Our Final Week, Graduation & World Peace Symposium

During our final week of class, April 23-30^th, we were further briefed on the ethnic conflict in southern Thailand and the conflict between the “Red Shirts” vs. “Yellow Shirts” that has dominated Thai politics over the past several years.  To spare you the details, I will not expand on the complexity of these issues in my blog. 

However, we were again exposed to remarkable individuals who have been actively involved in the social and political turmoil that this country faces.  These individuals included: Dr. Sukree Langputeh, Dean of Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Yala Islamic University who talked about the Muslims of Malaysian descent living in southern Thailand; and Dr. Mark Tamthai, Director, Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace, Payap University and Ms. Naree Janoenponpiriya, both renown peace advocates in Thailand who discussed the lessons learned from their years of advocacy.

But, without a doubt, one of my most memorable experiences during my 3 months as a Rotary Peace Fellow was my visit to Foundation for Rehabilitation and Development of Children and Family (FORDEC) where I met the founder, Dr. Amporn Wathanavongs.  An orphan at a very early age, Amporn moved from the depths of despair to become a productive social leader who provides hope and assistance to the poor children and families living in the slums of Thailand. 

Dr. Amporn gained worldwide recognition and accolades for his work, as chronicled in An Unoptional Life (http://www.bangkokbooks.com/php/product/product_search_list.php?text_search=An+Unoptional+Life&imageField.x=26&imageField.y=12), which I read on my flight back to the USA.  I highly recommend reading it, as it shows his resiliency and dedication to never giving up.  The photos below were taken on our visit to one of the child care facilities he established and operates for the children of Bangkok slums. 

Children in the daycare center in Thailand

Dr. Amporn

  

Children eating lunch

Our graduation ceremony was held on May 1^st and it marked the end of our studies and recognition of our accomplishments during the past three months.  The day included a public seminar where each of us, as fellows, presented the analysis and next steps related to our individual conflict situation. We were joined by our Rotary Host Counselors as well as many Rotarians from all over the world who were arriving in Bangkok for the Rotary World Peace Symposium (May 3-5) and the Rotary International Convention (May 6-9).

As well, we had a formal ceremony and dinner to celebrate our graduation.  As a way of celebrating our graduation, we sang the Rotary Fellows Song, which we learned from Jan Sunoo—an instructor during our third week of classes (to see how much fun we had doing this, see the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71lHPBaXn10&feature=share

Jun (staff at the Rotary Peace Center at Chula) with Joyce

Rotary Peace Fellows after our World Peace Symposium presentation

Our work is over...the last day at the World Peace Symposium

For many of us, graduation was both a joyous, as well as sad occasion. As a group of Fellows, it was amazing how quickly we acclimated to Bangkok and bonded as a group.  We all learned how to get around on the BTS (Skytrain) system, which even in peak times, was considerably more efficient than spending hours in Bangkok traffic to travel only a few miles. When necessary, we hailed a Tuk-Tuk or taxi, but took our chances doing that, as they often refused to take us where we wanted to go or refused to run their meter and wanted to charge us inflated prices.

We also learned how to find the closest clinic or hospital, since many in our group experienced the typical traveler’s sickness and a number of us had other injuries that needed attended. My fall and back injury led me to the hospital mid-way through the 3 months. The private hospitals in Bangkok were sparkling clean, efficient, and inexpensive, by Western standards.

We also figured out the best places to buy  street food, which was plentiful, safe, and inexpensive. Shopping malls and street vendors were omnipresent, leaving us to wonder how they all survived, since many malls had only designer shops with prices higher than those in the USA.   

However, the friendships we formed were one of best parts of our 3 month experience, in addition to the learning we gained.  Thus, as we said our final goodbyes there were many tears shed since we knew that while many of us will maintain contact over the years, it is unlikely that as a group we will be together again. 

As a final reflection on our experience, we were all asked to tell the story of our experience as a fellow and our story of moving forward in no more than six words.  At first I didn’t know whether I could squeeze anything else out of my head, as I was feeling brain overload after the intensity of our 3-month course of study and field experiences.  But, after several minutes, I crafted these words

My story about my Rotary Peace Fellowship experience over the past 3 months:

Peace Through Understanding. Learning Through Experience.

My story moving forward:

Transform Through Action.  Never Give Up.





 So, I leave all of you with these final thoughts.  If we want to live in a world where there is more harmony than conflict, more justice than injustice, greater acceptance rather than hatred and fear of people who are different from us, and where children are given an opportunity to grow and thrive, then we still have a lot of work to do. The ability to take action is in each one of us.  You need only to make the choice to do your part in transforming our world into a place where we continuously strive for peace and justice.  This requires creating a culture of where we actively listen to one another and use negotiation and mediation to resolve our conflicts through nonviolent means. Even if you do this only within your own realm of family, friends, and colleagues, then you are doing your part to reach this goal.