I have mentioned a bit about my job in previous posts- most of you think I just do english editing and facebook updating. This is all true, but I have also been doing a little research project. And by little, I mean huge and time consuming.
Ajarn (teacher in thai) Noppadon is my my boss and professor at Assumption. He runs the poll research center I work at. His big project this season is Refugee policy in Thailand. As you may remember from looking at the map, Thailand is bordered by 4 countries-- Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Well, all of these countries are considered to be in some sort of civil war, military insurgency, economic crisis, or racial profiling violation. And most of the people that want to escape these things decide to come to Thailand! I mean, thats what I did too, right?
Now, the Thai government has had a hard time (refusing to) "distinguishing" who is a refugee and who is just an illegal immigrant. Some people are running for their lives, literally, they will be killed if they return, and some just have little freedoms (religious, racial and economic) and want to go somewhere else.
SO, what to dooo what to dooo... WELL we decided to survey people in camps. There are camps all over the border provinces and they are full of people who have been caught by immigration police and who are waiting for their cases to be reviewed. Some will be returned, some will not. Since they can't go anywhere we might as well ask them how we can help!
NOW, what is my role in this? Well I have been advising my Ajarn on what problems I see and offer some solutions from my readings, research and background. I also just sit quietly and look confused while everyone around me is speaking in Thai.
We start at our first camp in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Its a three hour drive from Bangkok and the closes province to Myanmar and Bangkok. The people of Myanmar, formally Burma, are facing a government that has been taken over by the military and who is led by a leader who doesn't give a FUCK about anyone who actually lives there. People cannot leave there provinces, certain racial groups are completely disregarded by the government and NOT allowed to marry people from other areas of Myanmar. They have had a political leader under house arrest for 14 YEARS!!! Seriously, just read a little of this to get a picture.... they are BFF with Kim Jong Il...neeeeeed I say more.
So my first two days there consisted of sitting in a room and watching interviews being conducted in burmese. The cool part is that I helped write the SURVEY! Mind you, I went on this trip my FIRST week in Thailand. My first assignment was to write questions for refugees that would not piss off the thai government but give us useful information to try and eventually write an in-depth and useful policy briefing. Sink or swim people. I think I might have won a fucking medal.
With the rise of the H1N1 virus and the fact that these poor men don't get to shower much, we all wore masks. We found out all they really wanted was a little more food, and a shower. Most of them were trying to go to Malaysia through Thailand but got caught on the way. Most of them could not read or write, so we conducted the interviews out loud and my coworkers helped them fill out the questionnaires.
After our 2 days of work we went out to site see. Kanchanaburi is the location of the famous River Kwai bridge . Its a bridge from WWII. I only learned about this from someone else.
My coworkers and I at the bridge. It was RIDICULOUSLY hot that day.
Oh meeeh gaawd.... I'm on a bridge.
We also went to a movie studio where they filmed some crazy elaborate film called "The Legend of King Naresuan". It took them 4 years to make the set and now people go visit it. Everything is made out of styrofoam. All I can say is, that's bad for the environment. But it was very impressive.
Having fun with some of the props. Never hand me an axe. Then finally, for fun, the awesome hotel we were staying at had a karaoke bar. Some of us rented a room and did what we do best-- laugh at each other.
Oh and I belting it out to a Thai song-- really, I was singing in Thai! Well, more reading the phonetic spelling of thai words on the screen. But I was awesome!
So two weeks after Kanchanaburi we took a trip to Nong Khai, Thailand. This time we flew, so it only took about an hour. Nong Khai is bordered by Laos. There is only a river separating the countries. Water and bridges are very essential in these parts I've learned.
SO, it turns out most Laotians speak, or at least, understand Thai. We conducted more interviews this time since all my coworkers could participate in giving them. I finished reading my book. And also doing some research on how to write policy and such. And making a to-do list. And playing Snake III on my cell phone.....
The refugees at the Nong Khai camp were very different from Kanchanaburi. These Laotians are Hmong, which is a very specific group of people. They have been persecuted by the Laos government for having helped America in the Vietnam war... yeah its been THAT long. They have been living in the jungles of Laos and have gone through hell and a high river to come to Thailand. Many of the refugees we talked to had been living at the camp for 3 years! And this is no Holiday Inn! There is about 150 men, women and children living in 6 rooms with no beds, no furniture, only bags of clothes and a small wash room. Also, when asked if they would ever return to Laos, most said they would commit suicide if they were sent back because they would be tortured and killed anyways. like woah.
Now the Thai government made a deal with Laos to not use the UN regulations of "refugee" for this group and therefore avoid having to follow UN Protocol. This is just a big hot political mess. Read this article if you care for more info.
I was asked not to post any of the photos from the interviews. But I snapped a few of the refugees playing soccer outside. They were also planting vegetables. We gave the kids cookies and candy which totally made my heart tickle. Most of these kids have known nothing else but that small camp territory.
After finishing our work, we went site seeing again. Since we were SO close to Laos, I had convinced my coworkers to go with me to check out Vientiane, the capital of Laos. To my incredibly pissed off American surprise, it was going to cost me 1500BHT (about $50) to go into Laos for about 4 hours. So I gave them a big USA f-u and made a promise to come back when I had more time--like in May (since I just bought my tiiiiickets!)
So, we decided to explore Nong Khai! First, here is a picture of me with the Mekong River behind me. This river goes through 6 countries in South East Asia. That is Laos in the background.
The one thing I knew I HAD to see in Nong Khai was Sala Keoku or Buddha Park. This place is full of trippy ass concrete statues of buddhist and hindu belief. Again, it was crazy hot the day we decided to explore the city and there was little coverage with these creations. Here are just a couple of pics...
The best structure was this 7 headed snake buddha thing. MAN it was massive and just astounding. Here is me being silly. Hee.
ALRIGHT, thats some of the stuff I did last month. I have one more work trip coming up on Nov 25--- I'l be in Ranong for Thanksgiving. I wonder if they have Turkey in the South of Thailand :)
Thanks for reading. Happy belated veterans days and have a good weekend!
joob joob (kiss kiss),
B
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