Ethical WickedThis season has been one of many new partnerships at Wicked Diving, both in the water and on land. One new partner we are particularly excited to be working with is Baan San Fan Orphanage www.baansanfan.org . We are working with BSF to develop locally made and eco products to use on our boats, provide internships for the children, and to give them the opportunity to be involved in beach cleans ups and other environmental activities.
Which Came first the Chicken or the Egg?
Rather than simply donating money and creating a dependency on charity, Wicked Diving is working very closely with the Orphanage to create a sustainable future. Our first large project is to provide free-range, organically grown eggs to operations in the region. We have purchase more than a hundred chickens to start this project. We are also the first client! All eggs in our cafe and on our boats are from the orphanage and we are helping them supply other local eateries as well! Our hope is to assist in creating more opportunities like this to generate income and training. 
Baan San Fan (BSF) provides a home for up to 40 children who have been orphaned, many of them from the tsunami. They not only provide a home but they ensure the children get access to medical care, education and training, and support them to get a job or go to university. Read below to hear more about our recent visit to the orphanage…
Last Saturday we left our Khao Lak dive shop and cafe for an adventure into the beautiful Thai countryside to visit our friends at Baan San Fan Orphanage (BSF).
As the three musketeers:
Sara, the cookie maker extraordinaire from Wicked Café
Samantha, the Wicked Eco Chief and dive instructor
P Oy, the Thai shop manager who is most definitely the lady in the know
We were invited to meet the BSF family, have lunch and see the orphanage in full swing.
On arrival we were met by the very charming Gai and Sam, the owners of the orphanage, and visiting volunteers Jason and Emily. Very quickly inquisitive smiling faces came running across the green and we were joined by the broader family who were either covered in glitter from an earlier art class, or riding bicycles 3 sizes too big – always impressive in my book!
After the initial Sabai Dee Mai’s we set off on a tour of the very pretty and natural grounds. Sam and Gai are passionate about preserving the natural environment they live in and have recently introduced organic farming to their land. They want to produce all of their own food and teach the kids as part of the process. You can really feel and see their passion for this, it’s very refreshing.
As we walk round there are flowers and fruit trees everywhere. Sam shows me cashew nut trees and tells me they use them for cooking and to make wine – he had clearly got me sussed! We went on to see the vegetable patch, the fruit trees and the new ‘polytunnel’ where BSF are trialling growing organic tomatoes. We also met the more recent additions to the family, the pigs and chickens. These have been particularly popular with the kids as they can help to look after them. We’ve got our fingers crossed for organic eggs soon!
With our tour finished we sat with the whole BSF family for lunch. We were very spoilt with fresh ingredients from the gardens and home cooking by Gai and some of the girls. It was delicious as was the homemade tea made from hibiscus. The end of lunch was announced with a rather loud sound of the horn from a bus in the forecourt. Sam smiled with glee explaining that the budding trainee mechanics had managed to fix it.
After lunch we managed to squeeze in a brief chat about product ideas, and a rather enjoyable jam tasting, before launching ourselves into the art room to play with the kids. We quickly discovered that glitter gets everywhere and you never beat a 6 year old at ‘match the cards’.
Tired and full, the three musketeers said big thank yous to the BSF family and squeezed in a quick family photo opportunity before heading back to Khao Lak. We look forward to welcoming the BSF family to Khao Lak for cookies and celebrating their first organic egg!
