Rick Opland and his team of students from California State University Long Beach (College of Business Administration), returned again this year for a week in June (2018).

We invited the group to help us with the Rai Som school project, and work involved a number of jobs at the temporary school - tiling the floor of the second classroom, painting murals and characters on the children's bathroom block, as well as planting trees and creating a square play area using old car tyres. The murals on the bathroom wall are fantastic, and have brightened up the block immensely. A team of four students flexed their muscles and spent the majority of their time digging post holes for the inaugural building of the new school project - a toilet block! Once the post holes were finished, the hole for the cesspit was dug out (as fast as the group removed earth, the measurements changed and cave-ins occurred... so it felt a bit like a Sisyphean task for a while, but the job ended with two columns of four concrete pipes being lowered into the hole).

The trees planted are a type of cherry blossom, which will eventually provide a beautiful border to the school grounds.

Similar to last year's trip, the group mixed the volunteer work with a couple of meetings to learn business practices used by local coffee companies - one grows and sells the brand "Abedo" coffee, and the group had a pleasant morning walking around the production area learning about coffee bean processing. After lunch at Abedo's restaurant, and meeting Abedo himself, the group had a Q&A session with the manager of a family-run coffee shop outside Chiang Rai, called Lee Hu cafe.

The group had a great attitude towards the work and the project as a whole. Even a disabled dog adopted by our school principal was helped with team members building a carriage so that it could walk more easily.

We hope to see CSU again next year, and individual members are always welcome back.