S A W A S D E E N E W S L E T T E R SPRING Volume I, No.2: Mid-Term ♦ Feb 5 – March 26, 2005 ♦ Khon Kaen, Thailand

Dear Advisors, The pouring efforts of help and support touched the hearts of those who are affected by the Tsunami devastation. Hands in hands together, those who are in needs of help being relieved as soon as the dangerous wave is tug back to the ocean! It was a sad moment, but efforts are being made to help them, they have received the generosity of people from all around the world! Money and donation was never stopped coming! It’s been three months now since the incident happened, and yet not to be forgotten. Our cruise of students will be going down south during their holiday to help out with the reconstruction of new home, and replace them with a new heart of hopes! We as a program appreciated their decision and efforts, and will support them with what they need! Your students have been here for a little more than two months now. After all the orientation-related activities ended—intensive Thai language, forays into the realm of worldviews, and so on—the students embarked on a month-long odyssey to four agricultural villages and two sets of communities that depend on a river.

All of the exchanges—whether it was about organic farming, the dangers of monocropping, herbal medicines, or life in the wetlands—were all in all to communicate one single point—that “livelihood” is not a “job” but an entire way of life that draws primarily from nature. The songs, the dances, the ways of reckoning time, the food, the festivals—are all based within a particular kind of livelihood. It is this kind of life that most of the world’s population lives, and it is this kind of life that is most under threat by forces popularly called “globalization.” We know from experience that if students fail to see and understand the significance of a living and essential livelihood, then they will understand little else about Thailand and little about the so-called “third world.”

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Of course, most of this understanding we expect to come from the personal connections that students share with villagers, and also from sharing in this rural world—helping grow organic vegetables with their families, making Thai desserts, and collecting various items from the forest. But there were discussions, too. Students learned from their hosts how monocropping and chemical fertilizers had undone families and communities, how precious indigenous seeds are to the farmer and how GMOs threaten all of that, and how villages in tiny villages in the Northeast of Thailand are involved with other villagers around the world in Via Campesina, a worldwide peasant organization based in Honduras, that addresses issues of the small-scale farmer at the WTO and beyond. And somehow along the way we had a chance to visit the famous Khmer ruin in Thailand of the Phanom Rung Palace. Once back in Khon Kaen, we highlighted the whole trip by an activity called “Follow the Food.” Four different groups of students started with a finished everyday food product and then traced it back to its source—in the case of one group to the slaughterhouse! Through these experiences students become more aware about what they are eating and where it comes from. In the River Unit, students learned more about how people were struggling with the effects of dams on their livelihoods. At Pak Mun, students heard from villagers about one of the longest ongoing anti-dam struggle in the world—now in its 14th year. Students spent another four days living and learning with villagers of an immense wetlands in Srisaket Province. Students

shaped clay into pots, picking chilies in the sweltering heat, fished along the river, cooked out, swam, gathered mussels, and helped tend buffaloes and cows in the wetlands. And all of these activities were done under the shadow of a dam that has yet to close its gates and flood this world away. Students seemed to have a good idea of livelihood now. So it was time to go to Bangkok and see how these issues were seen from a national and international perspective. Students were definitely “on” and exchanges were vigorous and exciting. We visited the slum network, Oxfam, Focus on the Global South, Friends of Women, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the National Economic and Social Development Board. If that wasn’t enough students were challenged by a talk on third world tourism, and a wonderful talk on Buddhism, education, and globalization by the Buddhist scholar and critic, Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa.

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Of course, all this input left students in quite a quandary about what to do next. So we took off for a retreat in the mountains to try to solve this problem. Up to this point, we had asked students to sit back and listen. The program was done for them. And they had listened, and now they wanted to know what they could do. We started with trying to find common ground. What could each of us comfortably assert as a group? What information or perspective were we lacking? Teams were set up. One would collect more information on the dam that had yet to be closed. Goal? A newspaper article for one of the two English-language national newspapers in Thailand. Another team would review everything we learned about agriculture. What was going on in the states with farming? Do monocorppers in Thailand actually lose money? When is the next Free Trade Agreement talks between Thailand and the US in Bangkok? Could a few students get passes to attend as students reporters? In other words, the group was realizing it was a group and coming to a purpose. Finally, staff brought up the idea of doing something to help the survivors of the tsunami in the South. One of our staff and NGO friends has been involved in the South and had a sad story to tell of the Sea

Gypsies. Their homes and boats had been washed away. But rather than being able to rebuild their homes along the sea, landholders showed up. Now the Sea Gypsies are without access to the sea. It seems that the Thai government and private individuals have taken this opportunity as good fortune as “squatter” settlements along the sea have been washed away, clearing the land for tourist development. Although most students already had plans to loll around the beaches or hike in the mountains for their break, they all decided to give up their vacation period and instead go lend a hand in the South. Incredible! Students pledged to do interviews while helping rebuild homes, and to send stories back to their home newspapers about a situation that few Americans realize is going on, and to remind Americans that the rebuilding still goes on, even if news of the tsunami has long been buried by Michael Jackson. So, just so you know, between the 9th – 18th of April, your students will be going down to Southern Thailand for this Tsunami relieve effort. We, CIEE-Thailand, will ensure you their safety, we also will send down with them Mr. Kowit Boonjear who has a lot of connections in that area and has had ten years of experience taking care of CIEE students. One of our staff, the language coordinator Ms. Arunee, will be going to the US in April to participate in the Conference on Less Commonly Taught Languages in Madison, Wisconsin. Well, we’re at the end of this current newsletter. If you have any questions or concerns about your students or issues concerning their well-being, please contact us right away. We will be happy to report to you whatever you need to know.

Best regards,

Dave, Arunee, and Adisak

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CIEE-Thailand Staff Contact Information: Dr. David Streckfuss, Resident Director Tel. 66-1-708-1852 E-mail: dstreckfuss@ciee.org / dstreckfuss@yahoo.com Arunee Chupkhuntod, Language Coordinator and Office Manager Tel. 66-1-965-3400 E-mail: aruneee@yahoo.com Adisak Kaewrakmuk, Program Coordinator Tel. 66-1-974-0290 E-mail: numerosak@yahoo.com CIEE- Thailand P.O. Box 91 Khon Kaen University Khon Kaen 40002 Thailand Tel/ Fax: 66-43-347-922

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