The Shelter for Girls

Hello hello! I spent a week teaching and getting to know the girls at the girls shelter near Chiang Khong - the gateway city to the Golden Triangle. These girls have been given up by their parents who can no longer afford to care for them, orphaned, or rescued from exploitative labor or brothel conditions. The shelter is a family atmosphere where the girls live, cook, eat, weave, farm, work, and play together. The girls are serious masters in the kitchen! The food they served was some of the best that I have had during my time in Thailand! They stay at the shelter until from the age of about 10 until they reach 18 and then they either find jobs or get sponsors to pay for them to attend college or school outside the shelter - but it depends on their Thai citizenship status. The girls with Thai ID cards are able to go to school if they have a sponsor to help with their expenses, and the girls without ID cards need to find jobs and make a life of their own.


 
They wash their own clothes in a series of buckets and hang to dry, take cold showers with a hose and a cup, and wash, cut, and peel vegetables for meals together and take turns cooking. They absolutely spoiled me by making me a Thai omelet everyday for breakfast and washing my plates and clothes for me.



I got to partake in their way of life by sleeping on the floor of a bamboo hut with chickens living under me and showering in cold water with a hose and a cup. It took me some time to get used to it - and it is still so hard to take cold showers :). We played games together during their downtime - they love uno! We made it into an English lesson too learning colors and numbers. Spending time with the girls was amazing and definitely makes me appreciate all the comforts of home :).


 

Teaching the kids :)

Since my time here, I have taught two different English classes to kids of Myanmar hill-tribe ethnicity. The government of Myanmar considers these people ethnic minorities since they are born in poor communities in the hills of Myanmar and not in urban cities. The government refuses to consider them citizens of Myanmar, making them stateless people. They have little to no rights in their own country and in any other country in the region. Many flee from the corrupt military government of Myanmar – who steals hill-tribe boys as young as 10 years old from their families and forces them to serve in the army for the remainder of their lives. Hill-tribe girls are stolen as well and forced to serve as prostitutes to the army or are forced to marry the soldiers. Girls belonging to one particular hill-tribe race are stolen the most as they are considered the most beautiful of all the ethnic minority tribes – light skin and more pronounced facial features sort of resembling western women. These stateless people flee from this persecution and many illegally cross the borders into Thailand and build communities in the mountains. The Thai government refuses to grant these stateless immigrants citizenship and even refuses to grant citizenship to their children who are born in Thailand. The evil circle of statelessness and the loss of human rights continues. These people are considered ethnic minorities in Thailand as well and only children born Thai cities to parents who have citizenship can apply for an ID card and attend Thai schools and can receive healthcare.



I first volunteered at the Freedom House – a grassroots NGO with the mission of providing free education to the Shan people (a state in Myanmar where most hill-tribes originate from). Both kids and adults attend English classes, Thai classes, and art classes. English and Thai classes help the kids and adults with their self-confidence and also will help them to get better jobs. The art created by the Freedom House students is quite extraordinary. The students tell their stories of how they escaped to Thailand and the difficulties they have faced in their lives, but they never forget to mention what they are thankful for and how much they love their families and friends. During my time volunteering at the Freedom House, I learned that some of the kids and adults were sold to Thai construction companies by the people paid to help them escape from Myanmar. These people will live and work on construction sites for the remainder of their lives, moving from construction site to construction site – as directed by the construction company. Living in the concrete skeletons of buildings with tarps protecting them from the rain. Modern day slavery exists.


Currently, I volunteer at DEPDC – Daughters Education Program and Development Center – located in Northern Thailand. This center offers many services to stateless people and to Thai people including free schooling during the day and at night, child rights and people’s rights education, and rescue services for victims of labor exploitation and sex exploitation. I teach an English class during the evenings and my class currently consists of 6 monks all originating from Myanmar but have left their families to become monks. Currently, the government of Myanmar acts like a communist military dictatorship – where religion is frowned upon. Two years ago the armies of Myanmar raided many temples around the country murdering monks and other innocent people. Boys who wish to flee from being recruited into the army and who wish to become monks come to Thailand to live and to practice freely. The monks in my class range from ages 16 to 28, and they are the most patient and gentle people I have ever met – might also be because I speak a little Thai and they speak a little English :). They are very interested in learning about Western culture and love to see pictures of major landmarks, cities, works of art, architecture, and national monuments from around the world. We have discussed Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, the US, and learned where the countries in South East Asia are located. Next up on the list are famous artists and famous musicians and composers from around the world – any recommendations? :)

Yes, I am still here :) - Catch Up Post #1 (from end of Feb 2010)

So it’s been a little too long since the last post, but my excuses are in good form :). Since my last post I have done the following:



1. Watched the super bowl in a Thai bar with every American drunk living in and visiting Chiang Mai. I then won a bet on the winner of the super bowl (WHO DAT!) and had the fearless loser (ahem, Eric) wear my hot pink bikini top outside of his shirt all around the city for one day.



2. Attended the flower festival in Chiang Mai which is similar to the Rose Parade with floats made entirely out of flowers = this new age hippy lady's dream on wheels :)

3. Attempted Thai style karaoke and sang Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On like an absolute champ :)



4. Taught English to 15 Burmese hill-tribe minority kids and loved every minute of it




5. Started a strong daily self practice of yoga and zen

6. Received the most amazing massage from the talented blind masseuse Dio

7. Played model and had a suuuper fun photo shoot with an ever amazing and talented photographer - I am your biggest fan :)



8. Met wonderful life-long friends who have helped guide me on my path - I am very appreciative and I know we will keep in touch



9. Was introduced to the many medicinal wonders of the Thai herbal steam bath of which I have learned to mimic at home (come and visit :)

10. Did an all day bike ride with a friend (Regi!) riding south of Chiang Mai until no sound of cars or buses could be heard



11. Found a really cool thai massage and herbal medicine school to take classes at for one week but ended up going on a meditation retreat from hell instead


12. Moved to Mae Sai and started volunteering with DEPDC. And moved into my first apartment without roommates :).

13. Visited a Thai organic farm and learned how to grow hydrophonic plants (yesssss!)

14. Renamed myself DJ Sweet-T on child voice radio from 9-11 am weekday mornings

15. Finally got back on the horse, or motorbike in this instance, after a minor incident - and going strong!

16. Still learning to sleep on an extra hard mattresses

17. Befriended several fellow farang friends who have the same passion for volunteering and social work as myself

So, I have had a great time and have learned more than I ever thought I could in the four months, life is amazing and is keeping me on my toes!

Say What?!

Arrived in Chiang Mai in the beginning of January after a three week vacation with the family in Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Koh Lanta - an island in the south of Thailand near Phuket. Had an awesome time at each place and very thankful to have the quality time with three of the most important people in my life :). Now starts another adventure! Sadly this one will most likely be void of fancy accomodation and fine dining as in the previous three weeks, but it will definitely be an adventure of an different and interesting light! Brrrring on what you got for me, life! I'm ready and waiting!

I enrolled in a Thai language course at the AUA immediately after arriving in Chiang Mai. Course comes complete with a crazy hilarious Thai teacher and 8 other farang (Thai word for foreigner - spelling is unknown to all). Class fun and intense due to the 5 tones that the Thai language incorporates, which if you hear a Thai person say one word in all 5 tones, every word sounds exactly the same, shit. The kicker to learning a tonal language is where one word has two meanings that are opposites, depending on the tone used. Now who's idea was this? My favorite has to be Suay...if said with rising tone it means beautiful, if said with falling tone it means bad luck. Note to self, dont get that one wrong when speaking about someone's child or mother. Another one is kii (pronounced kee)...if said with low tone means "to ride", and if said with high tone means "to shit". So on any given day depending on my vocal talents, I could either ride a bike or shit a bike. I dont see how Thai people could not enjoy talking to foreigners if only for the reasons mentioned above, but it has been a little difficult befriending Thai people around my age. Aside from the wonderful fellow farang friends I have here, my Thai friends include the hilarious grandfather who owns the guesthouse I stay in and my yoga teacher's wife. Both are wonderful and so much fun to interact with. They help me with my Thai and I help them with their English, fair trade favoring both sides. My new goal is to find a Thai sidekick to experience mid-twenties Thai living . Open to suggestions on methods of finding said sidekick ....(female sidekick preferable and scandalous suggestions are accepted though doubtfully put into action :)

We reach!

Made it safely to Thailand to start a year of philanthropy work with women and children rescued from human trafficking. Here are some links if you would like to learn more about the world-wide black market of human trafficking:

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/humantrafficking/problem.aspx
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460130,00.html
http://www.onlinesecurityauthority.com/thoughts-on-security/top-10-facts-human-trafficking/
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/gift%20brochure.pdf

And links to organizations committed to helping trafficked victims and to ending the modern day slave trade:

www.depdc.org
www.notforsalecampaign.org
www.ecpat.org
www.restore-nyc.org