FRIENDS Teahouse at PYU, Thailand
Community Development Plan by PYU
Thailand is a country of cultural diversity. There are many nations and tribes especially in Chiang Mai which is known by City of Cultures. People in each tribe also live differently. More than 40 tribes have settled in Thailand which are La-ear, Hmong, Karen etc. One of the most populated tribes in Thailand is the Hmong. Mostly they live with nature, whether in the middle or the top of the mountain. Every family there do farming for living. The village is quite and far away from the city. Traveling from the village to the city will take more than 4 hours, so it is not very convenient to go in the city center. Normally, the government provides school for each village, but it is only elementary school. Therefore, in order to continue studying children need to leave the village and study the secondary or higher level in the city. By living in the city children need to have shelter because they don’t have family there.
Having children in the care of an organization has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that children do not have freedom. They are limited in space and cannot go out freely. As a result, children have difficulty adjusting or socializing when they are going to larger racial or social diversity. Therefore, we set up this project to lay the groundwork and build a strong understanding among children about cultural diversity so that they can live in diverse societies smartly and happily.
Videos from Meetings – 1, 2, 3
FRIENDS Reunion at PYU, March 2022
On March 1st, 2022 Payap University held an online FRIENDS Reunion event, activity part of the FRIEND Project. The event had the intention of promoting on campus the FRIENDS project and the major achievents throughtout the 2+ years it has been running.
The reunion was attended by 101 participants from PYU’s academic community. The agenda of the event included project results and impact presentations and keynote speeches. It was an opportunity for the PYU staff and students to connect and once again discuss the importance of the cultural dialogue and the relevance of intercultural awareness and competence from employability point of view.
The reunion began with Asst. Prof. Dr. Taien Layraman’s talk on the Internationalization Strategy at PYU. Also part of the agenda was the presentation of the Intercultural Awareness and cultural diversity MOOC and the concept of Intercultural Passport to the audience.
The online meeting finished with project evaluation remarks. The FRIENDS Reunion at Payap University was live-streamed to reach out to as much more pupils as possible (FRIENDS Reunion Agenda, FRIENDS Reunion Poster, Intercultural Quiz, FRIENDS Activities Report, FRIENDS Reunion Presentation, FRIENDS Project Presentation, FRIENDS Reunion Event QR code)
FRIENDS International and Intercultural Festival at PYU, September 2021
On September 18th, 2022, Payap University successfully held the Delight in Devirsity Day as part of the Erasmus+ Capacity for Building on Higher Education funded project FRIENDS. PYU had more than 200 participants including faculty, students and staff joined by MS TEAMS.
During the event an overview of the FRIENDS project was presented, as well as cultural activities with live music, cooking lessons, and presentation on the subject “Chinese Full Moon Festival”. Event evaluation among 208 responses collected showed total of 94,3% participants were either satisfied or very satisfied with the event execution. The agenda of the event is available here (Social Media Live Streaming Screenshot)
Event Calendar (version as of July 2022)
Event Calendar (version as of June 2021)
Official Opening Event at PYU, September 2020
On 30 September 2020, PYU officially opened the University’s FRIENDS Teahouse and immediately kicked-off activities to celebrate the Chinese Full Moon Festival.
