The Trickle Down Effect of the Government

A banner at Baw Kaew village draws out the history of the community in cartoons

Just last week I was in Baw Kaew, a protest village in Northeastern Thailand. There, villagers are continuing their 30-year struggle against the Thai government for taking over their land to develop a eucalyptus tree plantation. The protest village is illegally set up in the midst of eucalyptus trees. Back in the 1970’s as part of the national development plan, the government believed they were aiding reforestation by planting eucalyptus as a cash crop, which expanded industry. In reality, the plantation took over local villagers’ farmland.

This past unit looked at the impact of government policies on land. In addition to visiting Baw Kaew, we had a home stay in a forest village community named Toong Lui Lai. Near the forest village, the government established area asthe National Forest Reserve and then later the Wildlife Sanctuary, which designated land for preservation by arbitrarily drawing borders that overlapped with local villagers land. Subsequently, villagers have been arrested and charged for trespassing while farming for what villagers believe is their land. To give voice to their struggles, both Toong Lui Lai and Baw Kaew communities have united with the Isaan Land Reform Network of Thailand to go protest in Bangkok and ultimately to help them attain legal community land titles.

Today, I find myself back in the city considering the greater implications of these villagers’ long-term struggle against the government’s policies and actions. Considering the issues from the villagers’ perspective, it is easy to vilify the government and its policies. The government policies have created challenges to attain adequate living conditions and retain their means of livelihood and subsistence. Development and globalization often times jeopardizes the human rights of people as well as the sustainability of communities. The community visits show thetrickling down affect of policy on the community members. The networks, NGOs and community organizers give voice and legitimacy to the people’s problems. . As I think about the bigger picture, I am questioning the roles and responsibilities of the government to its people in causing and curing these larger issues.

When I begin to understand the concerns of the communities I visit, the roles and responsibility of government is becoming clearer. A mentor here explained that when thinking about change, it is important to first understand the root of the problem and how it functions. I also think it is important to understand the system by which policies are shaped and formed, because in fact they do affect the people. Both understandings are needed to address inadequacies from the top-down policy level.

The eucalyptus trees in Baw Kaew village.

A Slum Is Not A Slum

(My host mom is on the far left. Meh Joy in the middle, the most fun bad ass women ever!)

Last week I went to Nong Wang slum located just 10 minutes away from my home base apartment here in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

A little interesting background: This slum formed over 30 years ago. It is located next to the train tracks of the State Railway. It is illegal to dwell within the first 20 meters of the train tracks so these residents of Nong Wang are trespassing on the land. Because they are illegal, access to water and electricity is double to triple the price. Many people work as scavengers or in construction.They have been fighting against the government for land rights and recently obtained an area of land to move to legally.

In Thai class, we learned the words for slum--(chum-chon-eh-ad). I also learned how to say trespassing, railroad, evict, income, scavenging to converse. (Unfortunately I don't know how to say room, fork or phone in Thai). Later in the afternoon my friend and I were talking casually with the neighbor to find out more about the slum. My friend used the word chum-chon-eh-ad and the neighbor responded saying "not chum-chon-eh-ad, just chum-chon." They said this repeatedly. Ah Ha! My friend explained that 'chum-chon' meant community. They were saying that Nong Wang was a community, not a slum!

This realization brought up so many questions and ideas.Why was I told that I was coming to stay in a slum? Who officially gives it the title, a slum? We, in the US don't have much to compare a slum to except maybe a 'ghetto.' And who calls it a ghetto anyway?

When I first arrived at my homestay, I was shocked at the set up of the house. It looked nice! They had a TV, refrigerator, a spacious kitchen area, stereo system and a raised bed (not on the floor) all of which seem like luxuries to me here.

Why was this a community and not a slum? In Nong Wang, everyone knew their neighbor. My host mom had been living there for over 30 years right next to the train tracks. There was a sense of camaraderie. One conclusions is that proximity of space creates community where people live close to one another. Another conclusion is because Nong Wang has organized with the slum reform network (an NGO) in order to obtain land rights. This organization of the people may give them more of a united community feel.

Finally, it brings up the question of what does poverty really look like. Every village or community I go to I find myself asking this same question. With the luxuries mentioned before, does that mean the people are really poor? They have their basic needs from what I can see of food, shelter, clothes and medicine. Just because the physical condition of a house looks dilapidated does not mean they are impoverished. I did not sense they were seeking to change their socioeconomic situation. But just because they have a TV, does not mean they are not poor either.

As a westerner, I knowingly enter these communities with preconceived notions and understandings. I must take into account my own cultural relativism. I think having the chance to see villages and slums and what may or may not be called "poverty" will change the way I talk about these people in the future.

(The water fountain where people came to fill up their barrels with water. The background is the side of my host family's house. )

Winds of Change

Please take a look. Def Jam poetry on passing a beggar on the street. He puts into words the guilt we feel every time we pass a beggar asking for change. We lie to the beggar and ourselves when we avoid eye contact, shake our head and walk past in neglect. Check it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arohd-PMtaU&feature=player_embedded

"I know to find inner peace I can't just give him a piece of change. But I gotta piece together his stories so that I can understand"

What the heck am I doing here??

My favorite village picture

Overall, I have been here almost 6 weeks but only last week did I finally start my first academic unit about food and agriculture. We have 5 units total. Every unit we have a trip to the village or community where we stay in home stays. The trip is 5-7 days long. Then we return to the city for reflection days on what we learned and further activities on where we are at. We then have 2-3 days off and then start a new unit all over again.

This past unit we stayed with farmers. They mostly farm organic now because they had health problems and experienced environmental problems from chemical use. We met with an herbal medicine doctor and NGO representative from the Alternative Agriculture Network.

Below are some pictures of my host family. I stayed in what we'd consider to be a shack (but for them is a house). There were chickens, dogs, ducks, cows running all over the place. They have a huge vegetable garden so I got to eat fresh delicious food!

(My dad, and mom and little sister named Fanta. They have an older son named Pepsi. Their puppy is named Soda! Thai names can't get any better. See the house in the background)

It was incredible to have the opportunity to stay with this family and see how they live. We can only begin to acknowledge our privilege when we understand how others live. Being there made me consider whether I was seeing/experiencing poverty. No, they do not live in the luxury I come from. Their shack was dilapidated on stilts. But when it comes down to it, this family had home grown food, shelter, clothes and the basic essentials to live (even a TV and refrigerator). And they are happy too... So was this rural poverty?? I'm not so sure anymore.

(Monk boys playing games at a carnival I went to. Couldn't help but sneak a picture. Yes, that's a toy gun in hand.)

I'm Teacherless but Learning

Publish Post

Back home, I have been taught that to get an education means go to school, listen to the teacher speak, take notes on a lecture and regurgitate the information for a good grade. Wait, did you ever think to ask why our system is like that and what we actually learn from it?

Education here is different compared to our western understanding of education. Here we have "contemplative education."It's a holistic model of education that serves to educate not just the intellect but the mind, body and spirit too. Education is no longer limited to what you learn in the classroom. Instead it is shaped by everything around us.

I only realized two days ago that other than my Thai language instructors, I don't have teachers here. Whaaatt? Weird because I'm getting credit, right? By not having teachers, it is making me learn how to learn. Everyone becomes my teachers.

The Group Process:

How do you put into words what is do difficult to explain? We are 20 participants (19 girls and 1 boy). The group process is a tool in this education model. We create our program. We work together, challenging each other and growing from it. Imagine an environment that is truly democratic. We do not vote by majority but by 100% consensus and every persons voice is equally validated. So what the heck am I talking about???

Over a week ago we had to select people to be process facilitators who would be in charge of facilitating group dynamics essentially. For 4 spots, 9 people wanted it. We created a selection process that would be based on consensus. I sat there with others openly offering constructive criticism to my peers in the effort to decide who would be most suited. We stayed overtime and I was exhausted from my day that was over 12 hours long but we all left feeling extremely accomplished knowing that we all gained something from this grueling selection process.

(This is us doing group trust building exercise to build the group dynamic. One person had to lead the blindfolded partner across without touching the pebbles all over)

Ask yourself this: how do you learn best, where have your most transformative educational experiences come from and what do you want from your education. These are some of the questions I am faced with here.

Picture 3 concentric circles. At the inner most is comfort. The middle circle is discomfort and the outer most alarm. The idea is that we learn most in the circle of discomfort but not yet at the alarm stage. I can happily say, I'm in discomfort zone.

(Me and host family) (Me with a villager at a beautiful temple)

Photo Journalism

This week was really exciting finally jumping into some of the academic topics we'll be engaging in throughout the semester.

Today, in particular, was great. We had an all day photo journalism workshop. This is part of our social research methodology course to prepare us for entering villages, conducting interviews and writing about the people. The workshop was conducted by a professional journalist/photographer named Nic Dunlop who specializes in the SE Asia region.

I've always had an interest in photojournalism. A photo can tell us so much about a person or an event without ever being present. The goal of this workshop was 1) to build a relationship with a person and 2) to tell a story through images. After seeing some of Nic's amazing photographs, he gave us some general tips of taking pictures and sent us out on our own to the streets to capture a person in photographs. By the end of the day we needed to have 5 pictures to present. A photographer can take hundreds of pictures only to end up with a few keepers. The task seemed daunting!

I chose to photograph a man who was painting a gate/fence. We exchanged smiles and I knew he would be photogenic. I spent over an hour hanging out with him and photographing him at every angle. It seemed awkward to get up close and personal. I had to lose any inhibition in order to get that perfect photo and to build a relationship. We became buddies and I even painted a post of the gate for him! It was an empowering feeling to get over the fear and throw yourself into a situation that could be quite uncomfortable. Apparently Asians don't have a similar discomfort of being photographed as us Americans do.

In the afternoon I set out for a new subject. I found a colorful hair salon down the block and hung out there taking pictures at every which angle. I loved trying to capture the essence of people in their daily routine through a photograph. Below are some of the over 200 pictures I took today.

Crossing the Language Barrier

This is the article I wrote that will be submitted to the program newsletter. The newsletter goes to study abroad advisors, family and prospective students.

Crossing the Language Barrier

At my dentist’s office back home, there is a repeating quote on the wallpaper in multiple languages saying, “A smile is the same in all languages.” Like language, a smile is a form of communication. Coming to Thailand where I do not speak the native language, language seems like a barrier to communication. So what does it mean to communicate when you can’t share the same language? How do you do it?

This past week at our first school home stay, I was faced with my first language immersion challenge. In my family I had 2 nong sow (little sisters), 2 nong chai (little brothers) and a yai (grandmother) and none of them spoke English. I wanted to ask so many questions to find out about their family and their way of life but I didn’t know how to ask. While I could say some sentences in Thai to them, I could rarely understand what they said to me. After one week of Thai language class, I was still a novice. Sometimes I just shrugged and said "mai kao djai," meaning "I don't understand" and I’d flash a pearly white smile across my face.

The first night, I sat there in silence. The kids were watching a Thai stand up comedian on TV doing a sketch on lady boys (men who dress as women). While I didn’t catch a word he said, I understood the jist because of the lipstick he put on, the high heel shoes he wore and his feminine mannerisms. This comedian didn’t just use his words to communicate, but he used his whole body. I realized that communication is not about the words spoken but the actions and personality expressed.

So what to do when verbal language fails? The rest of the week, my lack of Thai didn't stop me from joking around and playing with the kids. We did yoga together, played volley ball, listened to Thai and American music and looked at pictures. We cracked jokes together through eye contact and winks, pointing and dancing. The kids loved studying my Thai language books with me because there was no English required.

I felt welcomed even though we never used words to communicate endearment to each other. When I left, the grandma gave me a warm hug and smile and tied a piece of string around my wrist, a custom and symbol for wishing good luck and happiness. I think they said I was welcomed to come back, but maybe some things do get lost in translation. Either way, it helped me understand how non-verbal communication allows our personalities to shine and for laughter to sound louder than words could ever speak.

Before I left home, my friend referred to Thailand as the “Land of Smiles.” It is not just Thais who flash their teeth but us farangs (foreigners) too. Lately my cheeks have been hurting from smiling so much because when you have no words to say sometimes, your beaming eyes say it all.” I’m glad I had myteeth cleaned before I left.