From Buffalo to Dragon

By Melvin Shawn D'Silva

The face of Thailand is Bangkok; a bustling city with high-rise buildings, traffic jams, and entertainment. The country is determined to ‘leap frog’ in development status to become a developed, first-world nation. However, that is only one side of Thailand; the other side has many underdeveloped rural areas. The main source of income of these rural areas is from agricultural development which is also the biggest export of the country. However, the gap between the urbanization between the city (Bangkok) and the rural areas – like Buriram – is quite large. This includes aspects of education. On that account, Mechai Pattana School is successfully minimizing that gap with its unique school model.

Mechai Pattana School is located in the rural area of Buriram, Thailand. Buriram is one of the poorest parts of Thailand. The school’s motto is to create a generation of honest leaders who will improve rural Thailand. The school is founded by Mechai Viravaidya, an activist greatly known for his foundation of poverty eradication. The school is funded by Birds and Bees Foundation. It provides academic education which is the same as the public school of Thailand. In addition, it also provides environmental protection education for the whole village. Equally important, it promotes philanthropy, integrity, democracy and gender equality.

The school serves as a life-long learning centre for the student and the community. The students are molded to be individuals strong in values for the future. The whole school is built using bamboo. The roof at the entrance of the school is designed like a buffalo and it symbolizes ‘stupidity’. Upon entering the school, the students will cross a dragon designed bridge symbolizing knowledge. The whole idea is that people walk in the school leaving behind their ‘stupidity to obtain ‘knowledge’; and then they walk out into ‘stupidity’ again (Because the more one knows, the more one doesn’t know). The next day however, they would walk back in to learn more things –which symbolizes ‘Life-long Learning’. This school is not restricted to young students but to people of all ages in the village.

The bridge that symbolizes the 'dragon' and 'knowledge'.

There are about 90 students in the school, chosen not only by their academic performance, but also their behavior. A student weak academically although hardworking, or comes from a poor family background, may be accepted, screened from case to case basis. The students do not have to pay school fees in monetary terms but through community service. The student is required to ‘pay’ 400 community hours per year, and their family is obligated to plant 400 trees. The community hours include growing vegetables in the school, teaching in IT hubs which are located in the villages and many more.

Much more interesting is that the school also becomes a hub for community building. Environmental protection education is also provided by the school. In the Agricultural Demonstration Farm, techniques of growing vegetables and fruits are shown. One example is the lime that harvests during off-season. These limes are then sold at a higher price due to market demand. This would then contribute a greater amount of income to the family and the community which paints a part in poverty eradication. Likewise, the farm breeds animals and insects which are also in high demand in the market.

Local herbs being grown in the garden.

The school is also sponsored by big business players. The computers in the IT Hub in the school are sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. The swimming pool which is currently in construction is sponsored by the toy company Hasbro, Inc. Furthermore, the school furniture is contributed by IKEA International Group.

The students produced by the school are confident and well rounded. They greeted us with warm hospitality, palms together, when we arrived. These students are thought to bring back what they learn from school and apply to their on-going family business. Of even greater appeal is that they are given the knowledge and skills to run their own business. It is not surprising that these kids may not want to stay back and carry on their family’s agricultural business, to find a better paying job in the city. Although the school and the government encourages the students to stay in their village in future, nobody forces these kids to stay. With the education movement for poverty eradication, Thailand may in future face a drastic change in their economy, lifestyle and culture.

Us and people from the Mechai Pattana

Melvin Shawn D'Silva, 21 is currently pursuing a double degree in Communication and Marketing, and living his life out to the fullest

Diary Entry - Day 3

By Melvin Shawn D'Silva

A view from inside the subway.

It was a big bright beautiful day. Some of us started our day with breakfast at a hawker center nearby while some snooze-ed their alarm and met everyone else at the actual gathering time. Dr Moore said it was purely a tourist-sy day for us as the places we visited today were popular tourism places.

Boat ride to Tha Tien.

We took the subway and headed down to Suphan Taksin station. From there, we took a boat ride to Tha Tian. On our way, the river view presented another side of the city and we also passed by a few beautiful wats (temples).

A Wat along the river.

 We reached the famous Wat Arun in Tha Tien at 11am.

Wat Arun.

The aesthetic architecture of the temple was fantastic even at its old age. The walls of the temple had mosaic patterns which are pieced together with colorful pieces. Most of the porcelain had an Indochinese and Chinese influence imprinted on its patterns.

Flower pattern made from colorful porcelain pieces.

From the architecture of the wat, we realize that globalization did happened way back then even before the early industrial age. It was a dreadful climb up the wat as the stairs were steep and the foot space gets smaller as it got higher. The floor was slanted at the top of the wat.

Steep stairs of Wat Arun.

After lunch, we headed to Siriraj Medical Museum; also known as the Museum of Death. The museum was further divided into 6 smaller museum: Ellis Pathology Museum, Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medical Museum, Quay Katusingh Museum of history of Thailand Medication, Congdon Anatomical Museum, and Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and laboratory.

Buying tickets to Siriraj Medical Museum.

The museum was initially called Si Quay Museum because of the cannibalistic act of Si Quay, who brutally murdered and raped people. We met Dr. Vadhana Subhavan, an archaeologist who took care of Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and laboratory which portrayed the remnants of the evolution of Homo sapiens, and other artifacts.

Preceding this, we made our way through the Amulet market which sold many small Buddha figurines as a whole or in various forms of amulets and capsules. In addition, there were people carving statutes of a Buddhist monk.

A statue of a monk being carved.

At 15:00, we arrived at Thammasat University where Dr. Moore enlightened us with a brief ‘lecture’ regarding the history of political protest in Thailand. We sat in a hut learning about the political issues, and public political demonstrations in general.

A session in Thammasat University by Dr. Moore.

Dr. Moore explained the timeline of the political situation from the state of absolute monarchy until the present struggle between the ‘red shirt’ and the ‘yellow shirt’. Most of us felt a cringe of empathy towards the students and individuals who were once involved in the massacre which happened in Thammaasat University. After the lecture, we walked around the university where we found plagues and marble statues of political figures and propagandas which contributed to the political outcome of Thailand.

A wall tribute to the 1932 coup against the absolute monarchy

A sculpture commemorating the 1976 massacre in Thammasat University.

Monument of students that were killed in the 1976 massacre in Thammasat University.

It then started to rain as we left the university for Khao Saan Road. The rain was so heavy that we were all cooped up in McDonals.

Dr. Moore drenched

Caught in McDonalds due to the rain.

Being opportunistic, some of us who were non-muslim had the chance to taste the pork burger by McDonals which is being talked about by many and is not sold in Malaysia. Well, it did not meet most of our expectation, or perhaps we had set too high of an expectation. The streets were similar to Petaling Street in Malaysia, just bigger, and a couple more bars. It was a popular destination for backpackers. Some brave souls tried deep fried insect. The grass hopper I ate tasted like deep fried fried squid. As long as you do not think what it is, I guess it’s still rather alright. Some travelers said that if one does not try the deep fried insects, they had never been to Thailand.

Lastly we experienced the infamous Bangkok jam. We were stuck in the jam for about one and a half hours. Even so, the cab dropped us at a hospital entrance close to our hotel and we still made our way back, safe and sound.

Five word to describe the day: Magnificent, Gory, Fascinating, Inspiring, Fun and EXHASUTING.

Melvin Shawn D'Silva, 21 is currently pursuing a double degree in Communication and Marketing, and living his life out to the fullest.