What is Travel to Teach?

A very brief history

Travel to Teach was founded in the spring of 2002 by volunteers in Nongkhai, Thailand. We felt that the idea of volunteer work, and of contributing to the countries whilst visiting, was too great to be left to big profit making western companies to explore. We felt that by working out of a developing country we could keep moderate fees, create working opportunities and maintain closer contact with the volunteers, the communities and the projects.

Travel to Teach has been created by volunteers.

Since the very beginning all the western people who have been involved with T2T have been volunteers wanting to stay on and help. This has helped us create programs that volunteers find valuable and rewarding.

Ethical volunteering

Travel to Teach has had the ambition to develop our programs according to Guidelines for Ethical Volunteering as presented on www.ethicalvolunteering.org/

T2T Founder Kerstin's Story:

“I have the strong belief that the best help one can give a country or a person is education. Nothing is more likely to help “empower” people and create conditions for “sustainable development” than education. I also believe that nothing is more likely to help international understanding than actual contact with the everyday life of another country and personal bonds between people.”

So the ambition of Travel to Teach is twofold:

In the spring of 2002 I was teaching sociology as a senior volunteer in a college in Nongkhai. I appreciated the teaching, the students, and the atmosphere of the college and of Nongkhai. I saw the progress in our students as they were exposed to English language and to teachers from the west. The students came from relatively poor families in villages around Nongkhai and Udon Thani provinces. Many of them had not even been to Bangkok and yet after two years at the college most of them spoke more or less fluent English (a rare thing in this part of Thailand), had a good world orientation and had got over the initial shyness that characterizes Thai people.

There were lots of volunteers at the college who had come from agencies in the west. They loved the teaching, Nongkhai and their life here. But I noted their reaction when they discovered the disparity between their financial contributions what they received for their fee. Starting T2T was a direct response to all of those volunteering agencies asking huge fees from international volunteers.

I thought it must be possible to manage this kind of program from here. Having administration in a developing country and using only internet promotion would enable us to keep fees at a minimum. Working with Thai students as staff we would both help them finance their studies and create a communicable Thai environment for our volunteers.

I talked to some of my students about this idea and we decided to give it a try. We got some help to make a website and Travel to Teach was born. We launched the site with a Thai Baisee (well wishing) ceremony in November 2002 and in March 2003 received our first volunteer.

Since then Travel to Teach has grown to new places and new countries. We have been very lucky in that several volunteers have wanted get involved with our programs. Many of them are still here in Thailand working for T2T, others are promoting from their home countries as representatives of Travel to Teach, others still are helping us start up programs in new countries.

Our programs have expanded from teaching English and computers into other areas, but the element of teaching and learning is still a main objective, whether we are building recycling stations, planting trees or restoring schools.

Contributors to Travel to Teach:

Many people have been involved with us and have contributed crucially to our development some of whom are listed below. Our current staff are presented on individual country pages:

Adriana started the organisation together with Kerstin and Mooy. Adriana now runs our Mexican programs.

Kirk made our first website and has helped us in different capacities ever since. He has now founded an aid organisation called Isara www.isara.com.

Nat was here for most part of the year 2005, helping us create a new website that could harbour the expansion into other countries. Nat is now back in London and his work at BBC but will soon start another volunteering enterprise in South America.

Yimpan coordinated volunteers in Sangklaburi and on Koh Chang. He is now on the way to studies in England.

Meaw worked in Nongkhai and Koh Chang in 2005 and the first half of 2006. She is now pursuing studies in London.