Update
18
30th
November 2005
Bodhi’s Ramblings
December is upon us. The final month of the year, it
is also a month of transition. The
monsoon rains lasted through November, and it seems that as the skies clear,
the sunlight shines not only upon the North Andaman, but is also beginning to
illuminate the choices communities must now make. These are choices about how to move forward
and where to invest time and energy, choices about returning to old forms of
livelihood or exploring new ones - decisions that can be made only by the
tsunami-affected communities themselves.
As such, NATR has spent a lot of time figuring out how to help villagers
without unduly influencing the choices they make for their future. And we have
realized that our strength lies not in making decisions for people, but
enabling them to make the decisions themselves.
In these updates, we have often spoken of our
community empowerment and education. These
programs are the foundation of our next year’s work. In order to move from disaster to
development, however, the time has come to implement more serious skills
development programs with accompanying employment opportunities. At the end of
this update you will find a chart that outlines NATR’s work for 2006. As you will see, it shows how our specific
projects are an extension of our development philosophy: community-driven
empowerment and education that allows for effective vocational training and
community business development.
As this will likely be the last update before the
new year, I want to again extend my humblest gratitude to all of NATR’s friends
and supporters. Sometimes I wish that
all of you who read this update could see what we do here. The joy that we feel as we start each work
day. The smiles returning to the faces
around us. The satisfaction of seeing a
community unite for a better future. To
be sure, there is still much work to be done, but it is good work, and the path
ahead is clearer every day.
And personally, I would like to thank you for
giving me and the NATR gang the opportunity of a lifetime – to serve with our
hearts and souls, to give until it hurts, to know the beauty that can rise from
despair. Thanks for being a part of
this.
Project
Updates
Staff Retreat
The retreat, held at
Trail development in
Tung Nang Dam
In preparation for the Community Based Tourism
Pilot Tour (December 3-5), NATR in coordination with REST (Responsible
Ecological Social Tours) facilitated a Nature Trail exploration day. This
involved 3 separate tours in Tung Nang Dam.
1)
Mountain Trekking
2)
Beach and Wetland Ecosystems
3)
Boat Tour: Mangrove and
The
model of Tung Nang Dam was used as a motivating focal point in the feedback discussions,
which was really great to see. This activity provided an amazing overview of
the biodiversity within Tung Nang Dam, and laid a solid foundation that will be
used during the Pilot Tour.
Guide Training in Hat
Praphat
This 5 day training course was run by REST and provided a great foundation for the future of CBT
and ACE tourism in this region. Our staff learned different types of
facilitation skills which NATR will be able to use for future guide training.
They spoke about the meaning of tourism and brainstormed many ideas. This is
very much in line with NATR’s philosophy that information and knowledge
provides the tools for better decision making. By understanding the
complexities of tourism growth in this area, the guides are in a far better
position to make the decisions that are right for their communities. During the
course, REST gave a great introduction and presented the guides with an
important and extremely useful CBT framework.
Community Based
Tourism (CBT) Workshop in Koh Yao Noi
As
part of this preparation and knowledge building process for the development of
community driven tourism, villagers from Bak Jok, Laem Naew, Tung Nang Dam and
3 NATR staff members, traveled south to the island of Koh Yao Noi, to participate
in a CBT workshop organized by REST. It was a unique opportunity to experience first
hand a working model of CBT and to meet a community who has successfully managed
CBT on their island for 10 years. It provided a forum for discussing the advantages
and challenges of CBT, as well as an exploration into the practicalities of
managing tourism in a way that brings maximum benefits to the community and
minimum impact on the environment and traditional way of life. The workshop
included sessions on waste management strategies, community planning and
organization, and homestays.
English
On November 23rd, Georgi and Annalise awarded
13 members of Tung Nang Dam certificates of achievement for completing 25 hours
of English lessons. The small ceremony
took place at a special food festival for which we had practiced appropriate
phrases and vocabulary. These women are enthusiastic, dedicated and motivated students. They now have the skills to have basic
conversations with tourists who come to their island. Many are continuing
another 25 hours of study. Teaching
English at Tung Nang Dam has helped to build the English curriculum that will
serve as a model in our ACE Expert program.
Selected
Village Updates
Bak Jok Community
Centre
The vision for the Centre was to empower the
members of
Following
the visit of Princess Sirindhorn in October, the people of Bak Jok have now
begun the move into their new community in Ban Bek. This represents a whole new
beginning as the villagers finally move out of their temporary housing and into
their new permanent homes. This also represents an ending for NATR as the
community centre has now been vacated.
Since its launch in June 2005, the
Tung Dap Recycle
Bicycle Program
Fourteen
Thai Moken children from the isolated tsunami affected Community and
We
gathered together outside the Community Cooperative Shop and five TCC members
worked tirelessly on assembling the new bicycles. A number of the Students and Community
members watched attentively, and further helped to grease components, connect
together pedals and seat parts during the assembling process. At the same time the younger group of
students who had already received second hand bikes from the TCC relaxed on
their new treadlies, under the pleasant shade of a cashew nut tree, and played happily
in the bike boxes.
The
following school day, students were up at
Baan Talae Nok
One
of the biggest challenges NATR has faced in their work with Baan Talae Nok has
been outreach and communication. The village is approximately 37km away from
Kuarburi, therefore careful planning and door to door visits are very important
with all of our programs, meetings and outreach in Baan Talae Nok. The fact
that they do not have mobile phone reception anywhere within 5km of the village
means that information and warnings are extremely difficult to convey to these
villagers. Therefore, NATR is extremely pleased to announce that
Visitors
and Volunteers
This month we say a sad goodbye to Georgi
Marshall. For the last 9 months, Georgi
has been an inspiring, joyful, and tremendously effective program coordinator. She has exemplified the effectiveness of
cross-cultural development work. Her ability to speak Thai, and her warm,
attentive personality endeared Georgi to all of the communities and people with
whom she worked. Her amazing ability to straddle the divide between East and
West has meant that communities have felt comfortable to share their ideas,
visions and concerns with her. She has been a great friend, incredibly
motivating and driving force at NATR, we wish her the best of luck in all that
awaits her in this next year.
The
2006
Projects Overview
After the staff retreat,
NATR agreed to focus on the following projects for the year ahead. We are
currently seeking funding for many of these programs, if any of them resonate
with you please get in touch.
Key:
Blue: Project already underway
Purple:
Project scheduled to begin in January/February