A safe space to grow

In the last post, I wrote about the activities of the Coconut Club: the sports, the cooking, the IT lab. But when I visited Phuket Has Been Good To Us, what stayed with me most wasn't the activities. It was something quieter: the way the teachers care for these children as whole people. 

Many of the children here come from difficult backgrounds. Some have grown up in violent homes, where raising your voice or lashing out is just normal. As Jerlin, the senior teacher, explained to me, for some of these children, the teachers are the only example they have of something different, of what it looks like to be cared for, and to care for yourself.

So when a child raises their voice, or throws a tantrum, or doesn't even understand why they're upset, the teachers don't just correct them. They stop and ask: "Use your words. How do you feel right now?" They help the child reflect, name the feeling, and find a healthier way to let it out. It sounds simple, but for a child who has never been shown how, it can change everything.

Some children arrive very closed, they sit by themselves and don't join in. The teachers gently reach out, again and again, and slowly a trust builds. And once a child feels safe here, that safety follows them into the classroom too. They open up. They start to do better. The academic side and the caring side go hand in hand.

There's a moment Jerlin shared that I keep thinking about. Some of the older children have started coming to her on their own and saying: "Teacher, can you help me? Sometimes I don't know why I'm so angry. What can I do?" A child asking for help like that doesn't happen the first time you meet them. It happens only after someone has taken the first step, again and again, to show them it's safe to open up.

There are small, touching details too. On Mother's Day, the children who don't have mothers, or who rarely see them, come to their teachers and, for a while, the teachers stand in that place for them.

The teachers know these children deeply, often better than anyone in their lives. And that knowing, that steady presence, is its own kind of care. 

For Jerlin, after eleven years, it's what keeps her here. As she put it: the ultimate goal is for a child to no longer need you, because they can do it themselves. "That means I must have done something right."

That is what your support helps make possible. Not just English lessons but also a safe place to grow.

Next in the series: how this support opens doors, and helps children dream bigger.

Phuket Has Been Good To Us provides free English education to underprivileged children in Kamala and Kalim. To learn more or support their work, visit phukethasbeengoodtous.org. 

Photos courtesy of Phuket Has Been Good To Us.