Last December, I was fortunate enough to be part of Spinning Top’s Little Lotus project. A crew of ­us artists, photographers and videographers from around the world headed to the border of Thailand and Burma, where we’ve gotten to know some beautiful Burmese refugee children. We were stationed at two schools, SAW and Sky Blue, and there we taught art classes, painted murals, among other fun things. My part of the trip was made possible through the generosity of several people and We’ar. We’ar’s support was incredible and I was happy to rock some of their amazing gear on the road.

What I loved about traveling in We’ar clothes is how free I felt in them. The cuts are generous that it allowed so much movement, and the hoodies on dresses really came in handy for situations like curling up on long bus rides or guarding against 80 kph winds riding the back of a pick up. It was wash and wear sans the frump. The fabric felt delicious, and it was also airy enough for the tropics. The designs truly reflect how much traveling in this part of the world is a part of the founder’s life, which it is.

Yoga is a huge part of my routine back home, and it was awesome to have kept the practice in between project breaks. It provided some much-needed grounding amidst the din of everything that went on.

There was a lot that went down in Mae Sot and every day of the project was golden. I have a lot of favourite moments there and here are a few highlights:

Our first evening bike ride around town, after we arrived from our 10-hour bus ride from Bangkok.

Before we officially started work on the schools, we visited an orphanage where some of the SAW school kids live.  Some of us who were inked got swarmed by a lot of them, checking if they can erase our tattoos. We taught them variations of high-fives (fist bumps!) and gave them mandarins.

Being surrounded by all of them looking so elated was incredible. We later learned that they were either orphaned from losing their parents to HIV/AIDS, or they’ve been rescued from human trafficking. Very humbling. My favourite thing is being called “Teacher” by them.

Painting the ABC murals at SAW school was a collaborative task with the kids. Me, Sheryo, The Yok and Ritzy Periwinkle painted the alphabet around the school, then each kid painted inside the letters. A couple of days before we prepped them by getting them to draw on paper. It was awesome to see them slowly let loose and get bolder with their creations as the classes went on.

We painted these murals for Sky Blue school, while a few of our other teammates built a rockin’ sculpture shelter in front of the school. Sky Blue is close to the rubbish site where most of the kids work during the day. A whole community live on the dump site itself and we were able to visit them there. These families chose to live there and most of them earn 100 baht ($4 NZD) a day from collecting scraps to be sold to recycle centers. 

The educational/interactive mural at the back of Sky Blue school. Best part was when the kids started reading the words and playing with the illustrations!

There’s still heaps more that went on in the project, so for more stories check out the official Little Lotus blog and it’s Facebook page. The trip itself has already finished but the post-trip work begins over the course of several months, as we release web videos and photos leading up to the fundraising exhibits happening in New Zealand and the US. A documentary of the project will also be released middle of this year, so keep your feelers up for that. All these to raise even more awareness about the situation in Mae Sot, as well as raise more funds for the kids.  Access to education and art supplies is a luxury for these children  and all funds raised from Little Lotus will go towards their ongoing welfare and education.

Massive thanks and big love to Jyoti and Anya for their immense support on this project. We’ar rocks my world!

(All photos, except the last one, are taken by Patrick Shepherd.)