Diary Entry – Day 7

By Bonnie Teh

Photos by Esther Chung, Amanda Sangeetha Thomas, Bonnie Teh

We started the day bright and early. Most of us were going about buying morning snacks from the ever-exciting 7-11 and collecting laundry. The air was abuzz with enthusiasm, as it was the last day for sessions after all. We made our usual way to the BTS Skytrain, getting off at Phrom Pong today. Getting a taxi was such a chore. Most of them were not familiar with the destination we were heading to. We were dismissed by most taxis the minute we told them the location, so we decided to walk in the blistering heat until we could find willing taxi drivers to take us there. The plan worked moderately well I suppose. Some of us walked a little, and some of us, more.

About an hour later, we found ourselves arriving at the Duang Prateep Foundation. I suppose we were somewhat expecting to be in a slum, but the centre was on a main road with no signs of tangible urban poverty. No matter. We were treated to a moving video presentation, and then taken on a tour into - yes, the real slum. Surprisingly, we needed only to turn left off the main road into an alleyway. It was just a complete maze from there on. It was left and right, and right, and right, and left. You’d think that the slum-dwellers were objects of our observation, but I think it was quite the opposite. Naked children stared at us from doorways and mangy dogs clamoured for our attention. It was all very sad, yet enlightening. I suddenly was reminded of how fortunate I am. What were the odds? I could’ve been the one squatting at slums, dreaming of a better tomorrow.

A moment in the slum.

Once we were back to the Duang Prateep Foundation centre, we had some free time and spent some of it interacting with the children there. They were mostly amused by our presence, though some were reserved and kept to their colouring books. I must say that they love being photographed though. They would pose for you, and want to see their picture. It was all very cute. Arman and Nandhini were especially taken by the children and expressed wishes to be parents very soon. I found it rather hilarious, and worrying.

All that baby-talk made us hungry so again we walked in the punishing heat to Chumchuri Square to have a quick lunch. The food was moderately good, but not great. It was reasonable though, to my surprise, since we were at a shopping mall. Powered by food, we again walked under the horrid sun to Chulalongkorn University to explore the political situation of Thailand. I very much liked Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak who gave the talk in regards to the issue. I found him rather eloquent and passionate, in a mild-mannered yet critical kind of way. Thailand and Malaysia’s political landscape has been quite similar of late, and I think the kind of progress that is in place is very encouraging. Both nations are doing something right.

Professor Thitinan giving a lecture on Thailand's politics

Our second student guide, Jang, joined us after her class today. She is petite and witty. We all took a liking to her. After all that serious discussion, we again took a 20 minutes walk to Pat Pong to visit an NGO called Empower. Pat Pong looked like an ordinary street in the daytime. It was almost strange. The founder was very charismatic and somewhat sarcastic. I liked her and thought her a real soldier for her people. It was just so amazing, to see that much effort channeled into enriching the lives of sex workers. In a nutshell, they provide sex workers with information, character building and skills training. Skills training include language, computer and cooking lessons, etc. The founder also demonstrated to us how a number of show props were used, some of which I found hard to appreciate. We were also given a generous amount of condoms as souvenirs. I thought they were great because the words on the packaging were in Thai. I do not know if any of us had any use for them though.

Wall of words for those learning English at Empower

Bonnie Teh, 23, currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Journalism at Monash University. Has I'm-gonna-take-on-the-world days and no-mood-for-small-talk days.