Though more than thirty years had passed since we alighted to our VIA posts as fresh-faced young adults, the excitement at the prospect of seeing new places, meeting new people, and experiencing new cultures felt very familiar. In January 2024, four of us VIA alums met our tour guide (strategic director Wallace Wong) in Bangkok, Thailand to begin a week and a half of immersion in Thai culture and history and reconnection with VIA. We naturally enjoyed seeing glorious temples, eating fantastic food at night markets, and, of course, cavorting with elephants. But the most memorable aspect was visiting VIA-connected institutions in Mae Sot, on the Thai-Myanmar border. There we helped teach a school lesson to refugee camp students at the Minmahaw School and visited a clinic for Burmese refugees. Soon afterwards, spent the day at the Social Impact Partnership Conference in Chiang Mai, exchanging stories and ideas over great food with current Global Community Fellows, leaders from partner organizations, and other VIA alums.
We were confident that traveling through VIA would provide special insights and perspectives that no standard tour or solo travel could provide. We weren’t disappointed. We really valued sharing our VIA experiences from a generation ago with current fellows and other alums. Even decades later, the imprint of our time with VIA during our formative young adult years remains sharp. Hearing about how the organization has adroitly evolved to changing times and continues to do important, innovative work over sixty years since its inception was deeply gratifying, and makes us very eager to join the next study tour!
