Saturday was the first semi-annual Isaan Community Gathering. In about 15 days, we put together a festival outside the CIEE office and invited all the communities we had worked with throughout the semester. At least 500 people must have been there, and there were a ton of vendors selling handmade clothes, kids selling organic fertilizer that they made at school, lots of games, legions of food, and several exchanges among the communities in the Northeast. The people affected by dams, mining, etc. that we had lived with this semester exchanged for about 5 hours about wawys they could fight for their human rights collectively, esp. by using the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. They've decided not to wait for the next festival to keep talking, so the anti-mining group in the North is going to travel to central Isaan to network with the HIV/AIDS group in central Isaan, and the rice farmers in Surin will meet with the villagers in the Southeast who were displaced by large dams. They're talking about building a new people's network and writing a set of people's law to oppose the post-coup military-directed constitution in the works right now.
There was an exchange about alternative education among the Thai Seeka Association (the group I was interning with this semester), the assistant to the mayor, and local schools, sharing ideas about locally-based curriculum-building that empowers kids with the skills to organize together and make good things happen in their own communities. They ran way overtime, too.
There was an exchange with some of the CIEE students and some students from Khon Kaen University, trying to extablish some first contacts so that we can work with their clubs and talk about what education should be based on their experiences. It was pretty low-key, but some of the KKU kids are incredible, and we hadn't had a chance to meet them all semester. I bought a shirt from a girl named pui--it's from a group she's in called We Change. On the back, it has a list of things in Thai that I spent a half hour trying to read, things like 'we don't go to 7-11' and 'we don't use styrofoam' or watch TV; to 'we question the rules of the Thai government' and 'we don't stand up straight during the national anthem'; to 'we think about not just ourselves but other people and the environment' and 'we think about our dreams for the world', and everyday we make that change within ourselves, and by doing so, we change the world.

And that's it! Program's done, I'll be on a bus tonight to Chiang Mai to stay at an elephant rescue park for 3 days, then I'll be back in Khon Kaen for a few before I stay with Paul in Bangkok on my way to the airport!

This is a piece some of my classmates just wrote. We are going to try to build networks of alternative education efforts in the States and build a program based on the education model we've been through in Thailand somewhere in the next 5 years. It's amazing how much this program believes in students and how effective that can be in fostering real learning.


Inspire, Inform, Ignite

As students, teachers, and community members, we stand behind models of education that encourage us to think for ourselves, to connect with the people around us, and to realize our power to come together to shape the world in which we live.
However, rather than create in us a sense of possibility, our experiences within mainstream education heighten our sense of limitation by ignoring our creative potential and social nature as human beings.

We lose sight of the transformative power of education to open us to the richness of the world as well as within our selves. The emphasis on learning through the memorization of facts and teacher-led lectures treats students as passive recipients of information, rather than as humans impacted by and impacting the world around them. Competition and hierarchy isolate peers and teachers from one another as well as stifle and degrade those with alternate learning needs. This model gives voice only to those with academic credential, rather than appreciating rich sources of knowledge found within all levels of society. This approach to education creates a fragmented society of humans isolated by their inability to reach out to one another. Unaware of its own history and power to make change, its members feel powerless and dependent on leaders. Our education system deepens pre-existing inequality and marginalization, rather than living up to its potential by chipping away at them.

At the same time, uplifting and hopeful models dot the world. A people-based program has the power to open minds, hearts, and eyes in a way no textbook can. Students and communities build the program together as they develop relationships and learn from one another. Instead of creating a worldview based on the opinions and framework of a limited number of authors, students look through the lenses of actors on multiple sides of an issue, from villagers to corporate officers, to government officials and activists, during home stays, site visits, and exchanges. Over the course of the program, the students’ vision of education as isolating and competitive dissolves as they come together as a group to process experiences and plan each step forward in order to get the most out of the program as a whole. Students learn to rely on their peers and community members as resources and friends, and realize the power of an informed, motivated, and caring group to affect positive change in the world. Both students and communities are empowered by the strength they find in themselves and by the connections made with others eager to hear their story.

In creating this program, we envision a more just and caring world that values the input and potential of each individual. We hope to provide an outlet for the creativity and unique leadership capacity within all people, as well as give students the tools to determine their own future among innumerable choices rather than passively accept the views and path espoused by the mainstream. We want to provide students with a space to realize their ability to connect with humans and the environment and to create a life for themselves of rich and dynamic relationships. We envision a United States unbounded by social hierarchy, but tied together by networks of people committed to standing for the welfare of all. We work to unlock the revolutionary potential of education to free us from the limits of ignorance and isolation and allow us to discover the meaning of being fully human. Everyone has role to play as this process unfolds. Join us!

"If I come in on Sundays, I need to feel like I've been to church. [Pause.] And that takes a little bit of alcohol."
-Ajaan Dave Streckfuss, Director of CIEE Khon Kaen