Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Another beautiful morning in Chiang
Mai at BABSEA, the sunrise was around 6am.
I watched a melodrama on the local TV, and ate my porridge at the street
café near Wat Suan Dok. After getting
back to the office, I checked my emails, and then read through my schedule for the
week ahead. Another lesson on Friday
with the girls at the juvenile detention centre to plan, and then preparation for the
lesson on domestic violence at the women’s refuge, Wild Flowers. Kristen and I met up and discussed the UN’s
declarations in comparison to Thai Law, and reviewed the statutory rape law
introduced in 2007. It was interested to
note that the second type of rape in Thai law is nullified if the accused
agrees to marry the victim. Kristen and
I went through the lesson from start to finish and discussed patterns of
violence, and teaching approaches to elicit responses from the group. It seemed appropriate to have the group categorize
the different forms of violence, and to introduce an element of role play. We’ll have the Thai translator with us, and
the relationship with the group is apparently stronger than with the young
girls at the juvenile centre.
Later in the morning, I read through
the previous lesson plans for MPlus+ which informs local Thai outreach workers
about how to provide primary care for MSW – Male sex workers and other groups
of at risk members. The lessons were
detailed, and at times complex, in terms of understanding the legal
implications and accessing the information for non English speakers. Nevertheless, I liked the content and felt
burdened by the context and objectives of the upcoming workshop.
D and I went to the temple and
ate under the Bodhi tree. When I
returned, Kristen had typed up the lesson plan which included the script for
the role play. I spent some time making
cubes with key words written on. These would
make up a model of a house of domestic violence, which might help the women to
relate to how then can make bridges for a better future for themselves. My paper craft skills are not the best, but
hopefully, it will add some dimension to the discussion on how to build better
relationships. I am thinking about the
following lesson now, and a personal safety checklist for future relationships
and independent living.
Will help Muan tomorrow with
her emails and try to make a list of energizer activities for Paul on his
writing workshop. I read the newspaper, The
Bangkok Post, and felt some concern about relations with Cambodia. I was encouraged to see a rally organized by
the Government. This must have raised
the profile of domestic violence in Thailand.
Just booked a trek for Monday
and Tuesday. I found the Writer’s Café
and had a beer and some noodles there for dinner. Hey, life is good.
