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Hi, I am Peter Heyes, and this online diary is about my travels that have taken me from Europe, to North America, Africa, and now Asia. If you want, you can sign up for email updates on the right. The latest posts are on the home page. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Dancing, playing games, singing and having a bit of serious stuff.

I've died and gone to heaven - they have Marmite on the table here at the centre.  It really is a lovely place and you can't go wrong when you only pay $15 for three meals a day and a comfortable room.  When I stay in hotels I find the usual comb, toothbrush etc., but here we found an umbrella, extra sheets and blankets, everything we need to make a drink and even a fridge with items left by other people, which we can use.  Breakfast is a mix of Western and Eastern foods and the other meals are delicious.  We do our own dishwashing but it's a small price to pay for such good food.  Sister Denise, who runs the centre, is from Australia so I suppose that's why there are Corn Flakes and Marmite on the table.  Some of the people working here are in wheelchairs and others are young people who've been in trouble with the law.  


There's a pond that has a number of large wooden wheels around it; they are prayer wheels.  As you walk around the pond the idea is to spin a wheel and think of a country, then move to the next wheel and think of a person.  Each wheel is for a specific reason, except the last one, which is for anything your heart desires.


We use a meeting room that is open to the fresh air; everyone sits on cushions on the floor, except yours truly.  I'm typing so I have to have chairs - even if I wasn't typing I'd insist on a chair.  Hanging outside the hall is a model aeroplane and hanging from the plane are the different types of bombs the Americans dropped on this part of the world; the worst was the cluster bomb.  They are a couple of metres long and, when they leave the plane, a trapdoor opens and hundreds of large round bombs, a bit bigger than a baseball, fall out.  On their way down to earth they were supposed to open and out would come ball bearing sized metal objects that were meant to injure or even kill people.  Unfortunately about a third of them didn't open and they plunged 20cms into the ground, which is the depth of the farmer's plough.  This mostly happened in Laos; here in Cambodia landmines are the problem and an estimated 10 million were 'planted' around the countryside.


Today was quite a whirlwind of activities with workshops, family sharing times and presentations.  I've been impressed with the punctuality of this group; nobody is late which is a miracle in itself when you are dealing with over 30 young people.  In the evenings they all want to go into town to visit the night markets.  I find it funny because the Thais have night markets all over the place in their country and I'm sure most of the stuff is the same as here.  They come home late but they are still at the breakfast table at 7am.  I've never seen so many enormous lenses on cameras; many of the young people are interested in photography.  Another revelation has been the young people's discipline with regard to their mobile devices.  Usually, young people can't keep their hands off the phone but here, on the first day, we asked them to put their phones away and they have done so.  On our first day, when we were introducing ourselves, the majority of participants said they were single.  Jokingly, I reminded them that they were all lying - they were all married to their phones.


Being elderly, from the West, and not used to 'touchy, feely' things, I sometimes found the activities a bit difficult.  Fortunately, I always hid behind my typewriter.  For four minutes couples had to face each other and look into each other's eyes.  One young man said that he was amazed when the other person told him everything he had been thinking about.  Father Totet, who is from the Philippines and has been here 25 years, said, "The meetings are useful but the people get to know each other better and deeper during their times together having coffee, meals, playing games."  


Yesterday evening I was frustrated because I couldn't find out who was wearing such strong perfume.  Every so often it wafted past me and I'd ask if the person standing by me was using perfume - he or she never was.  Later, I walked back to my room and I realised it was the strong smell of flowers on the trees.


One member of our programme left early to return to Bangkok.  She works for a human rights NGO and was leaving to join an international programme in Brussels dealing with the abolition  of the death penalty.  I know there is the death penalty in Thailand so I asked about it and she said that a young 25 year old was executed last summer after spending 6 years in prison.  That was the first execution in 10 years and so she's disappointed that it has set the nation back to the beginning of the struggle.


I've learned quite a bit about the Thai culture.  I said to the friends that it seemed that Thais had to spend so much time with cultural things they didn't have time for work and play.  I learned that we all have a "Kwan" which is our own personal spirit.  We can sing a song to him or her to invite the spirit to join us.  They take care of us so I think I'm going to get one.  The Thais have unusual nicknames; one young man is called "Ice" and others have just a single letter such as "B" and "P".  If there's a baby in the house, and the baby is being taken outside, the grandmother will take some dust from the sole of her foot and place it on the forehead of the child; it's to show that the spirit of the grandmother is travelling along with the baby to keep it safe.  A lot of the customs seem strange but they all have a lovely meaning.  I think we in the West are missing a lot when we don't have these cultural activities.  


We had a fun time which was officially called "Cultural Programme" but it turned into a series of hilarious games, song and dance.  As someone from a different culture I was asked to perform.  What the heck could I do?  Normally I say, "I can't because I'm typing", but I didn't have my iPad with me.  I decided on my party piece, getting everyone to dance the Macarena, which had everyone on his or her feet trying to follow my actions; it was good to know that I was a lot better at it than they were. The coordinators took almost an hour to review the time together.  I found it a bit long but the young folk sat on the floor listening.  They were then invited to pick a candle, light it and then say something about their time at the programme.  This also went on a long time.  Afterwards we listened to the "Candle Song" which talks about having a personal candle to light the world's darkness.


It was almost midnight when I finally returned to my room.  With leaving tomorrow I didn't have to wash any of my clothing, which was a relief.  It's my last night and I've finally figured out the best way to sleep - open the curtains and the windows, turn off the fan, use the mosquito net and a blanket.  Here's to a good night's sleep.