The Free Bird Cafe
Part of life at the Panya Project, the community that Ohli and I are currently living in, involves outreach into the wider community, whenever the opportunity arises. In the city of Chiang Mai, about 60 km from the farm, is a cafe and school called Freedom House and the Free Bird Cafe. The school offers free education for Burmese refugee children, misplaced from their homes and with no other access to schooling. The teachers are all volunteers, under the guidance of the owner and manager of the project, Lisa. The cafe was set up to support the financial needs of the school, and serves vegetarian and vegan traditional Thai, Shan (Burmese hilltribe) and Western foods. There is also a charity shop and bicycles to rent. (you can visit them at www.thaifreedomhouse.org)
For years now the school cafe and charity shop have all been in the same building, with classes starting in the afternoon after the cafe and shop closes. But just recently the owner of the building decided to suddenly and unexpectedly raise the rent to more than double the price, making it impossible for Freedom House to continue working there. So, after months of Lisa searching the local streets by bicycle, two more venues were found; one for the cafe and shop and one for the school.
Lisa has had a connection to Panya for years and volunteers had visited the previous cafe once before, donating plants and working in the gardens. We realised that this would be a very useful time to work together a second time, as she was swamped trying to get both locations prepared and ready for their new beginning.
Many challenges are facing Freedom House at the moment. The rent on the two buildings is much higher than the previous location, so the cafe must very quickly be up, running and looking beautiful as soon as possible, to begin bringing in the extra income needed. And for us, the project also has it's challenges; from beginning to end, this project has a time limit of one month; from the first meeting with Lisa and making initial observations of the site, to implementing the design ready for the official opening party.
This design will be my first group project. There are four of us who are taking the roles of main designers, and the whole community will be implementing the design together once the plans are final. Others will be called upon and involved for help within their specialist areas. Finding effective ways to work together will be an essential part of the journey of this project for me personally, and I'm sure it will be a great learning experience.
You can continue to the first stage of the design here.
For years now the school cafe and charity shop have all been in the same building, with classes starting in the afternoon after the cafe and shop closes. But just recently the owner of the building decided to suddenly and unexpectedly raise the rent to more than double the price, making it impossible for Freedom House to continue working there. So, after months of Lisa searching the local streets by bicycle, two more venues were found; one for the cafe and shop and one for the school.
Lisa has had a connection to Panya for years and volunteers had visited the previous cafe once before, donating plants and working in the gardens. We realised that this would be a very useful time to work together a second time, as she was swamped trying to get both locations prepared and ready for their new beginning.
Many challenges are facing Freedom House at the moment. The rent on the two buildings is much higher than the previous location, so the cafe must very quickly be up, running and looking beautiful as soon as possible, to begin bringing in the extra income needed. And for us, the project also has it's challenges; from beginning to end, this project has a time limit of one month; from the first meeting with Lisa and making initial observations of the site, to implementing the design ready for the official opening party.
This design will be my first group project. There are four of us who are taking the roles of main designers, and the whole community will be implementing the design together once the plans are final. Others will be called upon and involved for help within their specialist areas. Finding effective ways to work together will be an essential part of the journey of this project for me personally, and I'm sure it will be a great learning experience.
You can continue to the first stage of the design here.