Sunday, December 31, 2006
Monday, October 02, 2006
Cradle to Cradle
The inaugural West Coast Green Conference took place in San Francisco on 28th-30th September 2006. 3 days of educational sessions, meeting and greeting and an Exhibit Hall with booth loads of environmentally friendly products. I registered as an individual, but most people were either Architects, Designers or Builders. I think I might have been the only 'non-professional' attendee!
Green, organic, eco, environmental - all those words and more have been niggling away internally for a long time. Reminding me constantly that something needs to be done. You see I think it's patently obvious that the life cycle we have created for ourselves is hugely separated from the Earth we inhabit. We have lost respect for the Earth.
But we ARE Earth, that's what's so whacky about all this. We are doing it to ourselves. I believe we have managed to evolve ourselves away from the very source of our existence. We have become creatures of 'stuff' - the second car, the huge SUV, the kitchen utensils that will peel, chop, grate, grind, blend, toast. The flat screen TV, the 3 TV's in a single house. More and More and MORE. With less and less happiness. Less and less personal responsibility. Less and less community and less and less family.
I heard the phrase 'Cradle to Cradle' at the Conference. And it made so much sense to me. Basically big business has trained us to be a throw away society. If it's broken then don't fix it, don't re-use it, throw it away - buy a new one! Go head, be a sheep, follow the crowd blindly, line the pockets of the rich and wealthy. Does big business care about you? Sure, for as long as it can hood-wink you into thinking you need more 'stuff', and your old stuff should be replaced. With, of course, their latest version, newest colors, trendiest trend... for now.
With the Cradle to Cradle philosophy, yes create 'stuff'. But create environmentally friendly stuff. Re-use, fix and repair broken things or equipment. Make them continue to last. Produce quality long-lasting products! Our grandparents knew the value of quality, long-lasting products. And the value of maintaining and repairing them. In a Cradle to Cradle philosophy once something reaches it's end of life take it apart, re-use it and make it into something new. How smart is that? How Earth friendly is that? How resource conscious is that? How proudly would we be able to hand the Earth onto our children in a state they could actually enjoy and use without fear of chemical contamination or termination of resources? How much more ethically responsible and happier children would we be raising? We would be raising a generation that cared!!!
Think about this number 200,000,000,000 (200 billion).
What we create from the Earth and it's resources will eventually go back into the Earth. The TV's, the SUV's the peel, chop, grate, grind, blend and toast utensils. Apply that to every object in your house, then mutiply it by 200 million people. My house has probably 1,000 (conservatively) household and personal items. 1,000* 200 million = 200,000,000,000. Given our current life-style choices, that translates into 200 billion pieces of debris that will eventually go into landfill. And that's just today. What about when China and the other 3rd world developing countries come on-line? That's another 1 billion people who will be collecting 'stuff'.
If we could just manage to follow the Cradle to Cradle philosophy we would have an Earth to be proud of. Instead, we fight about whether or not there is global warming, who's to blame. The political manoeuvering is destroying our Earth.
Over time, reading books, thinking about eco-toursim, thinking about objects and their impact on our Earth and even begun gardening a very barren and bland concrete back yard to bring more Earth into my life. I am trying to make myself more Earth friendly. And for me Earth friendly means thinking about those every day objects and events in my life and trying to make them more 'Cradle to Cradle' rather than Cradle to Grave.
At first I thought what a lofty goal - give the Earth back in a useable state to our children. After all our current human nature is to buy, use, throw away-buy, use throw away-buy, use throw away. But it's not a lofty goal, it's a responsibility. And each and everyone of us has our piece of the responsibility pie. What are you doing with your piece?
I'm by no means a 'good' Earth citizen, but I'm making efforts. One of which is to educate myself about Green stuff. Hence I paid a whopping fee to go to the 3 days of a very professional conference where I was probably the only individual among bundles of Architects, Designers and Builders.
It was very gratifying to see that what I had believed inside for many years was in fact true. That people DO care about the Earth, and people in places of responsibility care. The Architects and the Builders - the people we trust to tell us 'how to' do this green stuff. The people who actually use the materials and create green homes in which we wish to live.
The first two days were filled with sessions that opened my eyes on what takes place in the designing and building process.
There are many, many systems and processes that go into building a single house. Not only that, there are teams of people working in the background that all have to understand the green goals for a building and implement them properly. As with anything, it's always possible for rogue individuals to say they are following the green goals but that cheat and use non-green in the building process. Educate yourself, be vigilant, ask questions, visit your building site regularly.
But I too have an ulterior motive. I'm learning about green building so that the cabinas and house I plan to build in Costa Rica will be Earth friendly, will be community conscious, will do as little damage to the surrounds and its peoples as is possible.
Costa Rica is an awesome place for many reasons. But my mileage is different to yours. I like knowing that 25% of Costa Rica's land is National Parks and preserves. I like the fact it has no army! I like the life-style that pays attention to the important things in life, family, community and friends.
Here's a thought. Imagine the US with no Army. Better still - imagine the whole world with no Army. A world where we finally get it. Where we finally realize the Earth doesn't belong to us, we belong to the Earth. No one man or Nation can 'own' land. We can allot it's use for the good of it's local social communities and sustaining life, but we can't own it. We are shepherds with a responsibility to return the Earth in the state we found it. Right now we are failing, we are not shepherding it, and we will be returning it in an unusable state to the next generation. Our children will not have the same use of the Earth as we did. We will be handing them a used-up, chemically altered and dangerous place to live.
If I can reduce my payload on the Earth, so can you. And one by one we can make a difference, we can hand down an Earth that is less depleted, less chemically altered and more capable of supporting our children. But only if we chose to make that difference. A one by one difference adds up to a whole lot of people - eventually damaging the bottom line of corporations to such an extent that it will be economically viable for them to 'care' about the Earth. To change their destructive use of resources and to give us what we want, a Clean Well Cared For Place to live.
Green, organic, eco, environmental - all those words and more have been niggling away internally for a long time. Reminding me constantly that something needs to be done. You see I think it's patently obvious that the life cycle we have created for ourselves is hugely separated from the Earth we inhabit. We have lost respect for the Earth.
But we ARE Earth, that's what's so whacky about all this. We are doing it to ourselves. I believe we have managed to evolve ourselves away from the very source of our existence. We have become creatures of 'stuff' - the second car, the huge SUV, the kitchen utensils that will peel, chop, grate, grind, blend, toast. The flat screen TV, the 3 TV's in a single house. More and More and MORE. With less and less happiness. Less and less personal responsibility. Less and less community and less and less family.
I heard the phrase 'Cradle to Cradle' at the Conference. And it made so much sense to me. Basically big business has trained us to be a throw away society. If it's broken then don't fix it, don't re-use it, throw it away - buy a new one! Go head, be a sheep, follow the crowd blindly, line the pockets of the rich and wealthy. Does big business care about you? Sure, for as long as it can hood-wink you into thinking you need more 'stuff', and your old stuff should be replaced. With, of course, their latest version, newest colors, trendiest trend... for now.
With the Cradle to Cradle philosophy, yes create 'stuff'. But create environmentally friendly stuff. Re-use, fix and repair broken things or equipment. Make them continue to last. Produce quality long-lasting products! Our grandparents knew the value of quality, long-lasting products. And the value of maintaining and repairing them. In a Cradle to Cradle philosophy once something reaches it's end of life take it apart, re-use it and make it into something new. How smart is that? How Earth friendly is that? How resource conscious is that? How proudly would we be able to hand the Earth onto our children in a state they could actually enjoy and use without fear of chemical contamination or termination of resources? How much more ethically responsible and happier children would we be raising? We would be raising a generation that cared!!!
Think about this number 200,000,000,000 (200 billion).
What we create from the Earth and it's resources will eventually go back into the Earth. The TV's, the SUV's the peel, chop, grate, grind, blend and toast utensils. Apply that to every object in your house, then mutiply it by 200 million people. My house has probably 1,000 (conservatively) household and personal items. 1,000* 200 million = 200,000,000,000. Given our current life-style choices, that translates into 200 billion pieces of debris that will eventually go into landfill. And that's just today. What about when China and the other 3rd world developing countries come on-line? That's another 1 billion people who will be collecting 'stuff'.
If we could just manage to follow the Cradle to Cradle philosophy we would have an Earth to be proud of. Instead, we fight about whether or not there is global warming, who's to blame. The political manoeuvering is destroying our Earth.
Over time, reading books, thinking about eco-toursim, thinking about objects and their impact on our Earth and even begun gardening a very barren and bland concrete back yard to bring more Earth into my life. I am trying to make myself more Earth friendly. And for me Earth friendly means thinking about those every day objects and events in my life and trying to make them more 'Cradle to Cradle' rather than Cradle to Grave.
At first I thought what a lofty goal - give the Earth back in a useable state to our children. After all our current human nature is to buy, use, throw away-buy, use throw away-buy, use throw away. But it's not a lofty goal, it's a responsibility. And each and everyone of us has our piece of the responsibility pie. What are you doing with your piece?
I'm by no means a 'good' Earth citizen, but I'm making efforts. One of which is to educate myself about Green stuff. Hence I paid a whopping fee to go to the 3 days of a very professional conference where I was probably the only individual among bundles of Architects, Designers and Builders.
It was very gratifying to see that what I had believed inside for many years was in fact true. That people DO care about the Earth, and people in places of responsibility care. The Architects and the Builders - the people we trust to tell us 'how to' do this green stuff. The people who actually use the materials and create green homes in which we wish to live.
The first two days were filled with sessions that opened my eyes on what takes place in the designing and building process.
There are many, many systems and processes that go into building a single house. Not only that, there are teams of people working in the background that all have to understand the green goals for a building and implement them properly. As with anything, it's always possible for rogue individuals to say they are following the green goals but that cheat and use non-green in the building process. Educate yourself, be vigilant, ask questions, visit your building site regularly.
But I too have an ulterior motive. I'm learning about green building so that the cabinas and house I plan to build in Costa Rica will be Earth friendly, will be community conscious, will do as little damage to the surrounds and its peoples as is possible.
Costa Rica is an awesome place for many reasons. But my mileage is different to yours. I like knowing that 25% of Costa Rica's land is National Parks and preserves. I like the fact it has no army! I like the life-style that pays attention to the important things in life, family, community and friends.
Here's a thought. Imagine the US with no Army. Better still - imagine the whole world with no Army. A world where we finally get it. Where we finally realize the Earth doesn't belong to us, we belong to the Earth. No one man or Nation can 'own' land. We can allot it's use for the good of it's local social communities and sustaining life, but we can't own it. We are shepherds with a responsibility to return the Earth in the state we found it. Right now we are failing, we are not shepherding it, and we will be returning it in an unusable state to the next generation. Our children will not have the same use of the Earth as we did. We will be handing them a used-up, chemically altered and dangerous place to live.
If I can reduce my payload on the Earth, so can you. And one by one we can make a difference, we can hand down an Earth that is less depleted, less chemically altered and more capable of supporting our children. But only if we chose to make that difference. A one by one difference adds up to a whole lot of people - eventually damaging the bottom line of corporations to such an extent that it will be economically viable for them to 'care' about the Earth. To change their destructive use of resources and to give us what we want, a Clean Well Cared For Place to live.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
It takes 20 minutes to buy Vitamin C
Monday 21st March 2006
Breakfast at Ricky’s, yum. Banana, dragon fruit, pineapple smothered in home made yoghurt. Yum, the best in the world.
I hadn’t heard from the Novel Resident apartments all day so I called late in the afternoon and they had a place for us. Cool.
Earlier in the afternoon I went to Watsons to get a certain kind of Vitamin C and Calcium combination dissolving tablet I love. One pack is 89 baht, the three pack is 216 baht. Taking the 3 pack version to the cashier a lady, who was doing inventory checking, called to the guy who I guess did the money thing. He took the 3 pack and rung up 216 baht 3 times!!! I told him it was incorrect, he asked the inventory lady to go check the price. She asked me to go with her. I showed her the 1 pack for 89 baht and the 3 pack for 216. We returned to the cashier. He didn’t understand what she was saying. She went back to the shelf and took the tag for the price off the counter. Finally he understood. As he tried and failed to negate the 3 times price, his supervisor came over. She negated it and I waited for her to ring up the 3 pack for 216 baht once. And waited. And waited. He’d failed to tell her I still wanted the 3 pack. She continued to serve the line behind me, so I interrupted her gently and finally got my 3 pack!!! I’m definitely back in Thailand. I wonder what will happen when I go to buy several 3 packs to take back to the US?
Breakfast at Ricky’s, yum. Banana, dragon fruit, pineapple smothered in home made yoghurt. Yum, the best in the world.
I hadn’t heard from the Novel Resident apartments all day so I called late in the afternoon and they had a place for us. Cool.
Earlier in the afternoon I went to Watsons to get a certain kind of Vitamin C and Calcium combination dissolving tablet I love. One pack is 89 baht, the three pack is 216 baht. Taking the 3 pack version to the cashier a lady, who was doing inventory checking, called to the guy who I guess did the money thing. He took the 3 pack and rung up 216 baht 3 times!!! I told him it was incorrect, he asked the inventory lady to go check the price. She asked me to go with her. I showed her the 1 pack for 89 baht and the 3 pack for 216. We returned to the cashier. He didn’t understand what she was saying. She went back to the shelf and took the tag for the price off the counter. Finally he understood. As he tried and failed to negate the 3 times price, his supervisor came over. She negated it and I waited for her to ring up the 3 pack for 216 baht once. And waited. And waited. He’d failed to tell her I still wanted the 3 pack. She continued to serve the line behind me, so I interrupted her gently and finally got my 3 pack!!! I’m definitely back in Thailand. I wonder what will happen when I go to buy several 3 packs to take back to the US?
2.5 months in San Francisco
From December 25th to March 16th our life revolved around San Francisco. The weather was a huge change from living in warm Thailand. I wrapped myself in layer after layer and felt I looked like the Michelin Man. I'm sure I didn't look quite as bad as that but it's just I wasn't used to wearing much clothes at all, and to put 4 layers on to keep warm made me feel bloated. And the shoes. As I'd lived in flip flops/thongs for at least a year they felt like alien objects to my feet. I found myself tripping myself up on a fairly regular basis. Luckily I didn't trip too badly, mostly I managed to catch myself before either falling or making a complete idiot of myself.
The best part of being back in San Francisco was seeing and being with friends. It's great to be in email communication with everyone and it is absolutely a life saver to be able to reach out that way, but nothing can replace the presence of a warm body. Physical gesticulations, characteristics associated with each individual, I miss that part of interacting. It's just not possible to do it in email, even with emoticons or exclamations/smileys.
Early in January our Shanti sisters group set out for 3 days of getting away from it all in Carmel. It was a very special time. The 4 of us had last been together in Thailand at the beginning of the NATR days. To reunite in San Francisco a year later was something none of us ever thought of, or would have believed possible. Together we walked the beaches, visited the surrounding countryside, had picnic's on high cliffs while drinking Nicole's delicious wines. Stayed by the fire in the evenings cooking Thai food and reading Tarot cards. It was a cocoon time for us all. Shortly afterwards Lucy would head back to Botswana, Bonnie and Nicole would head back to their work and I'd head back to start classes at the Small Business Administration organization in San Francisco.
In February I happily took a day out with Scotia in Rockridge and we headed to the spa for a unique birthday celebration together. Her birthday is the day after mine. We treated ourselves to a massage and a body scrub. It felt so delicious. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch on the verenda looking out towards the city of San Francisco. What a great view.
Most days I was pretty busy attending classes. Learning how to write a Business Plan, how to understand company financials, how to prepare Financial Cash Flow projections, about marketing, sales, running a small business. I never thought I'd understand Schedule C taxes, but now I do! The goal in the end is to be able to run a small business. The classes showed me where my weak points are/were. I still have so much to learn.
I met a lot of people at class, some will stay in my world as they too are interested in what will happen in Costa Rica. My mentor will be watching over my shoulder as we progress through this wild idea. But the eco-resort in Costa Rica is a good while out yet. With building not possible in the wet season we have to wait until at least November. In the mean time I'm hoping to visit the area in May or June to suss out competition, what it will take to get an architect, talk with other people who've built there.
Leaving San Francisco on 16th March was easy and hard. I'll miss my friends once again, yet I come to Bangkok and have many friends here too. How lucky am I?
The best part of being back in San Francisco was seeing and being with friends. It's great to be in email communication with everyone and it is absolutely a life saver to be able to reach out that way, but nothing can replace the presence of a warm body. Physical gesticulations, characteristics associated with each individual, I miss that part of interacting. It's just not possible to do it in email, even with emoticons or exclamations/smileys.
Early in January our Shanti sisters group set out for 3 days of getting away from it all in Carmel. It was a very special time. The 4 of us had last been together in Thailand at the beginning of the NATR days. To reunite in San Francisco a year later was something none of us ever thought of, or would have believed possible. Together we walked the beaches, visited the surrounding countryside, had picnic's on high cliffs while drinking Nicole's delicious wines. Stayed by the fire in the evenings cooking Thai food and reading Tarot cards. It was a cocoon time for us all. Shortly afterwards Lucy would head back to Botswana, Bonnie and Nicole would head back to their work and I'd head back to start classes at the Small Business Administration organization in San Francisco.
In February I happily took a day out with Scotia in Rockridge and we headed to the spa for a unique birthday celebration together. Her birthday is the day after mine. We treated ourselves to a massage and a body scrub. It felt so delicious. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch on the verenda looking out towards the city of San Francisco. What a great view.
Most days I was pretty busy attending classes. Learning how to write a Business Plan, how to understand company financials, how to prepare Financial Cash Flow projections, about marketing, sales, running a small business. I never thought I'd understand Schedule C taxes, but now I do! The goal in the end is to be able to run a small business. The classes showed me where my weak points are/were. I still have so much to learn.
I met a lot of people at class, some will stay in my world as they too are interested in what will happen in Costa Rica. My mentor will be watching over my shoulder as we progress through this wild idea. But the eco-resort in Costa Rica is a good while out yet. With building not possible in the wet season we have to wait until at least November. In the mean time I'm hoping to visit the area in May or June to suss out competition, what it will take to get an architect, talk with other people who've built there.
Leaving San Francisco on 16th March was easy and hard. I'll miss my friends once again, yet I come to Bangkok and have many friends here too. How lucky am I?
Monday, October 10, 2005
Yesterday and Today
Yesterday, Lucy, Georgi, Jo and Analise came down from Kuraburi to see the Vegetable Festival. This festival is a time that Chinese buddhists believe in the 9th month of their lunar cycle (happens to be our October this year) one should wear white.
The white shows a cleansing, clean, new spirit. Leaving any or all sins from the previous year behind. The only eat vegetables during this time, again a sign of one clensing the body. It's also a time for reflection on the previous year. To review and look at what was good and what was not so good.
Many people go into trances and start piercing themselves with swords, knives, and everyday household things, with the belief that if they do not bleed then they are cleansed, clean for the coming year.
One such test is to walk up a ladder whose steps are made of knives. Then down the other side. I've heard that if someone bleeds at any point on the steps they are removed - so as not to contaminate the other climbers.
All the temples in the Chinese district of Phuket are decorated, visited, prayed at. Some have large chimneys where offerings of pretend money are set on fire. Some also have a separate chimney stack that houses a bunch of fire crackers. When they go off the noise is unbelieveable.
The nightlife and food was delicious, we girls had great fun.
The white shows a cleansing, clean, new spirit. Leaving any or all sins from the previous year behind. The only eat vegetables during this time, again a sign of one clensing the body. It's also a time for reflection on the previous year. To review and look at what was good and what was not so good.
Many people go into trances and start piercing themselves with swords, knives, and everyday household things, with the belief that if they do not bleed then they are cleansed, clean for the coming year.
One such test is to walk up a ladder whose steps are made of knives. Then down the other side. I've heard that if someone bleeds at any point on the steps they are removed - so as not to contaminate the other climbers.
All the temples in the Chinese district of Phuket are decorated, visited, prayed at. Some have large chimneys where offerings of pretend money are set on fire. Some also have a separate chimney stack that houses a bunch of fire crackers. When they go off the noise is unbelieveable.
The nightlife and food was delicious, we girls had great fun.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Motorbikes
The mode of transport most families use here are motorbikes. As many as 5 family members fit on, perhaps 2 adults, 2 children and a baby. Most things can be transported by motorbike. Pigs, chickens, household equipment, bedding, guitars, computers, tools for anything, long tail boat engines and it's tail.
Riders are as young as 9 or 10 some times, even though the legal riding age is 16. Drivers can often be drunk, as there doesn't appear to be too much worry about drinking and driving here.
Motorbikes weave in and out of the traffic like buzzing bees. The most scary to me are the Farang tourist motorbike riders. Sitting atop the tiny little machines, they look oversized and ungainly on them, with the little baseball bat-like helmets sitting atop their big heads. Large, fat, gross long-term stay Farans with tiny little Thai 'girlfriends' can often be seen driving around Patong.
People get injured and killed easily in these circumstances. In class one day the news spread one of the girls had had a motorbike accident the previous day, had been taken to the hospital, but the injuries to her head were too serious and she died. Later another girl at class showed me the healing scars she still had as a result of a very bad motorbike accident. So bad it had put her out of work for at least 2 weeks. She'll always have significant scars as a result too. In fact most people have motorbike enduced scars here. Even if it's as small as the burn one gets from repeatetdly getting off on the wrong side. The side where the exhaust is, and which is extremely hot. Touching it immediately sears the flesh about half way down the calf. I know, I've done it twice already.
There's an entire category of dogs on motorbikes. One day, two dogs, big dogs, little dogs. Riding in the front basket, riding in the side basket, riding standing between their owners legs and paws on the handlebars... yes really.
My latest surprise pillion passenger was a monkey. Riding behind his owner with the breeze ruffling his fur, he looked perfectly content to be out on the open road.
Riders are as young as 9 or 10 some times, even though the legal riding age is 16. Drivers can often be drunk, as there doesn't appear to be too much worry about drinking and driving here.
Motorbikes weave in and out of the traffic like buzzing bees. The most scary to me are the Farang tourist motorbike riders. Sitting atop the tiny little machines, they look oversized and ungainly on them, with the little baseball bat-like helmets sitting atop their big heads. Large, fat, gross long-term stay Farans with tiny little Thai 'girlfriends' can often be seen driving around Patong.
People get injured and killed easily in these circumstances. In class one day the news spread one of the girls had had a motorbike accident the previous day, had been taken to the hospital, but the injuries to her head were too serious and she died. Later another girl at class showed me the healing scars she still had as a result of a very bad motorbike accident. So bad it had put her out of work for at least 2 weeks. She'll always have significant scars as a result too. In fact most people have motorbike enduced scars here. Even if it's as small as the burn one gets from repeatetdly getting off on the wrong side. The side where the exhaust is, and which is extremely hot. Touching it immediately sears the flesh about half way down the calf. I know, I've done it twice already.
There's an entire category of dogs on motorbikes. One day, two dogs, big dogs, little dogs. Riding in the front basket, riding in the side basket, riding standing between their owners legs and paws on the handlebars... yes really.
My latest surprise pillion passenger was a monkey. Riding behind his owner with the breeze ruffling his fur, he looked perfectly content to be out on the open road.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Teaching English as a volunteer
I'm now teaching English on a volunteer basis in Patong. I work at a small ngo called EMPOWER. EMPOWER is basically a support group for the bar girls and entertainment (sex) workers.
The support given includes legal issues, human rights issues, health issues, anti-discrimination issues, stigma issues, English lessons and Thai lessons for girls who cannot read or write Thai. Many girls have little education whilst others are University educated.
All in all they're an amazing bunch of women. Most of the girls work 7 nights a week. Work usually starts somewhere between 5:00pm and 7:00pm, ending somewhere about 5:00am or so, depending on the customers.
The bar owners rent the bars for about 30,000 baht per month. Each one thinks they can make a killing by selling drink at elevated prices and selling the girls services for a fee. They provide 'free' bottles of whiskey at their bars for their girls. But mostly it's to keep the girls drunk and therefore not in their right senses for making informed decisions. The bar owners also rent houses and 'give' the girls rooms to sleep in for 'free'. Usually 4 girls to a room. The girls see this as a benefit, not realizing that they are being trapped by the bar owners into a dependency situation. Each girl is hoping that one of the Farang customers will fall in love with them, take them away from the bar life, marry them and support them. In some cases this does happen, for most though it does not. Marriages started under these circumstances rarely survive. The cultural differences alone between what a Thai lady expects from marriage and what a foreigner may expect are literally worlds apart.
Most of the girls have children, many with more than one. Each is workig to support not only their children but usually family members as well. They don't like the work, it's simply a job. And in high season, a well paying job. Better than a supermarket, hotel, restaurant or any other work they could get. Home to most is in the North East of Thailand, in a Province called Isaan. It's the poorest Province in the whole of Thailand.
In Isan girls are often still married off at 14 years old. Because of low education levels and low contraception education, they immediately start the cycle of pregnncy, birth, pregnancy, birth.
One girl has had 9 pregnancies since being married at 14, 6 of home died or miscarried simply due to the fact that her childish body was not capable of supporting a pregnancy due to maturity. After a baby is born, the mother and baby are put in a hut with a fire and only given warm water plus a vile tasting herbal concoction for up to 15 days. The longer you stay there the 'better' girl you are. Most people do a minimum of 9 days.
Because of the schedule the girls need to keep, each teaching day is unique. But the motivation and drive to learn usually brings them to class everyday they can make it. Because there's no consistent roll call of people, each day is taken one by one, depending on who turns up class can be anything from simply sitting and trying to read short easy books or it'll be hectic conversational training pieces. Occasionally interrupted with silly review games such as cross-words or flash cards (including cheat sheets so theyc an find the answer and not feel like they fail at something).
Low self esteem, societal pressures and the stigma associated with being a bar girl, lend the girls to having low self esteem. Make no mistake, they want to be accepted by society for who and what they are.
Everyone loves to pronounce the words correctly (meaning like an native English speaker). So in class if someone is reading out loud and they mis-pronounce a word, I will help them pronounce it more correctly. But often I don't even get the chance! One of the other girls will correct the mis-pronounced word to her. They want everyone of their friends and fellow community to speak English as well as they possibly can.
The group are a support to each other in many many ways. Sharing life, loves, hopes, dreams, wishes, problems, failures, successes and simply being big sisters to each other. Or Aunts. It's a powerful base of support to people in one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
But a group of women together is so much more powerful and empowered than individuals each on their own. They are truly empowered to take control of their own lives and futures.
The support given includes legal issues, human rights issues, health issues, anti-discrimination issues, stigma issues, English lessons and Thai lessons for girls who cannot read or write Thai. Many girls have little education whilst others are University educated.
All in all they're an amazing bunch of women. Most of the girls work 7 nights a week. Work usually starts somewhere between 5:00pm and 7:00pm, ending somewhere about 5:00am or so, depending on the customers.
The bar owners rent the bars for about 30,000 baht per month. Each one thinks they can make a killing by selling drink at elevated prices and selling the girls services for a fee. They provide 'free' bottles of whiskey at their bars for their girls. But mostly it's to keep the girls drunk and therefore not in their right senses for making informed decisions. The bar owners also rent houses and 'give' the girls rooms to sleep in for 'free'. Usually 4 girls to a room. The girls see this as a benefit, not realizing that they are being trapped by the bar owners into a dependency situation. Each girl is hoping that one of the Farang customers will fall in love with them, take them away from the bar life, marry them and support them. In some cases this does happen, for most though it does not. Marriages started under these circumstances rarely survive. The cultural differences alone between what a Thai lady expects from marriage and what a foreigner may expect are literally worlds apart.
Most of the girls have children, many with more than one. Each is workig to support not only their children but usually family members as well. They don't like the work, it's simply a job. And in high season, a well paying job. Better than a supermarket, hotel, restaurant or any other work they could get. Home to most is in the North East of Thailand, in a Province called Isaan. It's the poorest Province in the whole of Thailand.
In Isan girls are often still married off at 14 years old. Because of low education levels and low contraception education, they immediately start the cycle of pregnncy, birth, pregnancy, birth.
One girl has had 9 pregnancies since being married at 14, 6 of home died or miscarried simply due to the fact that her childish body was not capable of supporting a pregnancy due to maturity. After a baby is born, the mother and baby are put in a hut with a fire and only given warm water plus a vile tasting herbal concoction for up to 15 days. The longer you stay there the 'better' girl you are. Most people do a minimum of 9 days.
Because of the schedule the girls need to keep, each teaching day is unique. But the motivation and drive to learn usually brings them to class everyday they can make it. Because there's no consistent roll call of people, each day is taken one by one, depending on who turns up class can be anything from simply sitting and trying to read short easy books or it'll be hectic conversational training pieces. Occasionally interrupted with silly review games such as cross-words or flash cards (including cheat sheets so theyc an find the answer and not feel like they fail at something).
Low self esteem, societal pressures and the stigma associated with being a bar girl, lend the girls to having low self esteem. Make no mistake, they want to be accepted by society for who and what they are.
Everyone loves to pronounce the words correctly (meaning like an native English speaker). So in class if someone is reading out loud and they mis-pronounce a word, I will help them pronounce it more correctly. But often I don't even get the chance! One of the other girls will correct the mis-pronounced word to her. They want everyone of their friends and fellow community to speak English as well as they possibly can.
The group are a support to each other in many many ways. Sharing life, loves, hopes, dreams, wishes, problems, failures, successes and simply being big sisters to each other. Or Aunts. It's a powerful base of support to people in one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
But a group of women together is so much more powerful and empowered than individuals each on their own. They are truly empowered to take control of their own lives and futures.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Evason Phuket Raceweek 2005
The annual Evason Phuket Raceweek is on. 5 days of yacht racing, prize giving and post race stories. How on earth am I here? The Race organizer, Andy, has connections with someone who knows NATR. In fact the Evason Spa and Hotel, where the contestants and post-race activities are being held, have their own post-Tsunami relief projects underway. Working with Ban Bangmuang school, they are helping to build a Learning Center.
With the relief projects connection between us, they invited NATR to show off it's Moken Handicrafts project. Appropriate as the Moken handicrafts are gorgeously made replicas of Kabang boats.
Mit, a new volunteer with NATR, Bodhi and I met up on 24th. They brought a large range of moken boats to sell. It was so good having their company. Needless to say we had a great evening at the Evason introductory party and cocktail hour. An essential part of the job you know, smoozing with the potential buyers.
The Governer of Phuket gave his speech to the crowd. Less pompous and stiff than many of the usual politician's, he gave a very genuine speech about how the Regatta helped tsunami recovery in so many ways. Bodhi's speech introduced who NATR is, why we're there and what our Moken project was about.
After the cocktail hour the three of us headed to Scruffy Murphy's, followed by a couple of other interesting bars along the Patong way. Finally hitting the sack at about 1:00am in the morning. I love when NATR folks come down to Patong, it livens up my currently very quiet life.
The 25th was set up day requiring some shopping for parts to make signs, hang signs, and generally pretty up the display area. As the display area was down on the beach, I had to park the car up at the top of a series of steps. Mit and I carried down the boats, two by two. It was hot work and the display area doesn't have a natural breeze flowing through it.
Finally we had the boats set out and the signs out. The evenings entertainment began, the prizes were given out and Trevor, a psychiatric nurse who was DJ'ing for the even, gave us a great introduction. Trevor's a very cool character to talk to. Living in Thailand for the last umpteen years, he dealt with many of the post-tsunami survivors and their grieving and counseling. He is an admirable individual, and, as with many of the people I've met in the last 6 months, someone to treasure knowing.
Many people expressed interest and we did sell a couple of boats our first evening. We hope more over the next couple of days as many people said they'd be back prepared to buy.
The Evason staff working the whole event are awesome. Helping us to get a better spot for the display, arranging night lighting, getting tables for setting up. And they are so interested to hear about the crafts and our tsunami relief. Wanting to know how are the children, do they have parents, do they go to school? I was able to answer that many are orphans, some lost one parent. NATR's scholarship funds are supporting those children who are both orphans, single parents and generally affected by the tsunami. They have 2 years of guaranteed suppport. Hopefully we can extend that up to college going age.
One gentleman I met had spent 7 months with the Moken in the Mergui Peninsula a good number of years ago and of course immediately recognized the distinctive Moken boat shape. His companion had also made a film on them some time ago. In fact there's supposed to be someone here called Marco currently making another documentary on the Moken.
I wonder what tonight will bring? I'm on my own for the next 2 nights selling the boats. As with any sea-based events, there are some salty characters. Hope I meet more tonight!
With the relief projects connection between us, they invited NATR to show off it's Moken Handicrafts project. Appropriate as the Moken handicrafts are gorgeously made replicas of Kabang boats.
Mit, a new volunteer with NATR, Bodhi and I met up on 24th. They brought a large range of moken boats to sell. It was so good having their company. Needless to say we had a great evening at the Evason introductory party and cocktail hour. An essential part of the job you know, smoozing with the potential buyers.
The Governer of Phuket gave his speech to the crowd. Less pompous and stiff than many of the usual politician's, he gave a very genuine speech about how the Regatta helped tsunami recovery in so many ways. Bodhi's speech introduced who NATR is, why we're there and what our Moken project was about.
After the cocktail hour the three of us headed to Scruffy Murphy's, followed by a couple of other interesting bars along the Patong way. Finally hitting the sack at about 1:00am in the morning. I love when NATR folks come down to Patong, it livens up my currently very quiet life.
The 25th was set up day requiring some shopping for parts to make signs, hang signs, and generally pretty up the display area. As the display area was down on the beach, I had to park the car up at the top of a series of steps. Mit and I carried down the boats, two by two. It was hot work and the display area doesn't have a natural breeze flowing through it.
Finally we had the boats set out and the signs out. The evenings entertainment began, the prizes were given out and Trevor, a psychiatric nurse who was DJ'ing for the even, gave us a great introduction. Trevor's a very cool character to talk to. Living in Thailand for the last umpteen years, he dealt with many of the post-tsunami survivors and their grieving and counseling. He is an admirable individual, and, as with many of the people I've met in the last 6 months, someone to treasure knowing.
Many people expressed interest and we did sell a couple of boats our first evening. We hope more over the next couple of days as many people said they'd be back prepared to buy.
The Evason staff working the whole event are awesome. Helping us to get a better spot for the display, arranging night lighting, getting tables for setting up. And they are so interested to hear about the crafts and our tsunami relief. Wanting to know how are the children, do they have parents, do they go to school? I was able to answer that many are orphans, some lost one parent. NATR's scholarship funds are supporting those children who are both orphans, single parents and generally affected by the tsunami. They have 2 years of guaranteed suppport. Hopefully we can extend that up to college going age.
One gentleman I met had spent 7 months with the Moken in the Mergui Peninsula a good number of years ago and of course immediately recognized the distinctive Moken boat shape. His companion had also made a film on them some time ago. In fact there's supposed to be someone here called Marco currently making another documentary on the Moken.
I wonder what tonight will bring? I'm on my own for the next 2 nights selling the boats. As with any sea-based events, there are some salty characters. Hope I meet more tonight!
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