Several of our students and two of our teachers were accepted to participate and/or lead a Round Square Big Build service project in December. Round Square is hosting Bring the Elephant Home (BTEH). This project, based in Thailand’s Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, hopes to create an environment where the Thai people and wild elephants peacefully share the same land.
Students and teachers will be part of a team constructing a community research center, park ranger huts, lookout towers, hornbill nest boxes, and beehive fences. All of their work will help tackle issues relating to human-elephant coexistence. Their extra manpower will accelerate the project’s timeline and leave in place a sustainable framework for the Thai people to use.
To help support the ongoing Big Build participants will also be sectioning off metered plots and planting lemongrass, kaffir lime trees, onion, coriander, garlic, chilis, citrus plants. Those are all ingredients in Tom Yum soup. Elephants dislike those plants due to their strong citrus and spice odors. The effort is aptly named the Tom Yum Project.
By planting those crops, elephants stay away from an important food source for rural communities in Thailand. The Tom Yum project uses help from Round Square volunteers, to provide sustainable food security while living in harmony with the wild elephants.
The names of the Providence Day (PD) participants will be announced this fall. The project will take place between December 5-18, 2023.