Mae Sot, Chiang Rai, Karen People, and Non-Formal Education

1/6/06

We left at 5:30, it is dark, there is dew on the Taxi window. I see early morning buses, Monks walking, dogs looking for food, a jogger and Taxis with the vacant light lit. The new 7-11 is very bright. There is a Monk riding on a pedi-cab. Trucks are lining up at the factories. The Wat neon lights are very bright and colorful, blue, white, and yellow fluorescent tubes. We arrive at the Center for Educational Technology early, we wait in the lobby, there are irritating mosquitos.

We are going to Mae Sot today

I have not worn any jeans since I have been in Thailand, except for some cut offs I wear around the house. This must seem unbelievable to people who know me.

We are in a Toyota van, it is an agency van, we are going around picking up people. There are seven people including the driver

I was asked to teach a one day workshop on basic computer skills for the staff at the Non-Formal Education E-Learning department

The web site that I created to explain the ITS program and competencies was well received. I am glad. The assistant director said he could see how things work, the details, and that it was very helpful.

The road is not crowded as we head north, different areas specialize in selling different things beside the road. We are going through an area that has many colored fishing nets. Another region by the road is selling wicker brooms and chairs.

The road from Tak to Mae Sot is a beautiful twisting road

We visit a school in Mae Sot, it is a government school, but there are people from the Catholic church helping out. Many of the Hill Tribe people are Christian. The students who took a math test at the school, did not do a good job, there answers were identical. The students are preparing for the high school exams. They discussed the problem and tried to give encouragement.

We go to the Friendship Bridge area to go to a market. The bridge is an entry point for people from Myanmar to come to Thailand to work. There is also exchange of goods. There is a fence surrounding the area and a border inspection area. There are people on the bridge looking through the fences. The market is interesting, many name brand food items, and odd and poor quality electronics. There are also many guns for sale, I do not know anything about guns, but I would be afraid to fire one. There were many excellent wood items on sale.

Up on the cement dike, that surrounds the market area, there were two kids, they saw me and yelled, they quickly showed me that they had a carton of Marlboro cigarettes for sale, it was sad to see the hope and necessity in the kids.

We talk for awhile and then go to our hotel, the Central Mae Sot Hill, we go out for a meal in the evening, it is great.

We are supposed to fly back from Lampang, but the plan might not work, Jit decides, and I am glad, that we will ride through to Chiang Rai and then fly home from there. The people we are traveling with are great, and we share many common interests.

1/7/06
Saturday morning we go to Saint Joseph Mae Ramat School to meet some students. We drive north, the area reminds me of Wisconsin, there are rolling hills, read earth, and corn fields. The details are very different, and there are hills in the distance, but the impression is of a well cultivated area.

We meet three students from the Karen community, they have made a seven hour trip with their priest to meet with us.

In there home community there is no electricity, only battery powered devices recharged with solar cells. To use e-learning tools takes planning. Electricity is used with caution and thought. The communities are very isolated, on top of hills with subsistence rice harvest, they have lived in the area for centuries Younger people are leaving the communities for Bangkok, they send money for about three months and then nothing

We met three students who might be the first people from the community to graduate from high school. They are using the e-learning materials from Non-Formal Education. E-Learning, I think, means anything that is not traditional teaching, it includes Video, VCD, DVD's, audio tapes, and self-study text books. The community can not access the satellite TV channels that are provided by the school we visited in Hua Hin. One student needs to pass an English course and the other two a Math course to finish high school. Their goal is to stay in the community and to help the community. The priest wants to help them continue to learn. I think the goal is to learn community development. Later we found that in Chiang Rai there is a Center for Inter-Ethnic Study that might be a good fit for the students, but they would have to leave home. I was moved by the students, and by the hope that they represented for their community.

The Karen people are a large cultural group, they live in the Mae Sot area and also up north. The school is teaching in both languages and is very aware of the need for cultural strength. The traditional leadership is by elders and the culture is strong. The priest has lived in the community for six years and was going to continue. I could feel his emotional and intellectual commitment to the community. There is a school with 200 students that is supported by donations, the school seems culturally and religiously respectful of traditions.

So many experiences echo rural Alaska.

Going back through Mae Sot and through Tak there are checkpoints to look for illegal immigrants. There were also checkpoints on the road south of Chiang Rai. In Mae Sot there are many people using bicycles along the high way to get to work. I think they are from Burma. I do not know the protocol for using Burma or Myanmar. Most people in Thailand seem to refer to Myanmar.

We leave and drive back to Tak and then north to Chiang Rai. There are large granite boulders and what looks like volcanic rock as we drive toward Lampang. I am interested in the geology of Thailand, I need to do some searching. Flying back from Chiang Rai I saw some very odd geographical forms. There was a large half arc that rose from a flat plane almost like the remnants of a huge crater. It was such a uniform shape. I took a vague picture. I need some good maps and some reference materials.

The road north is beautiful when we go through the national parks. There are some impressive mountains (hills to Alaskans) the form and structure is stark and spectacular. Some of the mountains look similar to granite volcanic remnants like the Angle Rocks area around Fairbanks. There are farming communities wherever there is flat land. One of Thailand's strengths is that so many families own land and use it for farming. The flat areas are farmed intensely. There are rice, bananas, grain, reeds, cattle, and corn all being cultivated. The towns have an agriculture infrastructure with farm equipment sales and even grain elevators. The housing that I see is not fancy, maybe even marginal, but the areas are very productive.

We talk a little about the Thailand government. I realize there are not the checks and balances of a federal system. I think the idea of each of the 50 states having it's own constitution is hard to explain. Also the split between state and federal responsibility is difficult to explain. Sometimes seeing another form of government makes concepts clearer.

We finally arrive in Chiang Rai about 5:30 in the evening. There is a hotel, a large hotel, called Little Duck! I suppose it seems more appropriate for the Chinese. We are staying at the Wangcome Hotel, which is an old central hotel in downtown Chiang Rai. We go to walk around the night market and then drive to a restaurant to eat northern Thai food. The food is excellent and very different from the Thai food in other regions, much more crunchy and spiced differently. I like it. We get home and sleep.

1/8/06
Jit and I get up early, her foot is sore because she twisted it last night. It is dark, but we go find a 7-11 to get some Tylenol. In the 7-11 there is a rack for people to put their motorcycle helmets. We then get a Tuk Tuk and go for a tour of Chiang Rai. I love the morning. We go to the market and get out and walk. There are many different fruits, vegetables, and arts and crafts then in other parts of Thailand. There are also many hill tribe people selling in the market. My favorite part of Thailand is the morning markets! I am excited and interested every time we go. We bought some gourds and a Roti. After exploring we went back to the hotel for breakfast. There was some excellent Thai filtered coffee. I have never seen it before, it was real coffee, very smooth and good tasting.

Since we are not going on the Ayutthaya trip Nuck and Star will go, we will pay their way since we can not cancel our places. I am glad that our trip will be good for somebody.

We go the Chiang Rai Rajabaht University, which has a beautiful campus. For some reason I get an experience of Deja Vu. I remember a dream from years ago. The dream is very vivid and strange. The things we think about when riding around:)! We find the building that we are looking for and meet with a group of about 20 students we have registered for non-formal education courses. There are discussions about registration, study skills, using e-learning tools, and how to get help when needed. Many non-formal education courses are like developmental education and pre-college preparation. The students were mostly middle aged adults.

Chiang Rai Rajabaht University offers two year and four year degrees. There is also an Institute of Inter-Ethnic Studies that was created to study and support indigenous cultures in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and China. We met with people there and shared common insights. Again the similarity between the challenges on Alaska and the Hill Tribe people is amazing.

During the presentation they were using a digital projector and one of those three-dimensional projectors, like an Elmo, to project transparencies. All that technology and cost was just replicating an overhead projector. It was sort of weird, but we do it too. Sometimes new technology is not an improvement. Overhead projectors worked well for projecting transparencies.

Many of the printed materials and e-learning resources like CDs and DVD's created by Non-Formal Education are similar to STOU's. I have gained new respect for educational television and printed materials like workbooks. Maybe we in Alaska should look at some of the old technologies and use them where appropriate. Audio conferences are no where to be seen.

After the presentation we have lunch at the University and then went to a weird fake Wat. The Wat was created by an artist with his own money, there are paintings for sale. You get to walk on a bridge over hell before you enter the Wat. There are contorted faces and grasping hands. The name, I think, is Wat Kum. There were no Monks and to me it was a rip off. I would much rather visit a Wat that is embedded in a community then a tourist attraction.

We fly home and go to sleep. It was a long wonderful trip with excellent travel companions.

The people of Non-Formal Education have arranged a three day visit to the Wi-Max community near Lampang. We also will be visiting a Bangkok school that is a demonstration project for using technology. I also will be doing a one day workshop for the staff at Non-Formal Education. I feel at home with this group, we share professional values and attitudes, we also have fun. Thankfully Jit is available for translation and interpretation.


1/9/06
I will be teaching a course at STOU. At work today I was confronted with seven students ready to learn! Pretty cool. They will have an hour and a half a day for 12 days. Today I had them, in Thai, organize their priorities. It looks like I will focus on Excel and Access, which is good. I made available all my Excel book files for their use. Tomorrow I begin. I am looking forward to it.

One thing I have found on my sabbatical is that I like teaching. When I get the opportunity to present or teach it makes me happy. When you do something like teaching everyday for years it is easy to forget that it is fun. Well now, because of my sabbatical I am reminded that I love to teach!