Emily's last Thailand Internship entry before she departs

Week 12 – Reports and initiating contacts

The past week has also been pretty busy with a lot of report writing and funding proposals that are underway.
One of the big projects that I started working on was an ‘about us’ report on the small business here that is an income generation project for women in local villages. What started out as asking questions for my report, and to source information for my friend’s proposed project, has now expanded into a full-blown new focus on the small business. I have been having meetings with the head of the project, to discuss product lists, inventory, analyse colour codes and sizing and style codes in the new catalogue, international pricing, 30% markup, 300% markup, tags, care labels, accessory costs, production costs and final costs, as well as managing to use my basic Excel skills to create data sheets of such information. Myself and another volunteer have been heavily involved in trying to understand the small business and its failings and successes. My friend has had ten years experience in the fashion and marketing industry, so it feels like she is meant to be here! I am like the person that writes all the information down as we collect it. The business is currently constantly in the red, as there is a lack of supply/demand, as well as not enough of a mark-up on the products to generate adequate profit to cover costs. As a result of this, we have created an international price list, and the first step in expanding this business will be to recruit volunteers here to sell packages – either A, B, or C, for which we have compiled product lists, international prices for each product, and an estimated cost of each package. These packages will be sold wholesale to the volunteers, who will sell them at international prices to their friends and family, sending the profits (which are considerably higher!) back to the small business, which can be used to update the project, and expand it. This will involve expanding the building so that sewing machines can be put inside, as well as recruiting villagers for sewing training and women’s empowerment training. It will also involve the current workshop getting repaired, as it has a huge hole in its roof where the rain just pours in!
This whole process has taken a while, and has been very intense and exhausting – and I have been doing this while juggling the heat, and a stomach bug. Fun times. After our meeting yesterday, in the middle of the day I went back to my bunk for a little nap to try to re-energise, and fell asleep straight away. My friend came to look for me (she needed my computer password to access all our documents). She tried to tap me, then shake me awake. I was unwakeable. I finally emerged 3 hours later.
I have also started working on two new funding proposals for the Anti-Trafficking Project – for two different embassies based in Thailand. We have had new information come to us about the villages surrounding the village that we visited the other week, in that brothel owners travel to the villagers to ‘book’ young girls, even pay a deposit on them, so that later in their lives, they will come to the brothels. It is heartbreaking.
The ATP will be applying for a grant to conduct campaigns in the village about labour law, as villagers will not want to probably attend training about human trafficking. The campaign is targeted at changing villager attitudes. The campaign has a couple of phases, and will involve training in labour law in villages in 2 provinces, in a number of districts and sub-districts: two of these districts are on the Thai-Burma border. After this, youth will be invited to youth empowerment camps. Participant youth will be chosen in consultation and partnership with teachers from schools, who will select youth based on criteria that indicate the students are high at-risk. At the camps they will do empowerment activities, learn about sexual health, safe sex, importance of education and be encouraged to follow their dreams. Concurrently, women from villages will be invited on study day trips where they will meet women who have left the sex industry, and NGOs. The idea will be for women to see what it will be like for their daughters and relatives to enter this trade. After this, (and this is my favourite part, and gives me shivers just thinking about it), 4 drama camps will be run, with youth from the previous camps being trained in drama. They will create performances about human trafficking and their desires for their futures and destinies, which will be performed in villages – therefore, giving these youth a platform to tell their communities what they really want to achieve with their lives.
This week I have also completed a funding proposal for the Mlabri project.
However, the big event that happened this week that I loved, was the outcome of ‘farang hunting’ in the Night Bazaar on Sunday. A friend of ours had been standing in the fruit shake line, and another farang behind her said ‘oh, are you with the anti-trafficking people?’ she said ‘no’... but then told us about this little conversation. Nadia and I got excited and proceeded to go to the pad thai stall and pretend we wanted to be in the line in order to find the anti-trafficking people! It turned out that 20 farang interns were in town with another NGO, learning about trafficking issues and had already travelled to Pattaya, and were en route to Chiang Mai and BKK, as well as visit a key project in Chiang Rai. Nadia then invited them to Peace Bar, where we all had a great night, and overpowered the place with excessive numbers of farang! The executive director of the NGO was there that night, and she invited us to the orientation of the interns the next day out at Ba Sang, on the other side of town.
The next day, we met them at one of the most exclusive hotels in Chiang Rai, and jumped in the back of a truck, and drove out to their project. It rained a bit on the way. May pen ray! (No worries). It was so green out there – mountains of forest, green corn fields and everything shining after the rain. We proceeded to hear a presentation about trafficking in Thailand and specifically what this NGO did to combat the issue. Their projects were really similar to the NGO here, and I felt that there were so many strengths that we could share and learn from each other. Their approach was also really similar, in that it was based on relationship with a community. However, this NGO was a ‘farang’ one. And our one is Thai. After this, we went to the local school where they work, and then walked around the village where they work. It was much more well-off than the villages that we work, and had fruit trees and many many trees and endless green. The children and clothes were also much cleaner. Still, this village was one which had established relationships with brothels and one that used to be prey to human trafficking.
It was such an incredible day to be part of, and I felt like each moment was golden. Afterwards, we were driving to dinner, and I pointed out a beautiful restaurant with hanging lanterns and said to Nadia and Emily ‘Oh, remember this restaurant, because I want to come back here!!’ Instantly as I said these words, the truck pulled to a stop. We were going to this very restaurant! To me, that summed up the day for me – that everything seemed to fall into place so perfectly, as I was able to learn more and engage with the issues that are really starting to form a place in my heart and mind.
As a result of this encounter, the NGO are now going to visit our NGO, and have a sharing meeting, sharing ideas and what works and what doesn’t. At the moment, the meeting looks like it will happen on the day I fly back to Australia! But all in all, it has been a great week. I will be sad to go home next week.