Community, Globalization, and Tons of Trash

So many villages, so little space to write about them.  So I’ll keep up with the highlights principle.  The highlight of the Land unit was definitely Baw Kaew community.  It is a protest village where the people were kicked off of their land, and two years ago they returned and have built a community.  There were people from all different villages, and through the shared struggle and passion they have created something unbelievable.  The grandmothers share their stories of being kicked off their land with the children, who will continue to fight based on the devotion.  This unit showed me outside force or someone with power is not needed for a successful grassroots movement.  Anyone and everyone has agency, and it just takes motivation and passion to create change.  It was a really moving exchange and experience.

My Paw from this unit, other than the two one-nighters, was incredibly educated.  I was sitting watching Meh cook one night when Paw came into the cooking area.  He sat down next to me, pen in hand and started to lecture.  All in Thai of course, but the essence of the conversation was, “Julie, do you see this papaya—we grow them in Thailand.  You don’t grow the min America, yet you are able to eat them in America.  That is just one reason why globalization is so amazing.”  The lectures continued and got more and more complex over the course of the three days. There was a lot of guessing based on what was said or drawn, (yes, one day he got out his grandson’s coloring book and drew for us—an upgrade to the hand), but it was all an amazing lesson on both how globalization can be viewed and on communication. 

After the unit ended, there was an optional trip to the landfill near our campus.  Just 17km away, 200 tons of trash is brought each day.  There is a community of 60 families that live there, started by just one man who went to make a living off of the trash.  Not only does it bring to light the realization of scavengers, those who work 20 hours a day picking through garbage to find plastic bottles to recycle, but it brings to light the realities of consumerism.  I literally climbed a trash mountain.  Not to mention the irony of the laundry detergent package I saw in the mud that read, “hygiene”.  I was so blown away by the Paw that we exchanged with.  He no longer works in the landfill and nor does his wife or kids, but he lives there because he owns his land and he wants to make the community a better place.  Unlike in America where people strive to get out of the slums, Paw was trying to improve the village.  He chooses to live in literally a dump.

The problems with each village we visit are hard to stomach.  With each unit and each exchange I continue to recognize the realities of a developing country.  It is natural to make comparisons to the United States and we have many of these issues.  We have medical problems associated with damning and mining (the coming two units).  We have poverty that is solved by cash cropping.  There are so many problems in our world.  This country is so amazing, and my time here is invaluable but it is hard meeting amazing people and learning about their suffering unable to fix it.

In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle

Well this time it’s the students sleep tonight.  Part one of our second unit, Land, takes place in villages who have had recent struggles with their land.  Whether it is a protest village, a community that has recently returned to their land, or exchanging with the governmental agency that protects the forest, we are seeing all sides of land rights in Issan.  The journey started with a six hour van ride to a village just north of Cambodia.

Our van slowed to a stop at a group of houses, but we were told this was not our village.  No, we all loaded onto the back of a truck and headed into the jungle.  The Suan Ba, or forest, was through deep woods and the land had flooded recently- our vans would not make it.  Little did I understand flooding.  After community members finished nailing wooden boards as two longs rows of seats, we loaded up.  Thus began the most exciting hour long ride of my life.  Somewhere between roller coaster and safari, we found ourselves on a real life version of a Disney World ride.

The village only got better.  It started with bananas

hanging by a pole for us to eat at our leisure, there was some wading through a river, an exchange, and then a slumber party of the whole group sleeping in the "community" room.  There was one light bulb, but otherwise no electricity.  The exchangee was willing to answer all questions so after our allotted time,question were asked about Cambodia, the Vietnam War, and concluding discussing elephants.  (Which, we saw driving through the city, of all places, on the way home.  Just a baby walking on a leash led by a man down the busy street- totally casual.)

We returned for the evening to meet the U.S. Ambassador, have finger food and mingle.  So it’s a nice relaxing evening, and then off to the next village!! It has become a trend that at all villages our host parents like to feed us a lot and so I am a bit nervous for Yom Kippur tomorrow.  The Ajaans (teachers) know I am fasting, so they will explain it—hopefully it is understood as religious and not as an insult to their food, because village food is sooo delicious.