As I'm sure many of you have heard, there has been some political instability in Thailand. Here is a short article:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timcollard/100046232/thailand-goes-back-to-sleep-but-for-how-long/
And a good blog with information about current events:
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/
We're all fine here, but it is always good to keep up to date!
From here to there.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Happy July 4th...ish
Oh, where to begin? These past couple of days have been busy and constantly interesting. It's hard to remember even what to write or what folks back home will be interested in because there is so much that is new and different.
There's the songtaew (a truck with benches in the truck bed) I take to work until I get my motorcycle license (yes, that too!)
Then there's the house itself, which we gave quite the deep cleaning the other day. It looks much better now and it quickly becoming home for me. I am even getting used to the constant state of sweaty stickiness.
Then there's the group of people that I'm with. We are currently working on building our group and learning how to work together. This first month is really based on establishing trust and confidence in moving forward before the student group arrives.
Due to the political turmoil in Thailand as of late, there will only be 10 students coming in for this semester. There are usually more like 30! This is going to be a challenge and a potential opportunity for the program. We might be able to get a lot of extra work done, or we might end up being challenged in completely different but equally time consuming ways. (And no Mom, this does not mean I don't get paid or have to come home.)
In our free time, I have gotten to spend a lot more time with P'Kovit, my dear friend who worked with Allyn and I in Spartanburg. Yesterday, he took us to the Nong Wang slum community. It is located along the railroad tracks that run through Khon Kaen. In a similar way to Spartanburg, Khon Kaen serves as a transportation hub of the Northeast. Currently, there is a plan in the works by the SRT (or STR... either way, the railroad company) to expand their operations to include a railroad that connect Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia... and have the crossroads of this be Khon Kaen.
Sounds good, right? Well, the other side of the story is this: they are going to destroy the Nong Wang community to do it. Perhaps you're thinking "well, it's a slum. That's ok."
We went and stayed for several hours at the headman's house. This home challenged my notion of a slum: the house was fairly large and made of concrete, with a tiled floor out front to sit on. Kids were running around laughing and playing while the community leaders sat down with Kovit over a piece of butcher paper and began to map out their next plan of action. People were in and out and the mood was informal, with everyone displaying a level of familiarity and knowledge of each other that can only be gained by living together so long.
You see, the community itself (and 17 others like it) formed when they were building the railroad. The company encouraged its workers to build on its land so that that workers would remain close by and they wouldn't have to worry about compensating for a commute to work.... Mill villages, anyone? Nowadays, people who can no longer make a living in the countryside through farming or other means are moving to the cities in record numbers. When they arrive in the city, unskilled laborers or others may have trouble finding a job or making ends meet. They can then end up moving to the slums, where rent is little to nothing. However, because they don't have a leasing license from the government, they can't access city water or electricity. This means they might have to go through third parties who charge them exorbitant rates, or use predatory lenders (they're here too!) who charge the high interest rates and lock them in a cycle of debt.
After the railroad company began to lose profits in the 1970s and 1980s, the government stepped in and demanded that they start becoming a viable industry. The gov encouraged them to use the 40 ft of land on either side of the track that they owned for development projects.
This 40 ft often includes a community that has been established, some for only a few years, and some for 40 yrs.
Because of this, the Nong Wang community is going to be demolished. While the headman and leaders are scouting out land to move to, they will at this time not be compensated for the loss of their home. This makes buying anything else extremely difficult.
There is also the problem of relocating an entire community. Children might have to go to different schools (and 70% of the students at the nearby school are from this community), homes must be rebuilt, and lives centered around a particular place must be moved. We shot fireworks for the 4th of July, by the way.
Needless to say, I found it both a moving and troubling experience. Through my job this next year, I will be having many more of these encounters. I will be blogging about my own experiences and impressions, so if you disagree--fine. Construct a good argument or ignore it. If I get any info wrong (because we are all still learning), please comment on it and let me know.
These are my thoughts thus far. I miss everyone at home very much, but feel like I am in the right place right now.
So, much love from across the ocean until we meet again.
OH--ps, I totally ate a grasshopper. And there are also some pictures of us having fun below, too.
Bowling with P'Decha, an NGO adviser and mentor to the program
There's the songtaew (a truck with benches in the truck bed) I take to work until I get my motorcycle license (yes, that too!)
Then there's the house itself, which we gave quite the deep cleaning the other day. It looks much better now and it quickly becoming home for me. I am even getting used to the constant state of sweaty stickiness.
Then there's the group of people that I'm with. We are currently working on building our group and learning how to work together. This first month is really based on establishing trust and confidence in moving forward before the student group arrives.
Due to the political turmoil in Thailand as of late, there will only be 10 students coming in for this semester. There are usually more like 30! This is going to be a challenge and a potential opportunity for the program. We might be able to get a lot of extra work done, or we might end up being challenged in completely different but equally time consuming ways. (And no Mom, this does not mean I don't get paid or have to come home.)
In our free time, I have gotten to spend a lot more time with P'Kovit, my dear friend who worked with Allyn and I in Spartanburg. Yesterday, he took us to the Nong Wang slum community. It is located along the railroad tracks that run through Khon Kaen. In a similar way to Spartanburg, Khon Kaen serves as a transportation hub of the Northeast. Currently, there is a plan in the works by the SRT (or STR... either way, the railroad company) to expand their operations to include a railroad that connect Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia... and have the crossroads of this be Khon Kaen.
Sounds good, right? Well, the other side of the story is this: they are going to destroy the Nong Wang community to do it. Perhaps you're thinking "well, it's a slum. That's ok."
We went and stayed for several hours at the headman's house. This home challenged my notion of a slum: the house was fairly large and made of concrete, with a tiled floor out front to sit on. Kids were running around laughing and playing while the community leaders sat down with Kovit over a piece of butcher paper and began to map out their next plan of action. People were in and out and the mood was informal, with everyone displaying a level of familiarity and knowledge of each other that can only be gained by living together so long.
You see, the community itself (and 17 others like it) formed when they were building the railroad. The company encouraged its workers to build on its land so that that workers would remain close by and they wouldn't have to worry about compensating for a commute to work.... Mill villages, anyone? Nowadays, people who can no longer make a living in the countryside through farming or other means are moving to the cities in record numbers. When they arrive in the city, unskilled laborers or others may have trouble finding a job or making ends meet. They can then end up moving to the slums, where rent is little to nothing. However, because they don't have a leasing license from the government, they can't access city water or electricity. This means they might have to go through third parties who charge them exorbitant rates, or use predatory lenders (they're here too!) who charge the high interest rates and lock them in a cycle of debt.
After the railroad company began to lose profits in the 1970s and 1980s, the government stepped in and demanded that they start becoming a viable industry. The gov encouraged them to use the 40 ft of land on either side of the track that they owned for development projects.
This 40 ft often includes a community that has been established, some for only a few years, and some for 40 yrs.
Because of this, the Nong Wang community is going to be demolished. While the headman and leaders are scouting out land to move to, they will at this time not be compensated for the loss of their home. This makes buying anything else extremely difficult.
There is also the problem of relocating an entire community. Children might have to go to different schools (and 70% of the students at the nearby school are from this community), homes must be rebuilt, and lives centered around a particular place must be moved. We shot fireworks for the 4th of July, by the way.
Needless to say, I found it both a moving and troubling experience. Through my job this next year, I will be having many more of these encounters. I will be blogging about my own experiences and impressions, so if you disagree--fine. Construct a good argument or ignore it. If I get any info wrong (because we are all still learning), please comment on it and let me know.
These are my thoughts thus far. I miss everyone at home very much, but feel like I am in the right place right now.
So, much love from across the ocean until we meet again.
OH--ps, I totally ate a grasshopper. And there are also some pictures of us having fun below, too.
Bowling with P'Decha, an NGO adviser and mentor to the program
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