Receiving More Than Giving in Thailand

Volunteering at Pathom Asoke Community

Pathom Asoke Community is located in Nakhon Pathom province, 70km west of Bangkok; usually, by train to get here or there is a highway running across Thailand. Pathom Asoke is one of the branches of the Asoke Community spread across Thailand.

Stepping into the monastery, I was nervous, I didn't know anyone in Asoke, and when I asked, I knew that my friends had returned to Vietnam long ago. Suffering has been my shy personality since I was a child due to the unfamiliar environment.

“Shall I go back to Bangkok now? Warm blankets and soft mattresses, humming air conditioners, it's just extreme here,” those were the things in my mind then. "No, I’ve already come so far, I couldn’t leave anymore." So, I went in and asked if I could stay at the monastery for one day, just one day. That's the story of a trip to attend a Scientific Research Conference in Bangkok that the school sponsored (well, we did't have money to think about traveling abroad then).

LoungPo Daodin taught me (in Thailand for a while, I later learned that "LuongPo" means "teacher" in Thai, please allow me to use "LoungPo" from now on.) to get acquainted. He helped me a lot during my time at Pathom Asoke. He always took the time to take me around and introduce the Asoke Open Community model. I followed him because he was the only one comfortable communicating in English. After many years of economic opening, even before Vietnam, besides well-known tourist attractions, the remaining provinces in Thailand need help to popularize English.

In Asoke, there are only trees and houses built by the owners. You hear right. In addition to significant public works to serve the community, the Asoke people spend money to buy materials or pick up items from the scrap yard to construct a house. Is it a true DIY spirit of today's kids? I used to help an uncle make the front steps when I returned to Asoke in early 2019. Because of my eagerness to be more helpful, I stopped by to satisfy my curiosity, but it didn't help much. He did it himself, picking up gravel, measuring, mixing cement, and adjusting.

It took all day to complete. Wow, how long would it take his whole house to finish? I later learned that when he moved back to Asoke, he started to build. If there is no place to sleep, Asoke will have a place to rest in the evening in a shared house for men. I also want to build a house for myself when I'm older.

In 2019, I stayed in Asoke for almost a month until my Tourist Visa nearly expired, mainly working in the traditional soy sauce factory of Ms. Chong Chon in the morning and helping with packaging and loading products at the Community Supermarket. Work starts at 7 am and ends at 6 pm. Working at the soy sauce factory, Ms. Chong Chon taught me how to walk and wash my hands to ensure hygiene in the fermentation area. She was a student at Chulalongkorn University, one of the most prestigious schools in Thailand and Asia. Later she returned to Asoke to live and support people to produce soy sauce to serve the community and sell it to generate income. My regular job every morning was to stir and stir. I must flip through each jar and stir until the bean paste does not chunk so the sauce will taste even without the smell of stale yeast. Having the soy sauce I made after distilling the water, and I almost burst into tears. That is the true spirit of self-service in Asoke. It is no coincidence that from a very young age, children in Asoke have been resourceful and can take on much work on behalf of adults. That's what kids raised in a city like mine look at with envy and shame.

In the afternoon, I stopped at the Community Supermarket in Asoke to help pack goods into retail packages for local customers. The Asoke people are allowed to eat and drink and live entirely without using the money within the community. However, Asoke sells its products to local customers to pay for repairing and operating some resources that Asoke needs external help with, such as electricity or clean water. Commerce also helps Asoke extend the Giving philosophy's influence on more people. People can also buy local products at an affordable price and are safer because the supply chain is shortened compared to products mass-produced in industrial zones far away from where they live. It's so funny that a younger brother I know said that after a month in Asoke, eating organic food, enjoying the smoke-free air, and using all-natural products for bathing or treatment, his face was smooth without a single blemish, but the skin is ruddy. Hence, are you guys in a modern city like me jealous after doing numerous skincare routines every night?

These days, Nakhon Pathom province and the whole of Thailand are being raged by the Covid epidemic, especially since Thailand has an extensive border and many immigrants work from neighboring countries. As far as I know from Uncle Chuan, the manager of the community supermarket, Asoke, has closed its doors and only accepts visitors to shop from inside to ensure the community's safety. I also messaged LoungPo Daodin and heard that he had gone home to take care of his mother and help a few student groups in Bangkok because, in 2020, Thailand experienced a sizeable political dispute across the country due to doubts about the current hierarchical government operations. As gratitude to those who have raised me and given me everything I could ask for, I pray that everyone is still safe and healthy in Thailand.