school for Burmese migrant children.  Thanks to Amp’s translation, everyone was able to follow along.  The theme for the two younger groups was “animals,” and they practiced imitating many types of creatures.  The older group learned about shadow puppetry, and each created their own shadow puppet to take home.  We can’t wait for more drama workshops at Wat Pa Pao to come! 

Thank you Alice!

This January at Baan Vieng Ping Orphanage, we held Children’s Day, a popular event with a great volunteer turnout.  All the CCT volunteers participated, even those outside the arts program, and we were thrilled to see how many members of Chiang Mai’s expat community and local volunteers came to support the event as well.  At Children’s Day, we organized a painting workshop, where each child cut and painted his or her own mask to wear.  Amp, Zoe, and Miche (a local volunteer) also did face painting for the kids.  It was a really fun celebration for both the children and all the volunteers who helped out.