i went on my visa run last week, stretching it out into a five day vacation. i had grand plans of staying out late and socializing. the first night i stayed in Chaing Mai and i was in my bed by ten and tickled pink to find an english movie on tv (never mind that it was confessions of a teenage drama queen, beggars can’t be choosers). the next day i made my way to Mai Sai, to cross the border into Tachilek, Burma. there i spent a lot of money and i now have a pocketknife. it has little tiny scissors with which i hacked off chunks of hair to stop the mullet madness. more importantly, i was finally able to find some movies to use for class. that evening i was out having a beer and reading and ended up chatting with two expats in their fifties. one had been the chef for the Thai king (a swiss) and the other was the cartoonist who draws the Thai tin-tin (a belgian). after discovering i was volunteering, they invited me to drive with them the next day as they were stopping near Chaing Rai at an orphanage(ish) before returning to Chaing Mai. car ride? yes please!
the place was super impressive; the grounds were large and immaculate. water buffalo, ducks, gardens, ponds. incredible. and it was all taken care of by the children. there were 120 there at the moment. the woman who ran it was swiss, and i spent a while chatting with her to try and understand how one undertakes such a thing. money, that’s how. anyways, the kids are all from hill-tribe villages- they were Mon, Akha, and Lisu. Northern hill tribes are super impoverished, there is a high precedence of prostitution and drug use, and education is scarce and poor when present. so her undertaking was a good thing. what i strongly disagreed with, however, was one of her main points. she only spoke Thai with them, told them repeatedly they are Thai now, and the like. beat the indian out of them, anyone?
her reasoning, i could understand where she was coming from. Thais have a great deal, in general, of prejudice against hill people as they do from people from Burma. they are always looked down upon, and thus for them to succeed they need to speak well, etc. but… eh, to tell them to forget their culture? i don’t think so. doesn’t that ingrain a sense of inferiority? and further, i’m certain that they are already caught between two places: not being Thai enough nor Mon enough, Akha enough, Lisu enough. and hill tribe culture is also diminishing rapidly the way it is. i feel it must be possible to promote traditional cultures as well as join modern culture. and lastly, to give in to prejudice? to me, it’s like people telling women not to walk alone at night, instead of saying hey, don’t rape people!
but, i do sincerely think that in general she is accomplishing copious amounts of good.
now, while i am attempting to help Meela from having to shut down her (much smaller but similar) organization, i had planned to try and contact the aforementioned woman. but! today i realized i know someone in Mae Hong Son with whom i far more agree. There is a lovely Dutch woman who has lived here for a few years and she runs an orphanage and does a lot of work in the camps, etc. She’s a social worker with a focus on youth, and she has spent a great deal talking to me about social work and how to get into what one would like. i have no idea why i didn’t think of her immediately. anyway, i spoke with her today and she is meeting with Meela and i tomorrow to discuss what Meela needs to do. and she already said on the phone that she would be willing to act as a mentor and meet with Meela monthly, which i definitely think is necessary and wonderful and i am just so happy that i am actually making progress with this.
i feel like spring. like life is just blossoming in all of the most unexpected places. it is such a grand feeling.
