Goodbye Mae Sot

Mae Sot has been an incredible experience. For me it started off a little rocky and it defiantly has been a huge learning curve for me. However, these last few months have been some of the best of our lives. Saying goodbye to everyone was so difficult and so rewarding. We have made some absolutely wonderful friends. I think of Aung Khine and I get tears in my eyes. Some really touching people. Ingjine and the former political prisoners and dedicated boarding house staff like Sidmone. Also some really wonderful Furang volunteers like Michelle and Nikki, Danny, Barbara, and of course Will and Sophia. Good people great memories. We're partly writing this part of the blog, so we don't forget how wonderful we feel and how grateful and touched we are.

Our leaving started with a celebration for Ben's Friday night conversation class (I always came with too. I adored the students- most were high school age or young adults). They were so passionate to learn and Ben and I had a great time helping the students debate and play conversation games,. Also practicing speaking r's. Either, or.... The last night was the best though. We brought some food, drinks, and some music. We played a few games and then danced around the room. Many of the students were shy, but there were a couple who really liked the lime light. We had all of MTC watching from the outside of the room at us being silly and laughing. The students plan to stay in touch and ask us English idiom and grammar questions. (I know again my family and co-workers will laugh at the thought of me giving English advise).

The next fun event we planned was a goodbye lunch where Ben,Marissa, and I invited all our co-workers to attend a lunch so we could thank them for our experience here. (We mostly bought the food, but I did mange to make deviled eggs again and that went pretty well). We had a huge spread and many people came. Kim Aye Htoo brought us a Karen clothing article and some others gave some beautiful scarfs. So sweet. We had many of the former political prisoners come, Barbara (my child protection 50 year-old buddy), Sweet and Annie (Mae Sot social workers and online college students), Ingjine (my friend), some teachers from CDC, a recently released former political prisoner (who was still pretty shook from the experience and has really bonded with Ben and I), along with a couple Furangs from AAPP (Will, Sophia, Daniella) and Paul (a journalist and English teacher for monks). We got to say thank you to so many people. It was great.

Later that night Nikki and Michelle threw us a going away party (and a house warming for them) for our foreign friends and some of our more adventurous locals. There was a lot of guitar playing, singing and dancing. Michelle even gave us a toast. Oh so sweet... In the morning we saw about a 100 young monks collecting alms from the locals at mini stands set up in the streets.

Sunday after the protest, Aung Khine cooked us a traditional Burmese dinner. It was fantastic. We had Burmese Chicken curry, Indian beans, a tamarind leaf salad, salted fish parts, and a morning glory and mushroom dish. It was so yummy.

We had our last Pad Thai at the night market Monday with Will after going to the tea shop for the last time to briefly celebrate our victory with the protest!

I said goodbye to all the boarding houses (not once, sometimes not twice) because they kept asking me to come back to say goodbye :) Anyway it was difficult to say goodbye to the kids. The Safe House kids and house mama were funny. We have never been able to speak with each other, but we always have fun playing and laughing with the kids. She's this woman with red teeth and decaying gums from all the bettle nut she chews. Sidmone and the kids at his boarding house were the saddest and most difficult to leave. I gave them a bunch of toys and clothing, so they were happy. Agape, Marissa put together this cute track and field race thing and a slide show for the kids. Pretty fun.

Tuesday was pretty busy with attending CDC grand opening of their new school (million dollar complex- is what we heard rumored). Then the rest of the day was spent wrapping up loose ends for us. John Khine and Hay Ma Oo stopped by and gave us a awesome cartoon he had drawn of us and them. (We had bought some more of his paintings the other night: he is fantastic). The recently released prisoner stopped by to visit with u. He seemed pretty distressed and a little worried. We reassured him that things would get better and he'd start to find his way here in Mae Sot. He's writing his story with his free time and said it is very difficult (he was in jail for 16 years, 7 months, and 17 days- his daughter was a baby when he went in and now she is grown, but he can not see here because it is too dangerous for her). He gave us a ring so we could remember him. Defiantly a gift from the heart.

That night we met at Aiya's for our Last Supper (hehe). Thawdar (said Torra) gave me a set of pearls that the proceeds go to an orphanage they sponsor. Aung Khine gave us a couple Longyees. Can't wait to see Ben in a "skirt" hehe. So many people came to wish us off. All former political prisoners, friends, co-workers. It was the best. Ben got teary eyed a couple times. I just cried a few times. Especially when I was telling Aung Khine to be safe (he was planning another protest the next day, but he had ask no one to tell me so I would not worry, but of course I found out. He also was being sought after by the Thai authorities and was unable to attend CDC grand opening. He may loose his job with the school). The other political prisoners and we talked a lot and joked. They all wanted pictures with Ben because he is "famous" (he was on TV yesterday with his sound bite about Burma during the protest).


Aung Khine and a couple FPP, Ingjine and Tha Thoe (her husband), and Michelle walked us to the bus stop and waited with us. Ingjine kept burying her head and hugging me. She has been so depressed and unable to find a job. I helped her to make a connection with a NGO for transcribing services now that I could not be there to have her help me at the boarding houses. Aung Khine walked the whole way even with his polio. That was one of the most touching things. We absolutely met some fabulous people here in Mae Sot and developed some life long friendships. We miss you Mae Sot!

The Border Protest

http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=105126&videoChannel=1http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/2183-protests-in-thai-burmese-border-town-for-aung-san-suu-kyi.htmlhttp://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15724
As some may know Aung San Su Kyi, the noble laureate and democracy icon of Burma, was arrested over a week ago from her home where she had already been kept under house arrest. An American man, for reasons unknown, swam up to her house on Lake Inya in Rangoon and was caught on his way out from her house. The Burmese military government took advantage of this bizarre occurrence to bring charges against Su Kyi in hopes of extending her sentence yet again, thus keeping her imprisoned during the "elections" that are scheduled for next year. Immediately there was outrage from all across the world and the Burmese in Mae Sot where no exception. Yet there was some difference of opinion on what to do. Most of the Burmese pro-democracy groups in town, around 60 of them, wanted to do something more than just call on international pressure and write statements of condemnation, they wanted to take to the streets and voice their outrage to the Burmese junta in public view. So, the first political protest of its kind began to be formed in Mae Sot. To appreciate the significance of this one needs to see that there is a unspoken balance and relationship between the Thai authorities and government of Mae Sot (and Thailand in general) and the pro-democracy elements from Burma living in Thailand. The Burmese groups are allowed to carry out their work with a wink-and-a- nod from the authorities to some extent, as long as they do not cause any trouble. (They still take risks with the Burmese miliarty intelligence spying within Thailand). And protesting in front of the Thai-Burma "friendship bridge," would be considered trouble by the authorities, but that is exactly what we did.
Our good friend Aung Khine was one of the lead organizers of the movement and asked Steff and I to help. We were allowed to attend the main planning meeting for the protest with the heads of all of the participating group, including several monks. These monks had taken part in the 2007 uprising in Burma called the Saffron Revolution, in which hundreds of monks were jailed, killed, or driven to exile. The lead monk at the meetings stated that even though the authorities had thought they had stopped them in 2007, they had not and they have been continuing to fight and plan and will continue to fight and plan. He stated that very soon there will be another revolution and that this time the monks are more prepared and will have most of the monks around the country ready (communication is difficult). He will take what ever steps are necessary even if they have to rise against other elder monks who may have become corrupt by the SPDC and at that time they will ask them to leave and all who believe in freedom and human rights will join together. Damn powerful statement.
Our job would be to organize as many Westerners as possible to attend the protest. The idea being, the more foreigners there, the less likely the Thai police or military were to crack down on the protesters and make arrests. While a few of us foreigners participated in the protest, many would just watch and gather around and observe (with cameras) there by giving their support. This is important because nearly all the Burmese who took part in the protests are former political prisoners themselves and risked being arrested and deported back to Burma. For most of the migrant workers in Mae Sot, it is a matter of bribing their way back across the border, but for pro-democracy activists being deported could land them in back in a Burmese prison for a couple decades or worse. So, these guys were risking it all and it was an honor to give our support. Last Sunday we all assembled at the bridge and began our protest., but not before my friend Will and I had contacted some international and local press to cover the event. So, with over 100 people, journalist, cops, soldiers and the Burmese intelligence agents taking our pictures we walked to the bridge and had our protest. I'm happy to say it was (for now anyway) a success because no one was arrested and it inspired many others in the area to rally to the cause who had remained silent previously. I even gave a statement to one of the news agencies. Much of the credit has to be given to our great friend Aung Khine who remains in Mae Sot planning more action against the Burmese governments injustices and risking his freedom and possibly his life in doing so. He is a great friend and an inspiring person and it was an honor to stand beside him as he risked all.
As an after note: Since the protest there was much jubilation and excitement and many people have called Aung Khine and asked to be a part of the next protest. It has been very good for building hope for the former political prisoners. The felt like they had stood up for something and made a difference. Thai authorities came looking for Aung Khine Monday night at CDC school. He was ask to not participate in the grand opening of the new school due to his involvement in the protest (he suspects he might be fired from CDC school, but he plans to keep peacefully protesting anyway).

Wednesday afternoon they protested again outside of the UN office in Mae Sot. This time even more people showed up to participate. It went fantastic. The was a well known Thai military general who is not in favor of Burma who suggested Aung Khine contact him in the future if he plans to do anymore protest of this kind and he will be in support and to help! So now we do not have to worry about Aung Khine or the others being arrested anymore and being sent back to Burma. They just have to be careful about Burmese military intelligence. I think this support may go well with Aung Khine being allowed to keep his job as Social Studies and history teacher at CDC school.

P.S. Here is the news feed about Ben's AAPP campaign for 888,888 votes to free Aung San Su Kyi and all political prisoners. They made 600,000, no small feat. Thanks to all of you for signing!
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15737

Salema our street kid and child protection

We first met Salema and her gang of street kids at water festival. They hung out at Aiya's rest. with us many of the days playing in the water. It was one of the only places in town they were welcome.

Later we'd see them throughout town and chat and sometimes have a meal with them.

A couple nights ago, Ben and I heard English shouting behind us, around 10 at night after finishing dinner. We see Salema and two of her friends running towards us terrified. They stop by us shivering and noticeably frightened. Salema speaks a little English, Thai, and of course Burmese. So we make out a little of what they are trying to tell us. We understand someone hit them. They pointed to spots on their bodies where a man in a uniform had beat them. Ben went to go look down the street to see if he could see anything. I talked with the kids. I told them they would be fine that we'd bring them somewhere safe. They lied about not having homes (I knew a little background from a church group that works with them) and said they were not sure where they could go. They said maybe you can bring us to the hotel I think it costs 450 Baht. I have to admit that at this point I was not completely believing them and was wondering if they were scamming us (understandably with their life situation making money is always top priority). So I was a bit surprised when two men in all black uniforms came racing up on their bikes with a club and walkie talkies. The kids immediately looked even more terrified and ran off. I called for them to come back as one of the officers started to chase and bike after them yelling at the kids. Salema came back to us, but the other two had slipped through a crack between two buildings and were off for the dark alleyways of the closed day market. The other officer took off in the other direction to try to coroner the kids. Ben and I were into sure who these guys were: police, immigration, security guards (anyone can buy uniforms and often their are guys that guard stores around Mae Sot or sometimes they can be army for a certain rich Thai. These guys can sometimes be used to traffic kids, etc). Ben started to walk Salema towards our house as I went to try to bike around the main road to see if the kids maybe had turned back around and were waiting anywhere so we could take them home with us. I had no luck finding them. I biked past one of the uniformed guys standing and talking with the Thai police on the street. They began to yell at me i n Thai and wave their arms. I felt angry with them and as I biked pass I just said I don;t speak Thai. I also passed these Thai store owners who were laughing at the scene.

I caught up to Ben and Salmea and Ben went to look for the other kids in the market alleyways (I'm scared of the dogs so thank you Ben). Salema and I started to walk towards our house. A white truck with blow horns raced by and stopped quickly near Salema and I as the same biker officer came pulling up to Salema and I. He tried to grab her and take her. He kept yelling at me and saying "go home" in English. I grabbed Salema back and kept pushing her off behind me so he could not take her and putting the bike between us and him. I told him I was taken Salema home with me. He did not look to happy, but let us go. We waiting for Ben to come back at our house.

When he came he was unable to find the kids even though he search all over the dark market and had dogs try to bite him and saw some weird people hiding out.

Salema was really worried about her friends and said she thought she knew where they were hiding. We were worried that the two would get beat, arrested, etc. So the three of us went together. Ben grabbed a bike chain to hit at the dogs with and we grabbed a copy of our passports and some cash in case we had to bribe them.

Salema took us to places that I had no clue existed. We saw a backroom with a pool table and some young guys hanging out, saw a bunch of dogs. Had a group of 5 try to bite us (seriously these dogs are ridiculous!). I felt so bad for Salema, because everytime she saw a dog she almost screamed.Once she even jumped when she saw a statue of a dog. (She's been bite a couple times. Once on the butt also. Poor thing). Ben and I got some weird stares from people (I don't think most foreigners go hanging out in the alleys at night). At one point we were even shimming through the tiny walk ways between the buildings to try to avoid going on the main street where the police, etc were still and to see if the kids were hiding down them. At this point we gave up and headed back home. She came to ours cuz she had said she could not go home unless she made 1000 Baht for rent to give to her mom and dad.

We colored, watched a kid's movie, and fed her some food. She took a shower and we had an extra toothbrush for her. She did not really like the tooth paste and looked at me weird when I showed her how to brush and spit it out. But she loved having a shower and brushing her hair. It was very warm and endearing like a little family sitting around. I even helped her comb her hair. We set her up on the couch for the night.

Later that night we woke up to Salema crying and tried to comfort her so she could get back to sleep. I kept thinking all night about what to do in the morning. She told us that night she did not like to work the streets.

The next morning our Burmese housemate made her some breakfast. Salema had folded up all the sheets and blankets. I called MTC child protection office and Barbara referred me to Compassio or World Vision as organizations that work with the street kids. Salmea and I colored some more pictures waiting for 1 pm to go to the place where they feed the kids lunch for free, but our landlord showed up and it felt a little awkward to have a street kid hanging around, so we took off early. Comapssio's office was closed and the lunch spot had been shut down. We went thought the market and decided to look for the other kids. We looked back by the pool hall and found a back alley way with about 10 street families all crouched along the side, lots of young babies. Shortly after we found the kids. They were jealous of Salema and they all wanted to stay at our house and color. (The next evening I found them and gave them a bunch of coloring books and crayons since they absolutely loved them so much... thanks mom and Missy's family for the art supplies donations). Yikes. Told them no ( I can't start running a street kid drop in center out of my rental house- plus we're here only for a week or so more) but that they could come with me to world vision. So they followed me across town. We ran into Attelle's (the other girl) father, but he did not say much our really acknowledge any of the kids or myself. On the way to World Vision people seriously tried to run over the kids. This happened twice. The driver almost pulled out in front of me, stopped allowed me to pass, and then looking at the kids pulled out in front of them. Other drivers drove really close to the kids as we walked by. I noticed this because it was much closer and more dangerous than anyone usually drives by myself when I am out walking. Many people gave us really dirty looks and said some things that did not appear to be to friendly or encouraging. The Thais are tired of the kids.

We got to World Vision and the staff looked a little awkward at first. A foreign woman and four street kids (Attelle had her little brother with her- no diaper or shorts on) in tow. The kids were so excited to come into the office and to sit on this nice furniture. I set them up with some crayons and paper and world vision brought them some juice drinks. Meanwhile they had two other organizations show up and we had a tiny conference. I stated I'd ;like them to hear the kids story about the security guards, I'd like some advocacy done with the guards to try to educate them about street kids and encourage them to not beat them but rather contact one of the other social agencies to try to help with the problem (street kids are a social problem, not a police problem, but there is not formal system in place to help with this and the organizations helping are trying hard, but it is a difficult task with many layers). and lastly to advocate with the parents to have the kids home before dark for their safety. I figured they could tell the parents that the kids were almsot arrested last night which would mean no money for them and that maybe this would encourage them to allow their kids to return home at night.

The one organization stated they had been working with the girl and her family for a long time and that their situation is not so bad (relative to other families where the kids are beat constantly). They told me they would try to talk to the police/ guards and the parents again even though they have already in the past, and that Salema's mom actually wants her to return home at night, but that Salema does not want to that she likes the streets. I asked her is she totally believed her mom because I thought maybe both parent and child maybe be used to having to tell people what they want to hear and be planful or manipulative about what they communicate. The woman asked Salema if she wanted to go to school and stop working the streets. Salema gave a half committal answer. It is difficult she is used to the streets and the freedom and has known really nothing else, so to ask her to change this is pretty difficult. (and in my opinion it is not reasonable to expect a child to really be able to make those kind of decisions with full commitment. If she had left that morning I would have thought she did not want a change, but cuz she stayed and seemed to be looking to me to do something to make her life better). Comapssio will open a drop-in center which has some cons but I think the pros out way any of the cons. It will be a place the kids can go to find caring people and to do some informal activities. I left the office feeling like I had done what I could, but still feeling like I and the other adults were failing her. I couldn't really take her away from her family obviously, but all those kids wanted to have this warm, safe, caring place to go. (Salema's family life is filled with yelling, etc). They just were not completely ready to commit to a structured life style. I ran into her later back in the market and our interaction seemed so valueless (like our experience had just been one more let down or chance encounter she'd had with a foreigner or an adult for that matter). I was not feeling so great at this point and was really feeling like the lack of child protection was just so sad at this point.

Luckily, I had been talking with Barbara at MTC CP and Liberty at World Education. Liberty wanted to meet to talk about CP and her possible funding she could get through unicef or American Aid. Barbara and I had been talking about how she had been pushing for things to take action for 2 years now, but the difficulties MTC clinic has at organization and managing things. As you've read previously MTC and the on the side of town (the bigger NGOs) have notoriously been at odds. But Friday... I had Liberty and Barbara meet. And it went really really well. WE has the education. training background, may possibly be able to get funding, and is much more organized, while MTC has been getting people together for months and holding meetings (although unproductive in nature, but netherless at least trying) and also has some great resources started. A referral system for CP (Like a directory of the agencies and who does what). This is much more difficult to do in a situation like this because people are at risk with immigration, SPDC, and police if it were to get into the wrong hands.

But anyway, after some talking we were able to form a team to push hard for child protection!!!! Greg the director of WE agred to do a propsal to Unicef at the meeting in Bangkok on June 9th for CP on the migrant community. Barbara and Liberty and Greg will attend. This meeting will discuss how this CP referral system has been implemented in the camps and the strengths and weaknesses along with a chance to talk with unicef. Barbara has also done some research on the migrant community on child protection statistics which should help aid the case.

YEAH!!!! :):)

I am so happy for this. This was a major bridge to take place and this is the push that was needed to really begin to get this stuff in place.

Recently, Salema and her friends called us around 8:30 pm stating the security guards were trying to arrest them again. I told them we'd take them for dinner, and then we'd walk them home since it is dangerous at night. We had dinner, but then they refused to go home and had wanted to stay at our house. I knew something like this might happen, so I stayed strong and said that we'd take them home, but they can't stay. They told me their parents would beat them if they went home with no money. It was so difficult, but I told them if that was true that we'd need to talk with Compassio and we'd protect them. However, in the past they'd denied being beat by their parents and refuse to leave or go to school. I sounded like it was not pleasant and the parents were emotionally abusive, but I can't run a boarding house out of my rental home, plus if I continue to do this it enables them to remain on the street. (I wish I could just adopt them all. They need so much).

it was really really hard though. They returned to our house later that night and sat outside the gate. I told them we'd walk them home, but that they could not stay. To come back tomorrow (I was taking one of the girls to the clinic cuz she had an eye infection). They stayed outside for a hour. It was horrible. I felt like I was making the right and difficult decision, but I'm just not sure. Street kids are tough. I feel really guilty. Again the Child protection stuff will be good for Mae Sot.

Ben's work at AAPP

In our first month of being in Mae Sot, we had heard of this organization of political prisoners who gave tours of their office which included a museum dedicated to the political prisoners languishing in Burma. Steff and I , along with our housemates visited them one day and were quite impressed with their work, not to mention shocked at the hardship and cruel treatment they had endured while in prison. In the museum you can see many pictures of the prisons along with the prisoners. There are very vivid pictures of the torture techniques used by the prison guards on the prisoners along with an actual chain and cross bar that was almost continuously attached to the prisoners ankles throughout their imprisonment. In another part of the room was a wall of photographs of many people (too many), and above it read “those who died in prison”. Along with the walk through the small, but profound museum one of the AAPP members (they are all former political prisoners themselves) explains what it was like living in the prisons and their reasons for being put their (usually, they were a member of a political party, or marched in the 1988 protest, that left thousands of protesters dead by the response of the military government.) Not one of us in our group did not feel affected by their stories and their cause. A couple of months later, a teacher friend of mine, who is also a former political prisoner himself, asked if I would like to work with the AAPP since school would be on their summer break, and I wouldn’t have to teach as much. Of course I jumped at the chance and am glad I did because the people here at this organization are some of the most kind, determined, hardworking, and inspiring people I have ever known. I will refrain from using their full real names, because as crazy as it sounds to an American, they still have to worry about junta spies finding out about their work here. Junta spies are a real part of Mae Sot, and in the past there have been assassinations of resistance leaders right here in downtown Mae Sot. There was also a time when a nurse at the Mae Tao clinic was kidnapped and by Burmese agents and taken back across the boarder where she was interrogated for several days before being released. However, most anti-junta, pro-democracy Burmese people in Mae Sot like to keep a low profile for fear that junta spies and informers will find out who they are and what they are doing and then go back and punish their families who are still inside Burma, this is not an uncommon tactic employed by the junta. While not all the former prisoners here at the AAPP have much reason to fear spies, for various reasons there are some that do. With that being said, I would like to reiterate that these guys at the AAPP are wonderful. As soon as I came they were very welcoming and generous. One night they had a small party to which we were invited. They brought out the whiskey, as they usually do, and after a while the conversation left politics and somehow turned to food. I mentioned that I wanted to try the bugs they sell in the market and immediately one of the guys jumped on his motorbike and took off. Within 5 min. he was back with bags full of grubs, crickets, and grasshoppers (I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth). That night after a couple glasses of whiskey, Steff and I enjoyed some tasty Thai bugs. Actually, they weren’t that bad, just really crispy and salty. The guys at the AAPP are always looking for ways to entertain themselves in the evenings because it is unsafe for any Burmese without proper documentation to go out at night. Very few Burmese in Mae Sot have documentation, it is a situation that is slightly similar (and I do mean slightly) to the situation with undocumented workers in America. At any time, any Burmese can be asked to present documentation and if they don’t have it then they are arrested and deported. For most Burmese this means they just have to bribe their way back across with a few hundred bhat (but a few hundred bhat is a lot of money to a poor Burmese worker). The situation is a little different for a Burmese pro democracy/anit-junta worker who is deported back across the river, they might never be seen again. So, the guys here like to have social dinners and drinks whenever they can. One guy, “Aung T.” is a big fan of movies like myself, so I will download a movie and bring it over to watch on their computer projector screen. One night it was just me and him outside watching “the good, the bad, and the ugly”, while enjoying a few beers and fighting off the mosquitos. That night he told me of his personal story and how he was forced to flee Burma after being released from prison. He left behind a wife and a son who just turned 5. It gave me a better understanding of the sacrifices these guys, along with countless others, have made in their struggle for freedom and democracy. I asked him what more I could do to help, and he told me to act as a kind of reporter, he wanted me to report his story to others when I got home. He wanted me to tell of their struggle and sacrifice and to let everyone know that there is a horrible injustice happening in Burman right now. But also there are people like him that are ready to fight on forever to achieve their freedom. He wanted me to do this in order to rally more support to the cause. So, whoever is reading this please keep these people in your thoughts and take some time to do a little research on your own about Burma, and what you can do to help. My job here at the AAPP office is mainly to update the monthly chronology report that is then distributed to all the Burmese supporting groups throughout the world. It basically consist of monitoring the news gathering information on political prisoners: new arrests, sentencing, prison transfers, prisoners in bad health, and any relevant international news, etc. Aside from this, I have been helping on the petition campaign however I can, as well as updating the prisoner profiles. All in all, it is a pretty sweet job, especially since I get to sit in an air conditioned room!! (I know for most of you who are reading this that won’t sound too amazing, but trust me, when you are in Thailand in the middle of the hot season it is a big deal. Air condition is a luxury out here and not many places have them. Although, the local 7-11’s have them and we sometimes browse the isles for a long time just to enjoy that sweet A/C) After work on Mon. Wed. and Fri. I go to the Mae Tao clinic to teach my conversation class, which usually last for a couple hours, although it is so fun with those students I wouldn’t mind if it lasted 5 hours, but that’s another story.

Steff's Work 3.. 3's a charm

Yeah!!!! That's all i can say. Things have really picked up and I am absolutely loving it. It really was not at all like I envisioned and there have defiantly been some rocky rocky roads, but damn it has worked out.

My role has been more to unite people, to motivate people and to offer guidance to others doing some awesome things. I have continued to connect people around Mae Sot community and now there is a large push from the large NGOS (IRC, unicef, WE, ZOA, etc) to implement a referral system for child protection situations. Mae Tao Clinic and their clan have also been trying to begin talking about this for months now, but have not been very successful. The larger organization can be more successful most likely and than share this with the rest of the community, where the community can adapt it was needed.

My suggestions have been focused strongly on prevention. Teaching individuals, families, communities about dynamics of child abuse, addiction, stress vulnerability, anger displacement, empowering the people, empowering the communities, helping to build up community awareness of their role in preventing child abuse and how as a community they can support families that are caught in this cycle.

I've been continuing to visit the boarding houses in the area and trying out psychsocial activities with the students to assess their validity and usefulness. Some of the kids really love this noodle song, where you pretend you are a stiff uncooked noodle (representing anxiety) and then jump into a pot of bubbling water and slowly the firmness and (anxiety) melt away until you are a pile of noodles laying on the floor. They really love to lay in a funny pile on the ground and then pretend to eat each other afterwards :)

There was one child at Agape who had been sitting quietly next to another teacher and then got up and ran toward the outside of the compound and appeared to try to climb over the fence. The other children ran after him and hit and yelled at him,dragging him back. Normally I try to stay as uninvolved as possible (I never understand all the dynamics since I can't understand the language), but this was intense and the child was screaming and absolutely terrified. I ran over and picked him up away for mt other kids. They all gestured for me to take him to the house mama. The kid screamed bloody murder and held onto my so tightly I thought he would draw blood. I went to ask the other teacher if she had noticed anything, but she had no clue what was going on. The House mama came over smiling. I did not want to cause tension or insult the hierarchy or the House mama, but i just could not hand over the kid. It felt wrong. We both just smiled and gestured lightly to each other and eventually she went away. The kid relaxed a bit, but was still crying quietly and inconsolable.
The kid could not stop crying completely and was just miserable. He kept uttering Amay (which i figured out to me mom) and pointing outside. He was so obviously stressed and effected by the environment.
I did finally decide to take him outside for a walk and a breather. He lead me across the street through a farm field (where we received very weird stares) to a house on the corner of the pasture. There was a man and woman who did not look happy. I was so nervous I had made a bad decision (whatif the mom was there and was angry that I brought her son to visit, what if these were relatives who had been abusive to him and they would try to keep him..) any way these were not people he knew. His mom was not there. He quieted down and then was willing to go back to Apage and appeared sad, but less tormented about his mom. I spoke with the Boarding house master about his pain and struggles, he understood and had noticed that the boy had been having troubles adapting. I voiced my concern with his intense fear of the House mom and that perhaps people could interact with him differently, while also stating my apologizes for overstepping my place. I don't have reasons to believe they abuse him, but I know that a child who does not adapt quickly or easily and one who cries is not treated in my opinion on the best way. Culturally if a child laughs or is angry you laugh at him because "he is so cute." Or if he cries you gently slap him because crying is bad. The happy part of the story is no this little boy who used to cry often is not crying anymore. He is happy and has been able to adjust mostly to life at Agape.

There are two kids at SAW who lost their parents and when they first arrived could not be next to anyone else but each other. They have over the last couple weeks been able to relax a bit more and build some relationships. The little boy especially clings to me. At this boarding house Sigmond and another male staff run the boardinghouse while some adolescent boys and girls help to watch the kids. All the kids, adolescent girls, young girls and boys look to me as a mother figure. I get adolescent girls who plop down on my lap looking for a hug. I've been trying to do some relaxation stuff with the kids because they are having a lot of nightmares at night. This is a pretty new boarding house (little over a month old, so most of the children are new orphans, or boarders).

Unicef, WE has Incorporated the behavioral management ideas as alternatives to corporal punishment into their curriculum and I will help present that one last time at a training for the largest migrant school here in Mae Sot right before we leave.

I'm also trying to incorporate a compassion fatigue assessment and ways to prevent it as my final goodbye. (so many staff overwork themselves and really don't take enough time for themselves).

I went to the Thai street kid lunch spot behind the Burmese day market the other day. It is a Christian organization that supports a woman who feeds the street kids and families lunch everyday. The kids hang out with staff and socialize. They hung all over us and I just felt like I wanted to bring them home and have them take a bath and get clean clothes. I've been running into this girl named Salema a often around town and was really struggling with what to do for her. She had a little brother she sometimes carried around. I had given her some spare clothing and had had her sit down to lunch and dinner with me a few times to chat. (once a Thai woman had been so mean to her and I had seen her move around the corner from me and begin to cry silently). I made her sit with me and socialize as if she was not a bugger, but a friend. Anyway I've had the privilege to consult with a guy working with that organization and also with a drop in center for street kids and families and to brainstorm how to improve their situations for the long term and what to do in the short term.

I am about half way done with my activity packet and have numerous agencies that would like copies to share with their staff to make sure to incorporate psychsocial ideas into their work with the migrant kids. It is a beginning.

At one point I even helped Mae Sot social worker who was going to online school in Australia one weekend. She had gotten her paper back and needed to make revisions on editing. We spent a lot of time other. it was interesting she told me more about the bribes and dynamics behind the papers people get here in Thailand. She also discussed sexual identify issues and how in a collective society like hers it was difficult to have friends who opening showed their sexual preference (by wearing tshirts and pants --- I wonder what they think of all the westerners around here) and how she likes them as people but then she gets teased and ridiculed. She processed about if she felt strong enough to remain friends with these girls. She also has not gotten married and faces a lot of pressure from others around this. A lot of times it is difficult to discuss this stuff with their friends here.

My high school students who translate for me have some romeo and Juliet drama happening. They are at a cross roads in their lives. They have both graduated and are extremely intelligent people. The adults in their lives are looking for them to take action to move forward. The girl has an opportunity to move to Bangkok and work for a woman's organization. The boy has all these opportunities but wants to be an artist (Leslie we bought you one of his artworks for your cabin!) However, they are both madly in Love with each other. They are only allowed to see each other very rarely, so when they come with me to translate I guess they have been lying to the girls mother and saying it is only she who comes. Yikes. anyway. I just find them both endearing and I hope they end up doing all of it! :)

A doctoral psychology student (a previous lawyer) came to Mae Sot and is interested in doing a research paper on the gaps of service for the migrant community. A lot of the suggestions focused around mental health. She was really interesting and also offered to mentor Ben during his law school days.

I've just been doing a lot of this. Connecting people with each other, helping to point out needs, areas to connect and to work together, building relationships and sharing these with others. Lots of social work stuff.

I feel like I have learned so much here. So much about community organizing, trauma: trust/ distrust exclusive/ isolating societies, conflict community, politics, change, just how important a unified community is, and a lot about myself.

I'll be able to leave Mae Sot feeling good and that I contributed to the welfare of the migrant population.