fter going for breakfast at 7 in the morning (gosh, I really do dislike early mornings) we went out with KMUTT students to Wat Rang Sane Nakorn Chan school for the first time in our trip, bringing along some solar panels and other components. After a short bus ride, we arrived, met and greeted the staff before rolling up our sleeves to begin on work.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the presence of 3 cute little puppies and an older dog, which we presumed to be their mother, in the school. Some of us even went to play with the dogs. I find it interesting how these dogs in both KMUTT and the primary school could coexist together with students and staff, and that they were all friendly enough to interact with us humans. Unfortunately I was unable to get the dog family in a picture since they keep wandering off from one another, but here’s one with mommy dog and one of her kids:
We split the work between KMUTT and SUTD students: they would work on installing the solar panels on the rooftop of the two walkways, while we would focus on the mounting of the weatherproof box, which contains the chargeable battery and solar panel controller. There were quite a lot of heavy lifting, as we not only had to carry about different components, but also lift heavy chairs to be used as support for us to climb up and mount the weatherproof box. We did stop for a break though, as the staff there were kind enough to provide us both refreshments beforehand and lunch.
There were quite a lot of weatherproof boxes to be mounted, about 26 or so for two different walkways. We all had different parts to play, from screwing holes into the structure to connecting the wires between the solar panels and boxes.
After the long tiring day under the hot sun, we went back to KMUTT campus to have dinner, not before stopping by a 7-11. Needless to say I bought even more snacks, especially since I was not able to get enough on the first day. It is surprising how cheap the food and drink items in the shop can be – I found that most of them fall in the range of about 20 Baht, or only 1 SGD. After getting back, we could finally enjoy some free and easy time for ourselves. I went off for a jog around the campus, then joined some students for movie night.
While I did not get much chance to interact with the primary school children today, I hope to get to know them better and gain a greater understanding of their culture in general in the next few days as we work. Tomorrow, the main objective will be installing the big solar panel at the principals office, among other tasks such as creating a manual for the solar powered lights. Of course, there will be activities planned for interaction with the Primary 1 to 3 children tomorrow!
