15/10/2008 - AFS-YES Alumni Conference 2008 & YPysNH09 Selection Camp
Over 340 applicants throughout Thailand had applied for the YES scholarship, but only 47 candidates were selected to join the Selection Camp.
This year, AFS Thailand Volunteer Development and Admissions team organized the Alumni Conference and Selection Camp in Suphanburi from 8-10 October, 2008.
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Cherdsak Suphatsophon, AFS Suphanburi Chapter President, attended the event and gave a welcome speech to all campers. Mr. John Paul Schutte, Cultural and Educational Affairs officer US Embassy in Bangkok, visited the camp and interacted with the campers. He also joined the VTP (Visiting Teacher Program) Alumni conference and the AFS-YES alumni 07 conference. The alumni shared their experience and expressed what they had accomplished from the programs.
On the first day, campers participated in fun activities organized by AFS returnees and AFS-YES alumni. Later, the alumni 2007 presented the community service programs and shared their experience in USA with the camp participants.
The last day, all participants had a chance to visit Ayuddhaya. AFS Ayuddhaya Chapter arranged the community visit program to all participants and invited Mr. Pradit Ratanakomol, the Islamic Leader of Ayuddhaya, to meet with the participants. He had given a wonderful speech emphasizing on the beauty of diversity:
“When the flower has one color, it is beautiful. When it has combined with many colors, it’s even more beautiful. So, when there are many people from various beliefs living together, it makes the world more interesting and beautiful with diversity.”
He also mentioned an Arabic quote referring to the importance of education. Do travel to gain the knowledge even if you have to travel as far as to China. This wording confirmed that Muslims always support the education and never closed opportunity to find new knowledge.
After meeting with the Muslim community leader, all participants visited 3-religion community; Buddhist, Muslim and Catholic; confirming the beauty of diversity mentioned by Mr. Ratanakomol. All participants visited the historical site and learned about the Thai heritage before the program completed.
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