Rotary Peace Scholar 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Border of Thailand and Burma/Myanmar

6:35 AM |

On Sunday, march 12th we all plied into to four vans at 0700 sharp and started the 7 hour trek to Mae Sot, which is a border town between Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. The trip actually felt like it went by relatively fast; I guess I was enjoying the scenery. Upon arrival we quickly dropped our bags off at the hotel and then headed to the border for some observations...

The border was an interesting experience....the border is connected by a bridge called the friendship bridge, under the bridge runs a river, however the river bed is fairly dried up and you literally can walk across the water or maybe take a raft in deeper spots. The border is very porous and people go back across the bridge regularly smuggling items in and out of Thailand, and when they don't use the bridge they go under the bridge and use the river. The river and the river bed is 'no mans land' anything goes and the land is neither Thailand or Burma. The area I walked along in the Thailand side has razor wire all along it, but then built right up to the razor wire is little shanty type huts selling goods...cigarettes, vibrators, Viagra, alcohol and pretty much anything. The area is littered with garbage. There are small children begging. There were three following me from about ages 4 to 10. Someone had given the two youngest ones some treats, so I bought the oldest one an ice cream...this was a mistake cause then the other two latched on to me like you wouldn't believe.

It was an interesting place and lots of movement and activity around. I saw some people under the bridge playing cards, then when I saw them get up it was with a large wad of cash...obviously some gambling going on.

In 'no mans land'

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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Catch up...

5:51 AM |

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Well this last week has been extremely busy and plus I was still trying to recover from some bug I caught here. I have to say this was a challenging week! But what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger...and I survived!

This week our instructors were from the USA (California and Kansas) Jan Sunoo and Pat Dunn, they both work for the Federal Mediation and Concilation Services; hence this weeks studies were all based around mediation and facilitation. This weeks classes were very hands on as we participated in mock mediations and facilitations. The facilitation exercise was over a day and a half and everyone really got into their roles which was great cause it really worked for the exercise...but I tell you it was a long frustrating process...I'm not quite sure how mediators and facilitators can stay so calm! However I found this to be a great week with learning some tools that I will be able to apply at home.

On Monday of this week, Was culture day, we were all asked to come in our traditional dress...this was obviously much easier for some then others...some of us had to be creative...my culture dress consisted of a Canada scarf and a bunch of pictures taped to me representing my heritage background; my fellow Canadian here wore a toque and a plaid shirt. I will attach a group photo in another post.

Tuesday night we had an opportunity to go see an Indian dance drama called Chitrangada; apparently it is rarely performed outside of India but they were having a performance here at Chulalongkorn for the official opening of the Indian Studies Facility here. It was quite the event...we had to be there an hour and half before it started as the Royal Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was attending. There was a large security prescence as well as media. Even after the show we couldn't leave until the Royal party left. The play itself was very good and the costumes were gorgeous!!

On Wednesday our big papers were due!! Ahhhh this was stressful...my original plan for a paper wasn't working out as the conflict analysis model we were to use wouldn't fit with the goal I was trying to accomplish...this was after already writing 14 pages...then I got sick, so made little progress then...so late Tuesday night and all Wednesday night was crunch time! Paper was due Wednesday at midnight! Whew! I made it! This whole being back in school thing is tough but I am loving the constant challenges and learning so much...feel like I am on overload!

International Women's Day was this past week as well, our day in class started with all the men going around and saying one thing they appreciated about or learned from a women in their life. It was quite nice and very touching. Also in celebration Jan had brought us some chocolate mint girl guide cookies from the states!!!

Ok that's a very quick catch up....tomorrow morning we are leaving bright and early for a 7 hour drive to Mae Sot which is on the border of Thailand and Burma(Myanmar). We are in for a long hot week of field study. I am really looking forward to the experience, but also know it will be a challenging one. Our field study will be focused on refugee camps as well as human trafficking. I know this will be an eye opening experience and am both eager to learn and worried about what I will learn. I'm not sure how my Internet access will be but I will try and do a better job of keeping you all in the loop.

This pic is from one of our group projects! Our instructor Jan was great at incorporating music into this weeks class

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Rotary Peace Scooter

5:48 AM |

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Friday, March 9, 2012

Hospital Visit

2:38 AM |

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So Friday night after the Rotary meeting I really wasn't feeling well, I had a fever and was achy all over, all i wanted to do was to make it to my bed. The trip home became quite the trek...40 min on train, then the walk home from the train...usually about 15 minutes home; however the walk home is usually a short cut through the National Stadium area...well this is the night I find out that there are gates and they get closed on this short cut. So I now had to go all the way around, and also had my first experience of seeing rats in the streets...a lot of rats. Anyways, I make it home and fall into bed.

Well I didn't get any better through the night and I was in pretty rough shape by Saturday morning. I was sure I had Dengue Fever. I called and spoke with our Deputy Director here and she advised me to get to the hospital. So I enlisted the help of my friend Zuleika to come with me to the hospital and off we went in the taxi. I was a little nervous on what the hospital was going to be like but I can say I was pleasantly surprised! Our hospitals could learn a few things from here in the area of "customer service" immediately upon arrival, it is obviously clear that I am a foreigner so I am greeted by a man in a suit that speaks english. He is very pleasant and gets me settled in where I need to go and helps me with the paper work. He then stays with me taking me to each respective area I am required to go. The nurses are all in traditional nursing and uniforms which just makes it just seem so much more professional. The nurses were all very nice and polite. While in the waiting area, a lady came around and was serving free tea, coffee and water. There was also a guy singing and playing guitar (he was singing John Denver Country Roads). It was the nicest atmosphere for an emergency room I have ever experienced.

There was no long 8 hour waits to see the doctor. I think I was in and out with all tests, bill paid and medication in about 3.5 hours and an hour of that was waiting for the blood test. I was very impressed by the efficiency and the professionalism.

I spent the weekend in bed and in pretty rough shape but my friends here took great care of me bringing me food and water and making sure I was ok. Three others ended up sick with the same type of thing, but we at all on the mend now..but just in time to start our anti malaria meds which has its own issues as we will be heading to Mae Sot on Sunday. It's on the border of Burma and Thailand.

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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Rotary meeting

8:17 AM |

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On Friday, march 2 nd, I ventured out on the sky train the furthest I have gone yet on my own to attend a Rotary meeting. I made it there alright with a slight detour (I went the wrong way when I got off the train, then had to go all the way back after about 10 minutes of walking) however I was determined to get to this meeting for one main reason and that was to see my Japanese friend Tomoya-San.

I am always awed and impressed by Rotary's ability to make this a small world; and this is just a small example. In October 2009 I went to Japan on the Rotary Group Study Exchange Program (GSE) this is where I met Tomoya, he was a member of the GSE committee. The committee that helped make our experience in Japan such a fantastic one.

It is always hard when i leave a country because I always wonder if it is the last time I will see the friends I have met there. So when Tomoya contacted me and said he was going to be in Bangkok briefly, I had to make sure we met up.

The Rotary meeting was quite the event, it was a large buffet and a celebration of the club in thailand and the clubs in Japan matching grants. Thailand had sent money to Japan and supported them after the earthquake and now in return Japan purchased and setup water filtration systems in some rural schools in Thailand.

When I was talking to Tomoya, he says to me..."so now you have done the Rotary GSE and the Rotary Peace Scholar program, so this means your next step is to be a Rotarian?" I think it just may be...

Anyways, after a visit too short I had to get the train and head home, so yet another goodbye to Tomoya all I can do is hope our paths cross again someday

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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

School

4:41 PM |

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This week we have Dr. Bjorn Holmberg from Sweden here as an instructor. And for the past two days we have been looking at a model of conflict analysis that we are to use for our Individual Conflict Analysis project. The model we are looking at is specifically for large scale conflict with high potential for armed conflict. The model seems to be very complex and I find I am really challenged this week as I have to apply this model to my topic of Police Response to Domestic Violence and I am having a hard time with it. I am told that it is not designed for conflict of that nature but yet I still have to use this model for the purpose of the project. So needless to say I have been hitting the books hard the last few nights and I'm thinking this next week is going to be about the same as the project is due next Wednesday, although we still have lots of other commitments in the meantime. It is certainly different being back in school again!

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