Students learning about fish on the Yom river.

Once again, the plan to destroy one of the last wild rivers in Thailand has come back to life — plans are in high gear to build a dam at the Kang Sua Ten rapids on the Yom river in Phrae.

We’ve run a course on the Yom for several years, Human Rights and The Environment: Rivers, Dams and Local Struggles.  A big part of the course is comparing the Mun river (already dammed and destroyed by the Thai state) and the Yom (impacted by a weir down river, but still vibrant and alive).  We paddle the river with local elders, learn about the fish and ecology of the river, and learn about their struggle to keep the river from being dammed.

The excuse for years has been that it will control flooding, or in more recent years, to prevent drought. As the villagers know, however, that is a lie. Flooding in the provinces downstream has been shown to be the result of local rainfall and poor drainage — not due to water carried down from the upper Yom. But that isn’t why they want to build the dam.

The real reason? The Yom river basin is also home to the last stand of golden teak left in Thailand — worth millions of dollars.  So whoever gets to dam the Yom not only gets to embezzle the money from the construction project (which we know from the research of Ajaan Pasuk is likely to be between 40% to 60% of the budget), but they also get the real prize — millions of dollars in rare golden teak.

The budget alone is about 11 billion Baht.

Thai pu yai (influential “big” people) seem to care only for money. They are also not stupid — they are clearly taking advantage of the political turmoil in Thailand to push through this project, hoping that people will not notice, will be too busy rebuilding their lives after the violence of May, and too busy to care and do something about it.

Some people have noticed, and now the Royal Irrigation Department is arguing for two “small” dams on the river — trying to back off, and make it sounds like it won’t destroy the river.  But it will — it will kill it, and destroy the ecology and the community.

And once the river is gone, it is gone forever.  Along with the livelihoods of the local community, the famers, young activists and others.  We know, and the community knows — just look at the Mun river after it was dammed.

The things that is most galling, of course, is that the dam is both unnecessary and won’t solve the problems it is said to solve. But the lack of scientific and empirical support has never stopped the building of a dam in Thailand before — as we see every spring as we live with and learn from the villagers impacted by the building of the Pak Mun Dam — thousands of lives and communities destroyed, fish stocks devastated along with the people who fished, all for nothing but a inefficient dam that doesn’t even pay for itself with the little electricity it does produce.

So they are doing everything they can to put another dam on the Yom.

This will destroy the lives of the community of teachers, mentors and leaders who have shared their lives, knowledge and wisdom with our instructors and students.

Our friends.

We will be doing everything we can to raise awareness about this, and hope to play a role in stopping the dam.

We’ll keep you posted.

—————–

Three articles to read:

Yom River Dam Will Devastate the Area

Sanan renews push for building of dam

Dept mulls two small dams for Yom River

Grandma Hai is a legendary figure in the struggle for human rights and rivers. She has been fighting the construction of a the Huay La Ha reservoir which put her rice paddy under water.  She’s been fighting a long time — 32 years — and has emerged as an icon of rural protest — not giving up even in the face of injustice.

Grandma Hai and Ajaan Mike talking with ISDSI students.

Over the years of doing the Rivers course we have had her as a guest speaker when she is available. She wasn’t available this year, as she’s been busy — she was just awarded an honorary master’s degree from Ramkhamhaeng University  in political science.

From the Bangkok Post article:

The grandmother was honoured after her 32-year fight for justice with the government after her paddy field in Ubon Ratchathani’s Na Tan district was damaged by the construction of the Huay La Ha reservoir which put it under water.

The government paid her 1.2 million baht in compensation for the damage last October.

“Thank you very much [for the degree]. I was really excited and delighted to see the princess,” she said. The degree was awarded by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

“When I go back home, I will hang it on the wall to use it to teach all my children to fight to the death [for justice], even though we are poor,” said the 81-year-old grandmother, who has more than 160 relatives.

Honorary degrees are normally awarded to distinguished people. But Wutisak Lapcharoensap, dean of the faculty of political science, said the decision to give her the degree was due to the example she set for other people who were fighting for justice while respecting the law.

“It is a new dimension to grant an honorary degree to a human rights activist such as Grandma Hai to honour her endeavour to fight for her rights for many years,” Mr Wutisak said.

“This country has many people who fight for justice and basic human rights. Grandma Hai is a person who encourages people to realise their own rights and also reminds the government that it should be more careful before making any decision.”

After the degree, what else did Grandma Hi want?

“I need to see all Thai people love each other and live in harmony,” she said.

“If there is a unity in the country, our beloved King will be glad and live long for over a thousand years.”

Grandma Hai blessing Lindsay in the Isaan "sai siin" ceremony.

There are some great articles online about Grandma Hai.

Check out Stand Up and Fight:

When you lose your land because of a government development project, you can’t farm and thus lose your security in life. Then you try many many ways to solve your problems, but sometimes your neighbors, local authorities, the head of your village, and other people are still not interested and don’t give a damn. What would you do? How would you do it?

A great article on the Prime Minister giving her a compensation check:

Wearing a brown sarong, dark blue long-sleeved shirt and white flowers in her hair, Hai Khanjantha knew yesterday was her happiest day.

Grandma Hai was up early in the morning to prepare for her meeting with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who travelled from Bangkok to hand over a compensation cheque for 1.2 million baht to her.

In return, she gave an unfinished bamboo basket to the prime minister, saying it represented the many problems of the poor still to be addressed by his government.

Well done Grandma!

Each Expedition Field Course has a mid-course seminar — a chance to reflect on what is being learned, summarize, and prepare for the next phase of the expedition.  Ajaan Abram, teaching the rivers course, met the students in Nong Khai and traveled with them to the seminar site.

Students working on their posters in the guesthouse overlooking the Mekong river.

For the Rivers course, the seminar took place in the riverside town of Chiang Khan, in Loei province.  Chiang Khan used to be a sleepy town of wooden buildings built along the banks of the Mekong river, across from Laos.  Now, the old wooden buildings are being converted into guest houses, Internet cafes, and funky restaurants — as it is only a day’s drive from Bangkok. It is a great place for mid-course on Rivers, as it is half way between Issan (the Northeast of Thailand) and the Northern Thai province of Phrae, where the students paddle the Yom River (go to our maps page to see the course locations).

A street in Chiang Khan.

During the seminar the students ha a chance to talk through what they had learned from the communities of fisherfolk along the Mun river, the impact of the Pak Mun dam, as well as what they had observed on the transect of the Mekong river up from Ubonratchathani province.

Filling in the details before presenting.

Two of the key questions that were discussed were about connections and interactions taking place in and around rivers in SE Asia.

Taylor and Karen talking about the “Bangkok Monster” and its impact on the river, villagers, ecosystems and other players in resource management.

Students were asked to draw the spatial, environmental, economic and sociological connections of major players in and around the Mun River before and after the construction of the Pak Mun dam. They were also asked to reflect on transboundary interactions of players on the Mekong including the spatial, environmental, economic and sociological connections.

Jill, Emily and Kadilyn (with the Mekong river behind them).

Here are some photos of the day, along with their posters and explanatory text, to give you a feel for the course.

Exploring the connections between environmental, social and economic impacts of the Pak Mun dam.

Women in Chiang Khan selling “popia tot” (fried spring rolls).

Karen and Taylor discuss the Mekong as a chocolate river (more below).

Transboundary issues -- as water flows down the river, each user takes out some, leaving less for the downstream countries.

Vested interests of different actors in managing the Mekong river.

Motorcycle with rattan basket in front of the guesthouse. (You can see the Mekong River and Laos through the window out the back of the guesthouse.)

The Mekong represented as a giant catfish — with each group trying to take a share (eat the fish).

The Mekong river as the chocolate river in the Willy Wonka factory, with each user (country) drinking from the river, the ompa-loompas as the Mekong River Commission trying to get everyone to cooperate, and consumerism floating down the river.

The village and their livelihood before the dam and “development” — with villagers self-sufficient in fish, and earning money from a very rich fishery. After, they loose their self-sufficiency and are forced to migrate to the city to work.

Sunset over the Mekong river -- Thailand on the left, Laos on the right.

We got back from our recon of the Yom River late Monday night for our Rivers course. It was a good chance to learn more about the river, test out our new canoes, check on gear and rigging, and see how the canoes performed in both swift water as well as some of the long shallow sections of the Yom. Not the usual prep for study abroad courses, but standard practice for ISDSI Expedition Field Courses.

Unloading the canoes for the recon.

The Yom is an interesting river.  The section we paddle (about 48 km) flows through forests, and along some fields, but not through any villages or under bridges — so it has a much more “wild” feel than many rivers in Thailand.  There are no weirs or dams on this section of the river, and it supports a vibrant ecological and human community — people fishing, birds hunting fish, etc.  It also flows through the last remaining stand of golden teak in Thailand. The reason we paddle this section is that this is the part that will be lost if the government goes ahead with plans to dam the river (and cut the teak). So the village elders and youth activists we paddle with treasure canoeing down the river as much as we do.

A section of the topographic maps we used. We use digitized versions we customize and print out for the course.

For the recon we had three goals.  First, we needed to assess how low the river really was.  The data that we had from the Thai Hydrology and Water Management Center (hydro-1.com) showed that the Yom was running at about 60 cm.  Last year when we ran the river a month further into dry season, the river was running at about 80 cm.  That is a pretty significant drop from last year, and we wanted to see what that meant.

The Yom river tends to have three distinct types of river topography — long and deep sections without much current, short drops with rapids (cobble stones or larger rapids), as well as sections of braided river flowing through willow thickets. Even in very dry years, the long deep sections can be paddled, but we weren’t sure about the rapids and willow thickets.

Pi Pu (with Pi Carrie in the stern) checking out the willows and reeds up close and personal...

The second reason to do the recon was to check out how the new Mad River canoes performed. We’ve used two other types of canoes in the past, PakCanoes and SOAR canoes. The PakCanoes are a skin-on-frame design, and while exceptionally lightweight, running them over rocks and rapids (especially limestone) and through willows eventually wrecked them. They are great canoes for remote wild rivers with bigger water, or lakes, but for the rough conditions we encounter didn’t really work.  The SOAR canoes are amazing — they have taken the same technology for river rafts and created a two person canoe. They inflate, and are thus very easy to transport (and are, in fact, very popular in remote locations in Alaska and similar places).  We used them for a few years, and then had problems with the floor welds (that kept the floor tube flat) failing. The company was fantastic, and fixed the boats for free. We’re holding on to them to use in bigger water (they are terrific whitewater boats) as well as to use if we run courses in more remote locations.  In the meantime, we purchased 15 Mad River canoes (Explorer 16s).

No advanced materials for this guy's boat -- just a hewn log and hand carved paddle!

The Mad River canoes we used performed very well.  The polyethylene hulls stood up to a great deal of abuse, and slid over the cobbles and river rocks (where the other canoes would have stopped).  We also found that due to their hull design, you could edge the canoe (lean up on one side) and get through or over tight rocky sections. The canoes also tracked very well (were easy to keep straight) and moved very quickly in the long slack sections of the river.

Pi Noi taking a break from being office manager and dealing with paperwork to get out in the field.

The final reason we did the recon was a combination of the first two.  We needed data on how fast we could expect the group to travel on each section of the river. This is a combination of the specific river topography (slack water, shallow rapids, braided willows) and the specific boats we are using (shallow “v” hulled polyethylene canoes).  We used topographic maps with a 1 km UTM grid and a GPS to determine our location, and then calculated our average rate of travel for each section.  That way the instructors and student leaders of the day can gauge their progress, and know when to stop, and how fast to pace themselves to accomplish the academic objectives of each day — studying the river ecology, local knowledge and community efforts to conserve the river and the fish.

Ajaan Mark and Pi Ben working out location and pace off a map and GPS (with Pi Carrie and Miriam cooling off in the background).

The recon went well.  We started paddling on Saturday at 3, and started looking for a campsite as it was getting dark.  The next morning, we got up early, had breakfast and broke down camp, and paddled through the day with a few rests and a lunch break.  Paw Sanguan, one of the village elders, met us at lunch, and we were able to talk over the logistics for the course more, as well as how the boats handled. Paw Sanguan is expert fisherman and river paddler (in the old style dug-out canoes the villagers use as well as our new ones), and is a key instructor for our course.

We pushed hard  until just before dark through lots of rock gardens, rapids, braided willow channels, and slow deep sections.  We camped, ate dinner, and fell to sleep sore but happy.  We were making amazing time, and would probably be able to make the take out at the Kaeng Sua Ten (Dancing Tiger Rapids) sometime the next day.

Paddling late into the day.

Up early on the river, and a cold breakfast to help with a fast start, and into our first set of rapids right away. Along the way we ran into one of the village elders (or “Paw” — meaning “father”) who was out fishing and recognized us. He figured we’d make Dancing Tiger Rapids and the national park office by mid-afternoon at our pace.

Mist on the river in the morning, with a local fisherman pulling up the night's catch just ahead of us.

We were able to push hard through some long rocky sections, and made it to a place the students will use as a campsite in time for lunch, and made a quick satellite phone call to set up our pick up. Then a couple more hours of deep slack water, and then a kilometer plus of rapids, including the Dancing Tiger Rapids.  With the water level as low as it was, it involved a bit of pushing here and there, and was really technical and tricky — threading through rock gardens, and navigating the final “S” turns of the Dancing Tiger Rapid with a lot more rocks than usual (but a lot less water volume).

Ajaan Mark and Miriam (who was taking a break from Chiang Mai International School) in the midst of the Dancing Tiger Rapids.

We made it by about 3 in the afternoon — just about 48 hours total, three days, two nights.

Pi Carrie and Pi Pui pleased to be out of the willows, with a clean run down the final rapids.

We hauled gear and boats out of the river, got picked up later that afternoon, and then had a long van ride back to Chiang Mai, where we arrived late at night. The trip was great, we learned a lot about the gear, the river and the current state of the Yom.  We also have enough valuable information to pass on to the instructors and students so they can make the most of their time on the river, starting on Friday, March 5th.

Each time we run the Yom, we wonder how long it will last, and how long the community can keep the river wild and undammed. Every rapid, every willow thicket, every campsite — and their home village — will all be inundated if the dam is ever built. Each run on the river helps makes their case stronger — two years ago they used photos of ISDSI students paddling the river in testimony before Thai Parliament to argue that the river was not only ecologically significant, but also internationally important — not just valuable for “only” local people (the argument of those who want to dam the river). So while our role in saving the Yom might be small, we’ll do what we can.

We’re also donating one of the Mad River Canoes to the village activist group to help them in their on-going work of studying the river and documenting its ecological significance. Paw Sanguan already is looking forward to paddling it to his favorite spots, and teaching the younger generations about the Yom.

Rapids on the Mekong river in dry season.

The great Mekong river is not doing well.

This year is especially dry in Southeast Asia, due in part to this year’s El Niño, which tends to bring drier conditions to SE Asia. The Ping river, which flows through Chiang Mai, for example, is very low below the weirs that hold in the water for the section through the city center.

On the Mekong river, it is dry for other reasons as well.  From The Bangkok Post,

Ever since the completion of a few dams across the Mekong river in China, the once mighty river, which flows through all the riparian countries except China, has diminished to a trickle every dry season. The situation this year is worse than the previous years and the worst is yet to come with more dams being built.

If they were alive today, our forefathers would be in shock. The  mighty Mekong -   the traditional lifeline of Chinese, Burmese, Thais, Lao, Cambodians and Vietnamese – has dried up so badly this year that it no longer qualifies  to be called a river.

Boat travel from Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district to the old Lao capital of Luang Prabang,  a popular tourist route  has been halted because the water too shallow  for boats  with the capacity to accommodate more than four people.  Cargo boats from China have been stranded in Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai.

Chirasak Inthayos, coordinator of the Network for the Conservation of Mekong River Natural Resources and Cultures, said that the river’s condition is the worst for more than a decade.  He could only imagine how much worse it will be by April, when the dry season normally peaks.

For the next three weeks our students are in the field doing the Rivers course, studying the impact of dams on the Pak Mun river, a major tributary of the Mekong, doing a transect of Northeastern Thailand (Issan), and then paddling the Yom river.  On Saturday some of the instructors are going to run the Yom to see how dry it is.  We often end up having to pull the canoes in a few shallow sections in a normal year, so we’re interested to see what this year is like.

Annie, Rebecca and a friend on the Mun River

The Rivers Course ended just before break, and I wanted to spend a bit of time following up on my earlier post about prepping for the course, and give folks an insight into some of the students’ take on the course.

The course starts in Nong Po village in Ubon Ratchathani province, along the Mun River.  This is the site of the Pak Mun Dam, which has wreaked destruction on the local ecologies and communities.  The families we stayed with were no exception.  Couragous, hard working, and up against the collapse of their traditional source of income, livelyhood and meaning.  They opened their homes and hearts and welcomed us in, teaching about the rivers, fish and fishing, and their struggle against the dam and the hope that it will someday be decomissioned.  Everyone has children who have left to work in Bangkok and send money home, as fishing no longer provides the income or protein that it used to.

Throughout the stay many community members remarked on how glad they were that the students were there to learn.  There is a lot of empowerment that happens when you get to tell your story, and while we as instructors and students don’t have the power to open the gates of the dam, we can listen.  It is a challenge–especially for American’s–to just listen and be with people, and not “do” something. However, that listening to stories, standing with people is, as local activist Khun Suwit said, the most important thing students can do, as it builds community globally, person by person, connection by connection.

After the time in the village, we travelled up the Mekong river for a few days, and then to the village of Don Chai in Phrea. Here the local activists have (so far) blocked the construction of the dam on the Yom river, saving both their homes and the last stand of golden teak in Thailand from being innundated by the dam. Meeting with village elders as well as the young activists was inspiring–old and young joined in keeping their river alive, and their homes safe. It isn’t a stuggle that is easy or over, as they pointed out that they need to keep vigilant and be aware of the many ways the government is working to push through the dam (and get the chance to log the millions of dollars worth of teak), building a road to the proposed dam site, etc.

Paw Sang'uan talking about fish catches on the Yom river.

We then spent the next week paddling down the river with the community, fishing, camping, and learning about ecology and the rich and healthy ecosystem that the Yom river supports. Yet even the Yom, as healthy as it is, has a dam downstream of the area we were, and the large fish that used to migrate up river are gone.  The local communities have a fish conservation area that serves to keep the surviving native fish populations healthy, but that too would be wiped out if the dam is ever built. It was fun, challenging, and a striking reminder of what was lost on the Mun.

During Expedition Field Courses at ISDSI students keep a journal and write essays about what they are learning.  A number used them as inspiration for their blogs.  Here are a few short excerpts from the some of the students. I’d encourage you to jump to the blogs and read about the course, its impact and their reflections on what they learned.

Acadia wrote about the blessing from the villagers of Nong Po:

I can count my blessings on one hand. To be exact, there are 26 of them currently encircling my wrist. Twenty-six thin white strings, a knot tied at the center of each. As these blessings were bestowed more than three weeks ago, they are frayed and rather brown, a situation that prompted my host mom to hint it might be time to cut them off. I can’t bring myself to do this just yet…

[In the village] The oldest of my host sisters hurried over with a huge, heartbreaking smile and deftly blessed me with her slender little brown fingers. Before she left, she turned over my hand to the roll the ends of the thread softly along the tender skin of my inner wrist until they curled and twisted with the ends of other strings. Something about that simple touch, the whispered prayers, the sincere smile made me never want to forget the moment. I tried to look at each person who came to me and burn their face into my memory forever. The experience was so human. To feel that the entire village was behind my well-being made me feel more whole.

Jonathan, commenting on a village meeting:

We then asked them questions.

Q: Are there fewer fish now than before the dam was built?
A: Yes. There used to be more fish. And bigger fish. There used to be over 200 species of fish. Now there are 50 species. In one rainy season, they used to catch over 1000 kg of fish. Now they only catch 40 kg.

Q: How can you survive with so few fish?
A: We can’t.

Q: Since many of your livelihoods centered around the fish in the river, what do you do for food or money now?
A: We send our children to work in factories in Bangkok. They send money home.

Q: How many of you have children in Bangkok?
A: All the hands go up.

Q: How many of you have several children in Bangkok?
A: All the hands stay up.

The meeting progressed like this. We kept getting deeper and deeper into the impacts this dam has had on the community. One fisherman said he used to have a good life before the dam was built. He was a wealthy man with fish to feed his family and even more fish to sell. But now he is poor. He has been made poor. He has no rice fields or gardens to grow vegetables- he relied on the longevity of that river… There is no more money left to spent on protest- the next generation of young people is all working in other cities, and the youngest know nothing of their parents’ struggles.

It was at this point in the meeting that one of the villagers stood up and asked us a question.

What are we going to do about it?
Did we just come to study them and leave? They shared their struggle with us. What are we going to do with that?

We were stunned silent, at a loss for an answer, and that was basically how the meeting ended. We had come to love these villagers and they were gracious to us. They shared what they had with us and we listened to them tell their story. Even though they aren’t sure if we can help them (i’m sure all of us will try), by us being there and sitting at their feet, we validated them. They were thankful and so were we. It was an intense and touching experience to become apart of the community of Nong Po.

Rebecca, on the village and the river:

I’m trying to be quiet more often. To listen more fully. To pay attention to silent spaces.

This time studying river ecosystems and issues having to do with human rights has set before me an incredible narrative, of the relationship between humans and their environment, a connection that holds both sorrow and joy. I’m not quite sure how to share this through a blog post, but I’ll try.

In Thai, the word for river is “Meh Nam,” which literally translates as “Mother Water.” This reality, one of life bound up in the river, was humbly evident in the two communities that we stayed over the past two weeks….

Nawg Poh today is a place lacking a generation, where young adults have been forced to leave and search for work elsewhere. Most move to Bangkok or other larger cities, as wage laborers and migrant construction workers. The people of Nawg Poh (mostly grandparents and grandchildren) expressed their mourning not only for the river, but also for their culture and way of life.

Ally:

Why am I here? That is a question I have been thinking about constantly the past few weeks. These thoughts started after the community meeting and was heightened at the mid-block seminar. I definitely did not know what I was getting into when I applied fro this semester. I didn’t know that I would be in a village that has been directly affected by the building of the dams, or even see and experience human rights/earth rights abused first hand. I didn’t know that each community that I will be staying with will take a piece of my heart. I didn’t think that I would be struggling over issues that villagers have been experiencing for many years. I didn’t know it would be this difficult!

I definitely felt a huge sense of guilt. I felt like I needed to do something, but didn’t quite know just what it was. The seminar definitely helped channel my thoughts and understand that I have already done a lot. Just by sitting there and listening to the stories of the villagers and participating in their culture was a way to empower the community. Hopefully, I have showed them that someone cares about their village and what has happened to them. Maybe I even gave them a sense of hope and dignity. I struggle with this. Is it just a cop out to say that I did all I could by listening to their stories? They even said themselves that they are tired and can’t think of anything else to do. I think the only way that I can truly grasp this idea is by figuring it out myself with the right of participation…

This course was not extremely difficult in material content, but the emotional impact of this course was and still is difficult to fully comprehend. Each place I went I feel like I left with a new connection. The family in Nong Bo said that I am always welcome, and the Paws and other activists on the Yom River were amazing to get to know and have actually become our friends. My life has been affected by these people, and I don’t think they will ever know to what degree. Pi Kan (Don Chai activist) said at the end of our trip that we have experienced a learning experience that goes both ways. I just hope that the people we were with got as umch out of spending time with us as we got out of spending a month with them. My hope is that we were able to empower them, give them hope, and support for their struggle.

For some great photos of the course, check out Jeremy’s blog (that is his photo of Pa Sanguan above, and the photo of Annie and Reb is from Reb’s blog).

Wooden fishing boat floating next to the closed gate of the Pak Mun Dam.

Crystal clear

Clean and Blue

The envy of Isaan

Mae Nam Mun

Stagnant and brown

One quarter of the fish

The pity of Isaan

Mae Nam Mun

Voiceless

Thoughts and ideas

Yet no one will listen

The people of Mae Nam Mun

Powerful and money-hungry

With no heart for the ruined lives

of the people left in their wake

The raht-ah-baan (state)

They sit on blue plastic

appealing to us, students

Because they are out of options

The people of Mae Nam Mun

by Kathryn VanderWindt (ISDSI, Spring 2009)

To give you an idea of what a recon is like, here is a summary of our 5 day trip to Isaan to work on the Rivers course. (We’ve run this course for 4 years, and are now refining and adding to it, bringing in the Mekong river more.)

Monday Pui, Toto and I (Mark) drove with Pi Yin (who drives for us and helps figure a lot more than just where to go!) to Loei, a trip of about 8 hours, had a late dinner and a long meeting planning out the next few days—finalizing who we needed to talk to after meeting over the last few weeks about the course.

Meeting with Khun Suwit at the wooden noodle shop.

Tuesday we drove to the next province (about 1 1/2 hours) to Udon Thai for a meeting with Khun Suwit, a local activist/NGO contact.  We only knew the name of the town and were supposed to meet in a wooden noodle shop across from a school. So, as usual, we got pretty close to where we were going, and started asking people along the road for more specific directions. (We refer to this as “Thai Air Traffic Control”—since once you get close to your destination someone has to talk you into an arrival…) Eventually we got there, and had a great meeting learning about what is happening with rivers in this part of Isaan, how communities are getting organized, and working out some good options for the course. Suwit had a lot of great ideas, and will be helping with making contacts in the villages along the Mekong.

After our meeting, we drove back to Loei province, and then further up to the Mekong river town of Chiang Khan and Pak Chom (the site of a proposed dam across the Mekong). After a short stop in Chiang Khan we followed the road along the Mekong down to Nong Khai, stopping in villages and walking out the the river wherever we could, talking with local people about the river and working out options for teaching sessions.  We eventually got into Nong Khai really late, and had dinner (maybe 9 or 10 PM) on the “beach” of the Mekong, where the water has dropped during dry season.  (It gets a lot dryer now than in the past, due in part to the Chinese dams upstream.)

Wednesday we continued driving along the border and the Mekong river, stopping to see where we could get down to the river, talking with local people about the  how they use the river, what communities are still fishing, etc. We got into Ubon Ratchathani late, met over dinner (at 9 PM) out in a night market set up in a city square to plan the meetings for Thursday.  We had a few names, but only one phone number of a village headman in a community where the students had stayed the year before.

Paw in Sabang village showing us his boats and the Mun river.

So Thursday we drove further east about 1 1/2 hours to Nong Bo village, out in the countryside and down a dirt road along the Mun river. We found the headman’s house and met outside under a tree around an old table. The headman was brilliant, with lots of ideas about how to teach the students about the river, village life in Isaan, and why the Mun river is worth fighting for. Then, based on his directons, we headed off to the village of Sabang, further downstream on the Mun and found (again by asking once we got closer) the house of one of the village leaders and activists. She wasn’t home, but her husband was able to take us down to the river, talk about what he would like to teach the students, and discussed other folks in the community who could get involved in teaching. Then, based on his directions, off to the final village we would visit, Hua Heow, to meet Mae (Mother) Charuen.

Talking with Mae Charuen.

Another long drive through dry and dusty country to a hardscrabble village, where we found Mae sitting outside a neighbor’s house. Mae Charuen is a key activist and community educator, and in spite of her years, a very animated and excited (and excitable) person!  Once she started chewing betel nut and stuffing huge wads of chaw into her mouth, our ability to understand her Isaan (Lao) dialect dropped dramatically! She has black teeth from years of chewing, and didn’t even need to look as she cut betel and prepped her chaw, all while talking a hundred miles an hour about the river, the importance of it in the community, lots of ideas she had for teaching the Americans why they should love the Mun river too, etc.

We then left the village and drove to the Pak Mun Dam itself, and then headed for a drive to Khon Kaen several hours away. We got there about 8 or 9 PM, and drove around to find a guesthouse, checked in, and looked around for a restaurant for (another) late dinner.  We found a great place with a really good band playing Isaan music and “songs for life” (Thai activist / socially engaged songs).

Friday was a long drive back to Chiang Mai, after finding a master instrument builder in Khon Kaen who makes “kaen” and other instruments.

Next, the instructor team sits down to figure out what to do with all our notes, review what we’ve done over the last 4 years, and then we finalize the details over the phone with the folks we’ve been talking with.

In two weeks we go back with the students.

One of the most important things we do at ISDSI is to meet and talk with local communities and activists while setting up and preparing a course.  We refer to our courses as “community based” since they are both physically based in a community, as well as intellectually based in a community—we want the community to be the ones helping decide what to teach, what is important, and how it all fits together.  Once we get into the community with the students our role as instructors changes to be facilitators—letting the villagers step up and teach the students, sharing their lives, their wisdom, and their vision for creating a more sustainable world.

Looking across the Mekong river to Laos. (Note how low the water is, and the riverside gardens!)

To do this takes a lot of prep work, going out to villages, talking with folks about their passions, concerns and problems, and working together to find a way to teach American students about it. It isn’t easy, but it is really important. We’ve got to sort out logistics (how many hours to get to that village?), housing (how many people per house?), curriculum and lesson flow (what do we do first? last?), and find dynamic and interesting speakers and topics that are engaging and meaningful for both the local communities and the American students.

We also are constantly evaluating and assessing courses. Are they engaging? Are students learning from them?  Is this the best way to teach this? Are there better or more important places to go? What other topics need to be in the course? What can we drop, and still retain the core lessons?

This spring we’ve decided to work on the Rivers course.  The core of the course is about how local communities are impacted by decisions by the State, and often how the local livelihoods are sacrificed for (often dubious) benefits for urban people far from the rivers. To do this we study two well known rivers in Thailand—the Yom, which is not yet dammed, and the Mun, which has been dammed to the great destruction of local communities and the ecology, with few benefits to show from it.

We’ve always included discussions of the Mekong river in the course—the Mun is an important tributary, and damming the Mun impacts the ecology of the Mekong.  The Mekong also represents a good example of the problems of rivers crossing boundaries, upstream/downstream resource control, etc.  With China already damming the Mekong, and Thailand and Laos talking about damming it themselves, we’ve decided we need to incorporate the Mekong more directly into the course, and refine the links from the communities on the Mun river to what is happening on the Mekong.

So we had to talk with the folks involved in both the Mun and the Mekong, which meant doing a recon to Issan, hours away from Chiang Mai by van, to the Northeast region of Thailand.