As the program winds down, and everything comes to a end, looking back it's surprising the amount that I've done here. The program itself is a little unconventional and not exactly what I was thinking it was going to be, but it was exactly what I needed. Coming to Thailand I felt that there was a void, that something in my life just wasn't being fulfilled. I was quiet nervous about coming here and about what was going to happen. Was I going to find out more about myself? Was I going to change my career path? was I going to even come back to the states? to be completely honest, those are all questions that I asked myself many many times. I had alot of internal conflicts to think about through out this program, and while I don't think I've hashed out any of them, I do think I've gained the proper insist I needed for myself.
Firstly I know FOR A FACT that what ever I do in the future, I has to involve some type of activist work. Weather I become a doctor, go to graduate school, Or just end up coming back and living in Thailand, I have to be doing something that makes a difference. There are so many people in the world that have no desire to do anything for any one else, so many people who are apathetic, and even more that would love to help but physical just can't because they have too many problems of their own, so why should I , a person who has been blessed with such opportunity and chance not do my best to help make the world better. It would make no sense for me not to even try.
Secondly, I've learned an incredible amount about myself. I have to say my level of confidence has gone up increasingly. I am not only impressed by my ability to engross myself in to a completely different culture, I'm ever impressed by my ability to learn and grow as a person, and learn about the things I do as a person, and accept them instead of fight them. What I;m really impressed about is my reaction to the "slump." As much as I loved Thailand, I'm not going to lie, I went through a pretty bad slump. but after a few days of it, I just thought to myself" what the hell am I doing?" Why be in a slump. I was in fucking Thailand. There no excuses. Enjoy every part of it while your here because in another month your going to be back in Boston, at the info commons working on something that you really have no desire to work on. So as you realize this, transfer it on to your life ahead. Live for the day. the most out used phrase of the day to day optimist, but it works. In some sense i don't think I really understood how to go about abiding by that quote..... until now.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Pak Mun Dam
Pak Mun Is the second village that I visited on the third unit of the program. This village has a similar problem to that of Rasi Sali, however it’s much furthur down the timeline, and sadly not in a good way. The Pak mun dam project was built under the guish of a mass development plan that the Thai government was under going created by the World Bank. The dam was supposedly supposed to be built to create a significant amount of electricity for the region surrounding the dam, but is not producing efficient amounts of electricity. The dam, like the one at Rasi Sali, has severely destroyed the environment around it as well as affecting the livelihoods of the villagers in the surrounding areas.
My initial view of Pak Mun was very different then my view of Rasi Sali. While I could see a Young movement and active community involvement in the issue, there was none of that at Pak Mun. The whole community seemed more beaten down and tired then unity and active, due mainly to the huge timeline stretch and the way the issue was being treated by the Thai government. The most significant difference I saw in the two communities was the way of life, and the work. While in Rasi Sali you would still see rice fields and feel a sense of community, in Pak mun I only saw broom making, the way the villagers compensated for their lost income from ruined rice field and fishing, and seclusion.
I think what affected me most about my time in Pak mun was the image of the river and the fishing boats along the banks. Rather then farmers, the villagers of Pak Mun are more considered to be fisherman. Since the building of the dam, the migration of fish up stream to where they fish has severely decreased, and in turn affected the villagers way of live.
This being said, In the morning of the first day that I stayed in Pak Mun, I went fishing with my homestay father. As I walked to the river, I was astounded by the sight of fishing boats laying all along the river side, many destroyed and unusable. It turns out that the day before, the gates to the dam was open in order to let the water through for the rice fields for a small time period, but that night they closed the gates for 4 months because the government decreed that it was time. In turn the river shrunk, and all the boats that where on the river washed a ashore on to the bed. I was again astounded by the advances of “development”.
My initial view of Pak Mun was very different then my view of Rasi Sali. While I could see a Young movement and active community involvement in the issue, there was none of that at Pak Mun. The whole community seemed more beaten down and tired then unity and active, due mainly to the huge timeline stretch and the way the issue was being treated by the Thai government. The most significant difference I saw in the two communities was the way of life, and the work. While in Rasi Sali you would still see rice fields and feel a sense of community, in Pak mun I only saw broom making, the way the villagers compensated for their lost income from ruined rice field and fishing, and seclusion.
I think what affected me most about my time in Pak mun was the image of the river and the fishing boats along the banks. Rather then farmers, the villagers of Pak Mun are more considered to be fisherman. Since the building of the dam, the migration of fish up stream to where they fish has severely decreased, and in turn affected the villagers way of live.
This being said, In the morning of the first day that I stayed in Pak Mun, I went fishing with my homestay father. As I walked to the river, I was astounded by the sight of fishing boats laying all along the river side, many destroyed and unusable. It turns out that the day before, the gates to the dam was open in order to let the water through for the rice fields for a small time period, but that night they closed the gates for 4 months because the government decreed that it was time. In turn the river shrunk, and all the boats that where on the river washed a ashore on to the bed. I was again astounded by the advances of “development”.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Projec Time begins
So it's come time for final project to start. I'm actually really excited about what I'm going to be able to do, but I'm not going to lie, I don't exactly know how I'm going to do it. I was debating between two different projects,. One was going to be the human right youth network, which is a network of youth groups through out Thailand and Myanmar that was started this semester through the efforts of a group of us students. I've been involved in this project for a bit, but don't really feel a deep connection to it. Ultimately I decided on Na Nong Bong, the village where my heart lies.
I'm actually really excited to be going back to Na Nong Bong and to be able to finally do something that will help the community. The project should be interesting because the group that We have for the project is interesting. After some deliberation, We decided to do a media project that we can transfer on to the villagers to raise awareness of the issue that is happening to the their village and the surrounding area. We decided that we're going to make a short video outlining the human rights violations that are occurring and match them with the faces of people that are affected. For instance one of the main rights being violate in the village is the right to water. WE plan on interviewing a person's who's right to water has been severely affected and hopefully illicit a emotional response out of those that the video is being presented too. The most important part of the project is the sustainability aspect of it. The protect has to be sustainable and thus has to be able to be used by the villagers. We shall see how this turns out...
I'm actually really excited to be going back to Na Nong Bong and to be able to finally do something that will help the community. The project should be interesting because the group that We have for the project is interesting. After some deliberation, We decided to do a media project that we can transfer on to the villagers to raise awareness of the issue that is happening to the their village and the surrounding area. We decided that we're going to make a short video outlining the human rights violations that are occurring and match them with the faces of people that are affected. For instance one of the main rights being violate in the village is the right to water. WE plan on interviewing a person's who's right to water has been severely affected and hopefully illicit a emotional response out of those that the video is being presented too. The most important part of the project is the sustainability aspect of it. The protect has to be sustainable and thus has to be able to be used by the villagers. We shall see how this turns out...
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Golden Cycle
Leaving for my second trip to Na Nong Bong, I was excited to return to a village that has struck me in a certain way that none of the others have. On a near by mountain, a company known as Tung Khum Limited has been operating a mine for a number of years now. The mining process has [allegedly ed.] affected the environment and water sources of the surrounding areas. This includes the ground water that the people of the surrounding villages use to drink, wash dishes, and bath in. Na Nong Bong being the closet to the [claim that the ed.] mining site, [has caused ed.] severe health affects and reduces crop yields in their fields. This has lead them to take measure against the mine in hopes that their way of life may be restored to the extent where they do not have to worry unnecessarily about the basic human rights of water, health , and a proper environment.
The first time that I went to Na Nong Bong, the village was in the midst of excitement. They were about to protest a vote that would extend the current mine that is severely affecting their livelihoods to another part of the mountain, furthering the risk that was involved with the mining process. We were witness to the preparation, act and then success afterward. The more I learned about the situation, the more I was impressed by their passion to push for their livelihoods.
Coming back to Na Nong Bong, there were no protests, but the sense of the community and passion to maintain their livelihoods was still very apparent. I was incredibly struck by the villager’s ability to keep up the fight. Personally, I had my doubts about what the people of the village could actually accomplish. The mining company has made a large effort to slip through cracks in the political bureaucracies and make a solid effort to disprove the rather obvious effects of the mine, that it seemed like the viscous cycle that normally occurs in the realm of development was continuing. The demands of the many are out weighing the needs of the view.
The cycle seemed as if it was going to occur in this community as well. One thing that I thought to myself was if I am getting discouraged over the issue, then how could the villagers, the people that live with it on a day to day basis really work past it. It seems as if everything was working against them. The first issue that I made note of is the health aspect. Proper health is obviously an essential part of having a proper life. Without proper health, one cannot work, and if one cannot work, one cannot properly provide for their families. In the case of Na Nong Bong, chemical poisoning, and irritation has caused problems for the people in the village. However, the government and the mining company some how find a way around each and every medical problem that happens. They have even gotten a hold of the ministry of provincial health, an entity that should in all honesty know better and understand the problems that are being caused. Yet again the few are suffering for the demands of the many. To what extent can this really be acceptable.
When will our own lust for more demand be outweighed by the lives of the few? It seems like a fairly blatant resolve, however in reality it’s not so black and white. At some point the people’s lives have to outweigh the benefits…. right?
The first time that I went to Na Nong Bong, the village was in the midst of excitement. They were about to protest a vote that would extend the current mine that is severely affecting their livelihoods to another part of the mountain, furthering the risk that was involved with the mining process. We were witness to the preparation, act and then success afterward. The more I learned about the situation, the more I was impressed by their passion to push for their livelihoods.
Coming back to Na Nong Bong, there were no protests, but the sense of the community and passion to maintain their livelihoods was still very apparent. I was incredibly struck by the villager’s ability to keep up the fight. Personally, I had my doubts about what the people of the village could actually accomplish. The mining company has made a large effort to slip through cracks in the political bureaucracies and make a solid effort to disprove the rather obvious effects of the mine, that it seemed like the viscous cycle that normally occurs in the realm of development was continuing. The demands of the many are out weighing the needs of the view.
The cycle seemed as if it was going to occur in this community as well. One thing that I thought to myself was if I am getting discouraged over the issue, then how could the villagers, the people that live with it on a day to day basis really work past it. It seems as if everything was working against them. The first issue that I made note of is the health aspect. Proper health is obviously an essential part of having a proper life. Without proper health, one cannot work, and if one cannot work, one cannot properly provide for their families. In the case of Na Nong Bong, chemical poisoning, and irritation has caused problems for the people in the village. However, the government and the mining company some how find a way around each and every medical problem that happens. They have even gotten a hold of the ministry of provincial health, an entity that should in all honesty know better and understand the problems that are being caused. Yet again the few are suffering for the demands of the many. To what extent can this really be acceptable.
When will our own lust for more demand be outweighed by the lives of the few? It seems like a fairly blatant resolve, however in reality it’s not so black and white. At some point the people’s lives have to outweigh the benefits…. right?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Full Moon And reverse Culture Shock
SO during the only break that we get on this program, me and a few friends decided to take advantage of the time we had and go down south to the islands of Thailand, and more specifically to koh samui and Koh Pha Ngang. Luckily enough, our break coincided perfectly with one of the largest events in south east asia, the Full Moon Party. The full moon party is a large rave that happens on a remote beach on the island o Koh Pha Ngang. Its come tobe a large gathering of forgieners, mainly europeans and australians, for a night of what most would call debauchery. After having spent the majority of the last two months in Thailand living in villages and picking rice, we thought that this might be a intresting break from it all and a return to some of the things that we know best. While it did have components of that, it also had a large component of "What the hell is going on?"
We flew in to kho Samui the night of Halloween. Koh Samui is the larger island and the hub i guess you would say of the islands in the south. AFter we arrived we made our way to the island of Koh Pha Ngang were the party was going to be. The only way to reach Koh Pha Ngang is by ferry, However before we left I personally made a reservation for a room on the island, and the time was getting too late to check in. So since I got the reservation, i rushed to the isalnd as fast as I could while the others waited for the next ferry at the hour. I had to take a speed boat with two chilean couples. As we rode the 45 min journey, the sun set on the water, islands surronding us, and paridase engulfing us. it was amazing. Once I got to the island, I immediatly realized that the place was not the Thailand I knew. There was pizza and t-shirt shops every where, and excitingly enough mexican food. I walked around to area ammazed at all the lights and western culture that was stuffed in to a small island, and to be compleatly honest, I was a little freaked out. haha
As my firends arrived, We realized that the hotel I booked was on the other side of the island and that It would be impossible to travel that far everyday. Instead we found a place that had three rooms on the beach amd stayed there. That night, the beach was filled with fire and peope from everywhere. While walking from one side of the beach to the other I heard probably 5 different languages and accents. It was amazing. Then in the distance I saw something I thought I would never see in my live. It was a 20 foot fire jump rope, being twirled by two of the scranisest thai men I had ever seen. I ran to the rope as fast as I could and immediatly jumped in.... did 4 jumps and tripped on the rope.
And that was only the first night.
The second night was the Full Moon Party. AS I spent the day exploring the island and even snorkeling with a burmesse refugee, who told me the story of his live and how he escaped the Myanmar government by walking across the boarder with just a plastic bag, I couldn't help but think about the immense differences in culture and ways of life the locals on the island must live compared to those where I come from. While they don't have to deal with flooded rice fields, they do have to deal with asshole tourist, a huge loss of culture, crime, and many other things. It was a intresting contrest to the program, but had great parallels.
The night of the full moon was incredible. While within 1 our I lost my firends, i had a blast, and at one point looked up at the sky, saw that huge ful moon and thought" Where the hell am I?"
We flew in to kho Samui the night of Halloween. Koh Samui is the larger island and the hub i guess you would say of the islands in the south. AFter we arrived we made our way to the island of Koh Pha Ngang were the party was going to be. The only way to reach Koh Pha Ngang is by ferry, However before we left I personally made a reservation for a room on the island, and the time was getting too late to check in. So since I got the reservation, i rushed to the isalnd as fast as I could while the others waited for the next ferry at the hour. I had to take a speed boat with two chilean couples. As we rode the 45 min journey, the sun set on the water, islands surronding us, and paridase engulfing us. it was amazing. Once I got to the island, I immediatly realized that the place was not the Thailand I knew. There was pizza and t-shirt shops every where, and excitingly enough mexican food. I walked around to area ammazed at all the lights and western culture that was stuffed in to a small island, and to be compleatly honest, I was a little freaked out. haha
As my firends arrived, We realized that the hotel I booked was on the other side of the island and that It would be impossible to travel that far everyday. Instead we found a place that had three rooms on the beach amd stayed there. That night, the beach was filled with fire and peope from everywhere. While walking from one side of the beach to the other I heard probably 5 different languages and accents. It was amazing. Then in the distance I saw something I thought I would never see in my live. It was a 20 foot fire jump rope, being twirled by two of the scranisest thai men I had ever seen. I ran to the rope as fast as I could and immediatly jumped in.... did 4 jumps and tripped on the rope.
And that was only the first night.
The second night was the Full Moon Party. AS I spent the day exploring the island and even snorkeling with a burmesse refugee, who told me the story of his live and how he escaped the Myanmar government by walking across the boarder with just a plastic bag, I couldn't help but think about the immense differences in culture and ways of life the locals on the island must live compared to those where I come from. While they don't have to deal with flooded rice fields, they do have to deal with asshole tourist, a huge loss of culture, crime, and many other things. It was a intresting contrest to the program, but had great parallels.
The night of the full moon was incredible. While within 1 our I lost my firends, i had a blast, and at one point looked up at the sky, saw that huge ful moon and thought" Where the hell am I?"
Monday, October 26, 2009
U-Facing
I have to say, being a unit facilitator was interesting. A unit facilitator is the person that basically leads a unit in the programs. They make sure that all the exchanges go smoothly, which is when we meet and talk to people involved in the issues that's being discussed, and doing the briefing if the unit and the workshop, which is sort of like a debriefing. While it seems as i many people in the program did not enjoy the position, I surprisingly did. I some how discovered that I missed working hard in a way. I'm so used to the hectic schedule and long night that I have at school, that I began missing it in a way, which I don't know if that's good or not for my sanity in the future.
As a unit facilitator we had a few extra duties then the past 2 unit facilitator groups did. We had the job right in the midst o what they we were calling the slump. The slump is the period on study abroad were most people start to go in to hiding in a way, they start to miss home and people, and because of that go through a sort of depression. This was not exactly the funnest time to be doing the job, as many people has really begun to hate the program, and in turn retaliated using passive agression. So to try to liven things up and get the group past this slump, we tried to change up the way the unit was runig for once. It seemed as though everything had gotten a little too monotonus and that because of it people were unhappy.
When I normally do these types of things, I love to really have a ineractive component to them. While at home, I'm the president of a club called Globemed that does similar things in informing the student population of northeastern, so I wanted to try and mimic some of the things that I did back home a little bit. What we came up with essentially was a water ballon fight. It was genius. The fight was done in such a way that a feelings of emotion could be envoked. We made it so that one side was the villagers, and gave them limited supplies, and limited space to move, while the other side we called the governement, or in general terms, "The Man." We gave that side a larger ammount of water balloons and oppertunities to get the other team wet. In the end the mesage was that with a certain ammount of reasources the villagers or any marginalized group has to face difficulties in order to accomplish their goals.
As a unit facilitator we had a few extra duties then the past 2 unit facilitator groups did. We had the job right in the midst o what they we were calling the slump. The slump is the period on study abroad were most people start to go in to hiding in a way, they start to miss home and people, and because of that go through a sort of depression. This was not exactly the funnest time to be doing the job, as many people has really begun to hate the program, and in turn retaliated using passive agression. So to try to liven things up and get the group past this slump, we tried to change up the way the unit was runig for once. It seemed as though everything had gotten a little too monotonus and that because of it people were unhappy.
When I normally do these types of things, I love to really have a ineractive component to them. While at home, I'm the president of a club called Globemed that does similar things in informing the student population of northeastern, so I wanted to try and mimic some of the things that I did back home a little bit. What we came up with essentially was a water ballon fight. It was genius. The fight was done in such a way that a feelings of emotion could be envoked. We made it so that one side was the villagers, and gave them limited supplies, and limited space to move, while the other side we called the governement, or in general terms, "The Man." We gave that side a larger ammount of water balloons and oppertunities to get the other team wet. In the end the mesage was that with a certain ammount of reasources the villagers or any marginalized group has to face difficulties in order to accomplish their goals.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Development???
Rasi Sali is the first village that I went to on the third unit of our program. The issue of this unit is water, and more specifically dams. In Rasi Sali, the government of Thailand built a dam for what they say is irrigation purposes, but instead the dam has done nothing more then flooded crucial crop fields for surrounding villagers and diverted the fish that normally come up stream. This has in turn severely affected their livelihoods, mainly due to violation of right to culture, food, work, health, etc. The situation has been happening for quite some time now, and the Thai government is well aware of the issue at hand. The most inspiring part about this is the activism of the locals in the village. A few years ago, the elders of the Rasi Sali village decided that they were not going to stand for the violations that were occurring any more, and in retaliation and pure civil disobedience style, they set up a protest village outside of the entrance to the dam. The village includes members from many families through out the village and come to show what a community with an issue can do when they mobilize.
My own experiences and impressions of the village were interesting. I have to say that I never really thought of right to culture as a huge issue. Rights seem to be tangible things that are or are notgiven to someone, such as food, water, work, right? How can one measure the right to culture anyways? Well I guess I have to then think about what exactly a right to culture in America would be maybe to find a parallel. In the case of Rasi Sali, the fields of which they plants cow neow, or sticky rice, were flooded. Cow neow is a stable of the northeast region of Thailand and in a way culturally defines the region. It’s in many ways seen as a lower class food to many of the people in the rest of Thailand, but that’s also in many ways why its so important. On top of that the people in the area have a long history of working as fisherman and farmers. It has become part of their culture and even has been integrated in to their holiday system, with the month surrounding harvest season being vacation time for the children of the area so that they can help their parents harvest rice.
The conclusion of this is that the people of the area have a tradition to their land and their work, a defining part of their culture. The dam has essentially forced them to look for other venues of employment, abandoning what they know best from years of training to do “new generation” jobs such as driving taxi’s in Bangkok, and running shops in Bangkok’s tourist hot spot, Khao San road. It does not really seem fair does it? And all in the name of development for new times, seems more one sided to me.
My own experiences and impressions of the village were interesting. I have to say that I never really thought of right to culture as a huge issue. Rights seem to be tangible things that are or are notgiven to someone, such as food, water, work, right? How can one measure the right to culture anyways? Well I guess I have to then think about what exactly a right to culture in America would be maybe to find a parallel. In the case of Rasi Sali, the fields of which they plants cow neow, or sticky rice, were flooded. Cow neow is a stable of the northeast region of Thailand and in a way culturally defines the region. It’s in many ways seen as a lower class food to many of the people in the rest of Thailand, but that’s also in many ways why its so important. On top of that the people in the area have a long history of working as fisherman and farmers. It has become part of their culture and even has been integrated in to their holiday system, with the month surrounding harvest season being vacation time for the children of the area so that they can help their parents harvest rice.
The conclusion of this is that the people of the area have a tradition to their land and their work, a defining part of their culture. The dam has essentially forced them to look for other venues of employment, abandoning what they know best from years of training to do “new generation” jobs such as driving taxi’s in Bangkok, and running shops in Bangkok’s tourist hot spot, Khao San road. It does not really seem fair does it? And all in the name of development for new times, seems more one sided to me.
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