"Create your own" Human rights report!

It's kinda like "create your own adventure" where the reader decides what to make out of the story. "If your right to food has been violated, turn to page 17...congrats! now you get to pretend you're starving." Eh...so these are some of the jokes coming out of this week of writing, editing, rewriting (and repeat x ten) the Human Rights Report on the Nong Jahn forest community...(this joke came because originally it was hard for us to see the problem b/c the community was kickass and so happy and loved their lives. Later we realized that the fact that all that they had, all they had fought to keep, could be taken away any day by the law, that was the scariest part).

Brief synopsis of report: Nong Jahn village has existed as a forest community since the 60s. It wasn't until the 80s and 90s when the zone they had lived in for decades was declared a preservation zone and National Park, unwelcoming thei presence and ignoring their stewardship of the land. They were evicted twice to areas where there was inadequate larnd and job opportunities (debt, family separation, detachment from forest and local knowledge to that area, etc). You can imagine that they've turned these experiences into empowerment. The women of the village have held up armed forest officers by encircling them with torches just so that they could finish building their first community temple (which happened to use wood from the forest). They let the rangers know what's up. All of them say they "will not move" and that they WILL "die on this land." Still, all of what they have fought for could be taken away by the law's whims - they have no land rights. They are deemed "illegal" and unwanted.

This morning we presented the HR report to some villagers on a large screen and gave them copies (they will get Thai versions, too). Most of our assignments have been us going into communities and exchanging and living with the villagers - then we come back and write things they likely will never see. To be able to present them honestly with this work, which we truly hope represents them, was powerful. To be able to hold that work in our hands, see the photos of people we've laughed and eaten with alongside their stories, the legal writing, the violations....I have to say, it's one of the more meaningful assignments I've helped create in my life.

We heard that recently the prime minister personally acknowledged the need to give the (is it 1.5 million?) forest-dependent communities legal status...their bad rapport starting 20 years ago has finally become urgent. Maybe. These claims have been made before. We only hope this report is a wave in the sea of change we hope we're starting to see.

It's been a good process. Our team (the other half went to a Gold Mining community where there was cyanide poisoning in their drinking water) was very willing to work and to work together. To have true team effort is such a blessing! Also staying up late and still laughing at the 100th poop joke of the day is priceless.

When it's up online, I'll give you all the link.

Unit 3- dun dun duuuuh

Ben yang ngai? Hope things are going well with you all - make sure to update me on your life too :)

So we're about to start Unit 3 which is when us CIEE students write a HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT, dun dun duuuuuh. haha I'm actually very excited, but I hear it will be intense. The half I'm in will be going to an illegal forest community and constructing a report based on some of their main stories/issues, using feature stories, summaries, the Economic Social and Cultural Rights Report, and also having photos and personal accounts to go along with it all. So that'll be the next few weeks....

But before that, this past week staying with slum and landfill communities was a strong mixture of emotion, but universally I loved the homestays and I had a great time. It's so easy to just "have fun" as a student staying with them. You listen and play, eat good food, chill on the main street where all the houses are open and exposed to visitors - and then you get to leave. You don't have to stay with the trash smell, or live every day with the fear you could get evicted. Instead you hear a little about their issues and are incredibly touched by their patience and open hearts. Especially at the choom chon eh ad (community of packed housing - it's a better term than "slum") - we went swimming in an irrigation canal, got delicious coconut/corn ice cream, played with the kids on an open field, ate STIR FRIED SQUIRREL that was recently shot by a bibi gun...it was all so fun. And my family personally went out fishing at 3:30am every morning - I got to see Paw walk around entire lakes/large ponds with a net to catch shrimp and small fish in. I got to see the sun rise, hear the quiet cricket and bird noises, see a silent storm, sleep on mats on a road (literally, IN the road), and two less pleasant things were getting a snake out of the net and painfully experiencing being right on top of a red ant hill. My mom cried when I left and I had only been there for two days. I will never forget (and hope to visit soon!) that village and how awesome of a time it was.

I think I might go to the "aerobic step" class at the gym soon (Thai's love aerobics) so I must be off!