It's Not a Holiday for Everyone

Songkran and the Holiday ended and we returned to work. Mickey traveled to Khura Buri on April 20, a small fishing community about one and a half hours from here with the FED migrant team to provide Human Rights training and discuss Human Rights concerns. Here is Mickey’s description of the day's events:
Too often, I believe, we measure our good fortune in a thimble when we should use a bucket.

The meeting took place in a second floor room of a concrete building near the piers and docks in a fishing village.

Upon entering the village I noted many people walking or riding bicycles, wearing orange sleeveless vests with numbers. The sight of Burmese workers wearing these vests was not a surprise, as I knew of a local rule requiring Burmese migrants to wear the orange identifying clothing from my work on a human rights paper. Nonetheless it was disturbing to see, not only in its own right but, and I hope you will pardon me for noting, as more than slightly reminiscent of other events in history. While many wore the vest, many others walked or rode without it. In so doing they risked arrest and abuse for that reason alone.
The village is very spare by any reasonable standard. There were open canals with mold or algae growing and a small pond with a substantial amount of plastic garbage with children swimming or playing. There was much activity around the pier where colorful two and three decked fishing boats were docked. Each boat had laundry hanging from every line and men lounging. The two-decked boats use a crew of 32. There is no place on the boat to sleep but that does not matter. The boats go out for two days and the crews work without sleep for the entire time they are at sea. Larger boats, which were not at dock can go out for months at a time. It is not unheard of for one captain to force a migrant fisherman from his boat on to another boat such that the migrant may not return home for far longer than ever expected.

The village contains a library. Fishermen, who are already paid far below the wages of Thai workers, voluntarily pay dues for its support and use. The library is one room. It goes without saying it is not air conditioned, (I saw no air conditioner anywhere in the village) There is no computer and there are no computers in the village.

On one wall is a small Buddhist alter and a slightly elevated platform with a prayer rug on which the librarian sat engaged in prayer at the time of our arrival. The other walls have three level shelving containing books pressed close together and standing totally erect. Each book is marked with lettering, which I assume, was a cataloguing system. There were tables in the room with books stacked vertically. There was a condom dispensing machine Sitting near one stack of books. There were three slots from which a selected condom could be pulled --size 49--size 52 and gel. (Shockingly, there seemed to be many more condoms available in the smaller size!)
Above some of the shelves the walls are decorated with informational posters: Fresh Water Fish of Thailand and animals of all types including a Polar Bear, a Walrus and a Sea Lion, none of which is here in abundance.

One of the posters was directed to the causes and consequences of domestic abuse. The pictures are simple and of cartoon quality, but the message is clear. The issue of women's rights is being raised throughout the migrant community. Indeed, the condom machine itself is present to promote women's health. The fishermen are often gone for long periods of time. It is not unheard of that when they put in at other ports (both their boat and their other vessels), they return with HIV or an STD. Great effort is being made to educate both the men and the women about these issues as well as about general contraception.

The librarian is a delight. She is paid a pittance and has had opportunity to leave for more pay in another position. She knows the importance of the library to this marginalized community and she takes great pride in the library's appearance and its efficient service.

After leaving the library we went to the Community Center, which seeks to bring the fisherman into closer contact with Buddhist values and away from drink and violence. When a Burmese injures another Burmese the police care not at all. They do not investigate and they take no action. The leaders of the Center realize that the community itself must take the lead in changing behavior. Included in that effort to change is our human rights training.

Make no mistake about it, the concept of human rights and these people's right to exercise those rights are novel if not alien concepts. What we take for granted they, as adults, were to hear about and grasp to understand for the first time.
Before the activities began in earnest we were treated to a delicious noodle vegetable and fish dish with just a right amount of chilis. My spice meter and digestive capacity has changed materially. Also, I need to confess, that while all sat on the floor, I was forced for a period of time to ask for and use a chair. Seems I could not find a way to sit on the floor without experiencing serious discomfort in my knees. Eventually I chucked the chair and found a way to sit without too much discomfort.

Before describing the training event, let me first note that the dignity of those in charge of the center was palpably evident. They want to improve life for themselves and for their community. The session was led by a gifted FED trainer. She engaged the group of 15, comprised of fisherman and their wives or mothers, in a series of games aimed at identifying several human rights and then visualizing those rights in action.

What we would appreciate as a first grade level exercise had the group enthralled. The leader had each person pull two pieces of paper from a jar. They then read aloud the contents of each slip of paper. Each slip described or identified an essential aspect of an identified human right. After discussion, the leader taped a poster to a wall and the group asked to tape each sheet of paper to the appropriate depiction on the poster. That exercise provoked much anguish and took an hour of intense discussion. 28 of 30 paper slips were applied to the correct picture. Not lightly do I torture you with this description of events. Rather, I hope to convey the proposition that what our children do in their sleep by age 6, these adults agonized to visualize and comprehend.

After the training ended a vigorous discussion began and did not end before we had to end it. A fisherman asked about the orange vests and pondered the legitimacy of the requirement that the vests be worn. The question posed was whether the order constituted discrimination. From that seed, lively discourse ensued. As my Burmese is limited to one word, I had to follow through with the aid of a periodic translation.

Whether or not I understood each word is not important. What is significant is that those in attendance seemed moved by the very thought that they may be able to influence in some way the way in which they are treated by others and how they allow themselves to be treated.