AFECT Hill Tribe Forest Adventure

  Thailand

Chiang Mai,  Chiang Rai

Durations of Program: 1-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months and 7-12 months
Typical Duration of Program: 1-2 weeks
Dates: every week

Description: AFECT's Thailand Hill Tribe Rain Forest Adventure - Chiang Rai Northern Thailand

AFECT - The Association for AKHA Education and Culture - is the oldest HILL TRIBE organization in Thailand and for 28 years we have been protecting HILL TRIBE culture. Because we are the only organization in Asia protecting HILL TRIBE culture we are pleased to offer unique short courses in our tribal school adventure and Long term Volunteer placements - some of the best in Thailand. We work in association with UNESCO and UNDP.

The Hill Tribe Rainforest Adventure Experience

We offer a 3 day and weekly Rainforest Adventure where you learn about Forest Survival, Shamanism, Interwoven Forest Consciousness, Ecology, Naturopathy (herbal ancient medicine) Mythology and Patterns Systems and Relationships found in the Natural World. Interspersed within the school program are fun tours and activities that make this a unique way to engage in a fascinating and ancient culture. Our villages are culturally protected by UNESCO and off the typical tourist track so without other tourists around you can experience customs inherently alive with hill tribe traditions unchanged for hundreds of years.

The course gives you valuable life skills which will stay with you for ever and is based on learning how creative tribes live, teaching us a deeper understanding of interwoven life and ourselves within the natural environment.

Some of the Topics covered in the courses -

Systems Thinking

Recognizing that learning to think systemically is critical for sustainability because an ecosystem is not just a collection of species, but is a community and communities, whether ecosystems or human systems, are made up of sets, or networks, of relationships.

The Principles of Ecology

NETWORKS - All members of an ecological community are interconnected in a vast and intricate network of relationships, the web of life. They derive their essential properties and, in fact, their very existence from these relationships.

NESTED SYSTEMS - Throughout nature we find multi-leveled structures of systems nesting within systems. Each of these forms an integrated whole within a boundary while at the same time being a part of a larger whole.

CYCLES - The interactions among the members of an ecological community involve the exchange of energy and resources in continual cycles. The cycles in an ecosystem intersect with larger cycles in the bioregion and in the planetary biosphere.

DEVELOPMENT - The unfolding of life, manifesting as development and learning at the individual level and as evolution at the species level, involves an interplay of creativity and mutual adaptation in which organisms and environment co-evolve.

Long Term Volunteering

Many NGO's do great work and offer exciting volunteer exchanges but often centre on fragments of humanitarian work. Because we are run and managed by the hill tribe we believe in a holistic and progressive approach to charitable work. Working within the cultural structures of hill tribe society creates a lasting and more sustaining autonomy. We can arrange extremely diverse volunteer packages around our 12 the humanitarian programs we manage. These volunteer packages are some of the best in Thailand.((

AFECT'S Hill Tribe Rainforest Adventure in Chiang Rai Thailand offers a unique experience of hill tribal culture.

Qualifications: Not neccesary

Cost in US$: 199 per week short course

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Enthusiastic, curious about the world, open minded.

Age Range: 16-75

This Program is open to American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Thailand Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently or in Groups of 1-10

Application Process Involves:

• Written Application

Akha Asia's Mission Statement: AFECT - THE ASSOCIATION FOR AKHA EDUCATION AND CULTURE - is the oldest Non Governmental Organization for Hill Tribes in S.E. Asia. We work to preserve the rich and diverse cultural ethnicity of the Akha Hill Tribe. Our programs are 100% non profit schemes where all the revenue generated goes directly back into the poor and needy Akha communities to carry out conservation and development activities. Your entry fee helps to educate children and adults, form and strengthen health programs, develop local income sources and conserve natural and cultural heritage.

Year Founded: 1981