In this interview, we hear from Emily Hoffmeister. Emily is working as a Peace Corps Youth in Development volunteer in Thailand. What Emily shares gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place. Emily talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Emily’s journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you tell us more about serving as a Youth Development volunteer in Thailand?
Work with the Subdistrict Administration Office
As a Youth in Development (YinD) volunteer in Thailand, I am mainly tied to my SAO (subdistrict administration office). This is the organization that applied for a volunteer to come to their community. I do projects with the SAO, such as working with the elderly groups, preschools, hospitals, police, local volunteer efforts, and other community pillars.
Some examples of our projects include community trash clean up and education on sorting trash/recycling, maintaining local temples, and spay and neuter clinics for the street dogs. I’ve been a part of Zumba classes put on in collaboration with the hospital and targeted towards the elderly group.
Work with the Youth Council
A big part of my work with the SAO is working with a Youth Council, which is composed of local students aged 13 – 18, representing the schools within their district. Here, I work alongside Thai co-teachers to build capacity and uplift the youth voices. Our youth council has put on several camps where they acted as counselors for the younger students. They picked the topics and activities of some of the camps, such as learning instruments to form a school band, connecting with local business and trades as part of a career fair, and even just some silly camps where they sing songs, play games, and do skits.
The youth council is also utilized by the teachers to assist with other camp projects, such as the anti drug campaign that happens twice a year across all schools in Thailand. This council has been one of my biggest focuses throughout my service. Prior to me, my community did not have a youth council. I revived this program and was so grateful to be met with enthusiasm from my co-teachers, SAO counterparts, and students.
Teaching English
YinD volunteers also go to local schools. This can be one of the most difficult aspects of this volunteer sector as the temptation to be labeled an English teacher is hard to escape. Our objective is to teach life skills through classroom participation, camps, clubs, and mentoring. While English is a life skill, and I have ended up teaching the language more than I anticipated, we also try to encourage other skills such as critical thinking, creativity, a sense of self, public speaking, etc.
My weekly schedule
I divide my time between all these areas of my community (4 schools and my SAO). My weekly schedule looks like this:
- Monday: Primary school #1
- Tuesday: Primary school #2
- Wednesday: Primary school #3
- Thursday: High School #1
- Friday: Preschool and SAO
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Thailand?
I wanted to join the Peace Corps because of its true commitment to integration. Peace Corps volunteers have the ability to truly experience a new culture and embrace programs that are co-inspired by host country nationals. I have long term goals of working within international relations, and was eager for this grass roots level experience. I did a general application and was blessed to be matched with Thailand!
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation
I live in a very rural farming town in the rice fields of Isaan. My community has a population of about 4,400. There is no grocery store or 7/11; I am reliant on the local market, which pops up three times a week. This is all local food, which I enjoy but definitely get tired of. Lots of pork, rice, and vegetables, but also lots of frogs, bugs, rats, and other options that can be a bit out of my comfort zone.
However, the people of my community – and of Thailand – never let me go hungry. Whether it’s a spontaneous bag of mangos, a full cooked meal, or a bag of sticky rice, there hasn’t been a day at site where I haven’t been offered food. There is no bus stop within biking distance, so I have to coordinate travel plans with a counterpart. And there are no fitness areas; however, one of my co-teachers has a treadmill at her house, and she graciously lets me use!
I live with a host family (Dad, Mom, two little sisters, 12 and 6, a Grandpa, a cat, and four dogs). My host dad works as a lawyer at my SAO and has been a huge positive force in my service. He is one of the kindest people I’ve met, from making me a coffee every morning, to supporting and lifting up my ideas, he has been the embodiment of น้ำใจ “Naam Jai”, a Thai phrase which means “water from the heart”, t?he concept of kindness, generosity, and compassion. It signifies acts of selfless giving and thoughtfulness towards others, often without expectation of return.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
There is a Thai tradition called ผูกแขน, which directly translates to “tie the arm.” It is a blessed string ceremony where a sacred cotton or silk cord is tied around the wrist to symbolize and provide blessings, good fortune, protection, and spiritual well-being. The ritual also fosters spiritual connection, community, and harmony.
When I first arrived at my site, the community held a ผูกแขน, a ceremony to welcome me. Everyone was there—truly everyone! A large crowd gathered, praying over me and tying strings around my wrist one by one. It quickly became clear that the cord connects the wearer to a spiritual realm, symbolically tying their soul to the people and places around them—representing community, peace, and the interconnectedness of all people.
It was a beautiful act of acceptance and embrace that set a positive tone for the rest of my service. When my family later came to visit, the community performed the same ritual for them, symbolically tying my two families together.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in Thailand?
What surprised me most was the expectation placed on me to be an English teacher. YinD volunteers are not given training on how to teach all the intricacies of this language, so in some ways, I felt I had let my community down when I showed up unsure how to build a curriculum that would improve grammar and sentence structure. Luckily, they quickly realized the conversational English lessons I had been prepared to encounter were still impactful for my students. I believe showing the students that English isn’t just about correct grammar or memorization of vocabulary in order to get a good grade, but that it is a dynamic language that is spoken worldwide.
6. What challenges did you face while working on Youth Development projects?
One challenge I faced during my service was the halt of my Grant project due to the current political leaders in the US. My counterpart and I had attended the grant writing workshop together and had brought back a project proposal to our community. The day of our presentation to the school board and town leaders, the Peace Corps sent out an email saying all grant projects, including the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP), the grant we were going to apply for, had been halted.
This led to an awkward meeting with my community as I tried to remain hopeful and present our project of improving tech literacy to students, but also had to navigate lots of questions and uncertainty from my community.
A few months after this, the PCPP started back up, and I am now facing the challenge of re-motivating my community. I am trying to narrow in and create a smaller budget for an impactful program that would be able to be conducted within my remaining time at site. I am still in the process of figuring this one out!
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
English Library & Book Club
I started an English library and book club at one of my schools, thanks to donations made by Darien Book Aid!
Entrepreneurship Club
My high school students started up a school cafe/entrepreneurship club! Thanks to a parent’s donation of a wooden shack, the high schoolers decided to turn it into a student run cafe business! This sparked a group of motivated students to form an entrepreneurship club. They painted the structure and gave it the name “Da Bua Cafe”. The students were involved in all the business components, including creating the menu, budgeting, money management, and the overall business plan. The cafe runs during school events, offering thai tea, green tea, or coffee for 20 baht a drink. The students run the cafe independently, and it’s been a huge success!
Music Club
There was a high interest among the youth in my community to learn instruments. Bands are utilized across Thailand during morning assembly, parades, sports days, and other school events. My school was using a prerecorded audio, but an interest in learning this skill was voiced! Thankfully, we were able to put together the budget to buy instruments and hire a music teacher.
This initiative started with a two day camp where the students were introduced to the instruments, and chose their niche: drums, xylophone, melodica, or recorder. They then started learning the Thai national anthem within their instrumental groups. By the end of this camp, the students were able to play a section of this song together! Building from the camp, the music club was born. My students have absolutely loved their instruments, and will run to get them out during free time.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an Youth Development volunteer in Thailand?
Let go of your expectations. Come into your community open-minded and open to being the volunteer they want you to be. Of course, it’s good to remain true to yourself, and if you can work your own personal interest into projects, then awesome! But also know the community’s wants and needs may be completely different from what you could have anticipated.
I never would have imagined being so involved with a music club, but my community identified a want, and I’m so happy I leaned into it! My expectations would also sometimes get the better of me at times when I felt I wasn’t doing enough as a volunteer. Realizing that showing up everyday as a kind, engaged, and open person does more for my students and community members then it might seem. You don’t have to be making big waves to create a felt ripple of positive impact.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
Before leaving for the Peace Corps, people would ask me what I would be doing – I felt my program of “Youth in Development” was very broad, and I would have a hard time answering this question. PST did a good job of clarifying what exactly this expansive program entailed and how to effectively, suitably, and positively engage my community. Another big benefit of PST was the time with my co-hort. Making friends with my fellow volunteers has made my service richer!
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Thailand volunteers?
I packed too many warm clothes. Thailand does have a “cool” season, but one jacket and a pair of sweatpants would have sufficed instead of my multiple layers, haha. That being said, I should have brought more sun protective items: hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen (yes, they sell it here, but with limited options, and I have my comfort brands from back home).
11. How has learning the language been?
I was very intimidated to learn Thai. It was a language unlike any I have tried learning before. Before coming to Thailand, I learned how to say “hello”, “thank you”, “my name is”, and the numbers 1-10. This was helpful for the first few days, but the language courses were really impressive. I never thought I would pick up as much as I did during only 10 weeks of learning. By the end of preservice training, I was able to communicate basic needs and thoughts.
Thailand has different dialects depending on where you are placed. You learn central Thai during PST, and most people in Thailand can speak this dialect, so that’s good. But my site speaks Isaan. I wish the Peace Corps would offer more resources for these dialects, but I was able to pick them up as I integrated.
Final Thoughts
Emily’s story as a Youth Development volunteer in Thailand shows how service is full of both challenges and unexpected rewards. From reviving a youth council to supporting music and entrepreneurship clubs, her work highlights how small efforts can spark big changes in a community. Her reflections on language learning, cultural traditions, and day-to-day life remind us that growth often comes through adaptability and openness. Above all, Emily’s journey reflects the heart of volunteering—building trust, sharing skills, and finding connection across cultures.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Emily’s, apply to the Peace Corps today. Expand your horizons, push your limits, and create positive impact as a volunteer. You never know how serving as a Peace Corps volunteer could change your life.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Thailand Government.
