Why Placements are Chosen

Starfish looks carefully at the needs of the communities in which it serves to ensure that the things that we do have the most impact for those communities and their environments.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide support for all worthy causes in Thailand, so we have chosen to support certain community and environmental causes in various places (see Destinations).

Dan Moore, Starfish Director and founder, said: “We look carefully at the circumstances in which our causes find themselves and try to act responsibly in our choices. Although we cannot wave a magic wand, we need to know that our input makes a real difference that can be built upon.”

One example is Tha Thum, the village in which we organise our Elephant Adventure combining community develop and working with elephants. Starfish chose this particular village because its elders do not allow villagers to take elephants into towns to beg, where they are often mistreated.

“We are helping people who have shown the will to help themselves”, says Dan. “This way, we know that whatever we can achieve will be appreciated and developed further by locals.”

Much of our financial support is linked to existing projects. For example, volunteer numbers for one month meant that Starfish could provide clothes, food, bed and blanket for two ‘family-less’ old lady living in the elephant village. We also had electricity connected to their homes giving the village elder sufficient funds to pay their utility bill over the next 12 months.