Experience in Rural Thailand Tribal Village Evokes Shared Humanity
by Shannon Boshears
(This is part two of a series that started last month. To read part one, click here.)
We sang through each verse featuring a different animal in each one. We mimicked the cow, the chicken and the pig, and with each verse, we followed it with the animal sounds we had learned early in life – “moo, moo,” “cluck, cluck” and “oink, oink.” With their nods and smiles, they seemed to enjoy our song and afterwards our interpreter explained to them about what we were singing. He turned to us and asked, “tell us again what sound you say the cow makes?” We said, “moo moo.” And now that the villagers understood what we were saying, they all exploded in laughter. But what they were really laughing about was how it didn’t sound like a cow at all to them.
So, the interpreter then asked one of the village men to demonstrate, “so, how do you think the cow sounds?” And the man immediately made a groan that was very realistic to a real cow. Of course, our group fell out laughing because of his interpretation, which was very authentic compared to our “moo moo.” Needless to say, we went through the same process with the chicken and the pig. Our “clucks” and “oinks” sounded nothing like their animal sounds did, as theirs were very authentic. The laughter between the two groups swelled in waves like a great ocean and the banter between us was back-and-forth like a tennis match on center court at Wimbledon. It was a most poignant moment for us. We were two completely different worlds coming together and sharing a common ground not through our own language but the language of animals.
That night, we slept in sleeping bags on pallets under mosquito nets in our host family’s house. We knew we would have an early meeting the next morning and we went to sleep exhausted, yet energized by our surroundings and experiences so far. But at 4:30 a.m., we were jolted awake, like a sharp stabbing pain demanding our attention, by the hair-curling crows of the roosters under our house. We all lay there listening and anticipating as they barked out their calls again and again for hours. We became so tickled by trying to muffle our laughter that none of us ever went back to sleep that morning. At one point, I even pulled out my iPhone, started my audio recorder application and recorded several minutes of them crowing while we are in the background breaking up into laughter. Since then, we’ve discussed making the “rooster recordings” into audio ringtones for our phones.
Later that morning, the man brought us hot tea and water with small packets of instant Nescafe coffee. Let me say, after a long journey without the comforts of home, it was the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life. When we walked outside of our room for breakfast, we wandered onto their balcony that overlooked one of the most incredible views I had ever seen. There, the heavy morning mist hung over the highland mountains and the morning sun was just beginning to creep over the trees. People in a civilized world would pay thousands of dollars for a view like this. The irony of the poverty-stricken land we were in and all its beauty was staggering. We were invited to sit on the floor where we had our breakfast laid out in several bowls on our small wooden riser. It was the same meal that we had the night before – exactly the same. And we enjoyed like it was the first time.
The morning was still very cool as we set out on our walk around the village. Many of the villagers came out on their stoops to watch us walk by while others shyed away from us, ducking back into their houses or turning their backs when we’d lift our cameras. I was very sensitive to this and began nodding at them, showing them my camera, as if to ask permission to take their picture. One woman who was on her porch let me carefully and slowly approach her. I moved in hesitantly as if I was trying not to frighten off a wild animal. She was much older than most in the village and she had a tiny frame with brown, wrinkled skin. She even stooped when she walked and squatted low to the ground which made her seem even smaller, while her many cats ran about her feet. Her yellow turban offset her royal blue shirt and her skirt that was made of pink and red hand- woven fabric. Her teeth were brown and rotted. To me, she was a work of art. She was fabulous. As she let me come in closer and take her picture, she gestured to me that she wanted to see what her photo looked like. So I swung the camera around let her see the display on my digital camera. She backed away, shaking her head and smiling embarrassingly. Our interpreter happened to be there at the time and he translated to me that she said she was ugly and didn’t like the picture. Again, it was heartbreaking to me as I thought she was one of the coolest people I’d ever seen.
Throughout the day, we were able to see all the inner-workings of the village and the role Heifer has played in its development. We met a man who kept his cows under his house and he used them for draft power, meat, manure for fertilizer and he is able to make money from them. Heifer refers to this as a “living bank” where the people in the projects use their livestock from which to make money. He said eventually he will “pass on the gift” of the offspring to another family in need of improving their livelihood.
Also, the tribe showed us their “kitchen gardens” where they grow their own food and herbs, keeping the cost of living down while they are able to sustain better health from the fresh and more plentiful food crops. This village also had a handful of biogas units where they use the organic wastes to fuel fires with which to cook.
One young girl showed off her two large black pigs given to her by Heifer. She expressed her gratitude to Heifer for them and the difference they have made in her life. Through Heifer, not only do they receive these animals that provide a sustainable life and income for these people, but also they are provided training on animal management, “kitchen gardens,” biogas production, agroforestry and natural resource management, which in turn, preserves the environment.
For the next two days, we visited other Heifer projects that included more Karen Tribe and also Lahu Tribe villages. We learned of the progress being made in the SHGs. Many of these villages are involved in “savings groups.” These are groups that maintain a collective savings account and make loans to villagers for reasons ranging from medical to farming needs. This allows communities to become self-sufficient and not have to rely on the outside lenders whose interest rates are so high that the villagers who borrow from them go into debt and are not able to repay their loans, eventually losing their assets or becoming penniless.
Another major issue for these tribes is that most of them are not granted citizenship in Thailand. Therefore, they are not given identification cards that they need for any governmental services. In addition, without an I.D. card, they cannot cross borders. One villager described it as “being a prisoner in my own home.” This is one major conflict where Heifer is able to assist by going into the communities and provide training to the people to be so they will learn to help themselves by becoming their own advocates.
During our remaining project visits, we took jungle hikes to see different dams built by the tribes. It was amazing to see an entire village come together and work as a community on these dams. The first dam we visited was in its initial stages of construction, and some of us assisted them in cutting the bamboo poles to be used in the construction. The other shake dam we saw was already complete and more advanced. However, both were built by hand with bamboo poles affixed into levels of large, staggered structures stretching across several acres of land. Not only will these dams control flooding and erosion, but they provide access to clean water for the community, which is a major need. The villagers were proud to show off their work to us. And not only was their work impressive, it was their ability to organize and complete a project of this scope and size that was inspiring – all for the good of the whole.
But the more incredible experience of the jungle hikes was how the villagers assisted us while journeying in and out of the remote jungle area. They carried machetes and cut the vines and thicket away for us to pass through. They built makeshift bridges out of wooden logs for us to crossover streams while holding out bamboo poles for us to hold and leverage ourselves. When we crossed unstable, rocky areas, they held our hands. If we slipped, they were there to catch us before we fell. They cut steps into the side of a hill for us to have better footing. And they patiently stayed by our sides when many of us were lagging behind the group.
Thailand is known as “The Land of Smiles” and the knowing, the comfort, the warmth one feels from a smile is what I found on this journey. Flying back home on the plane, I tried to still my mind. I would shut my eyes, but all the pictures of the faces I had seen would roll relentlessly through my mind like spinning reels of film. All the nuances and rhythms of their language rolled like drums in my ears. I could still smell the richness of their spices and feel the smoothness of their silk. And the knot in my stomach tightened as I remembered the sense of yearning and striving I felt from the villagers, as strong as their plentiful bamboo poles, trying to find a better way of life. My heart was full but aching, as I knew I was leaving a treasured friend who I would not see again.