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.
Monday, October 10, 2005
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)