Classroom in the Community Projects Studying dalaang and pakyaw identity, in history, performance, food, belief systems, handicraft, ecologies as part of community building and sustainability-based programs in Pang Daeng and Ban On villages in Chiang Dao district
Children's Days A monthly highlight in Chiang Dao as 250 primary and kindergarten kids take over the Makhampom Living Theatre Space in a day of creative chaos, starting with performances by Makhampom, the youth theatre troupes, and other visiting performers, and followed by hands-on art sites, where the kids try their hand at traditional toy making, clay sculpture, puppetry, face paint, drawing, kite building, even hula hoop and hip hop
Youth Theatre Troupes Building up the youth theatre troupes in Chiang Dao, from the children's group in Tung Luk village and their dynamic performances of their village history, to the hilltribe groups of Pang Daeng and Ban On and their mix of theatre, storytelling, and traditional artforms, to the much travelled Chiang Dao youth theatre
Bookbike Mobile Libraries A library bus wouldnt make it up some of the hills to the remote schools so we are building 3 motorbike sidecar creations, as mobile libraries to travel the hills around Chiang Dao to provide remote schools with access to good books, with volunteers putting on performance, readings, storytelling and other activities to support the mobile library
The Bookworm Reading Project Activities in 9 schools introducing Makhampom’s work through storytelling and a creating reading project Community PlaygroundsBuilding community playgrounds in Tung Luk village and Makhampom Centre as a collaboration of Australian volunteers, Makhampom, and the local community
MakhampomLiving Theatre, Chiang Dao The centre at Chiang Dao is now constantly buzzing with activity. With the theatre, guesthouse, and living area complete, the recent developments have been with the creation of a playground and the harvesting of our first rice crop. The centre is busy with a mix of activities with the local community, international collaborations and study tours, and hosting groups from around Thailand and overseas for visits. Jon, Richard, Janita, Tanya, Muay, and Kwan (with baby) live on site with the staff (Puey, Champee, Boy & Jiew with their little boy, Poo) living in town. Volunteers, Willow and Marcus from Australia, live in town and work on the refugee program, and will be joined by Lian Low and Georgie Davill later in the year. The exciting things happening are the Children’s Days, which are wonderful chaos, the Tung Luk Children’s Theatre Group and youth theatre troupes in town and local villages, alongside theatre and education activities with the schools and Chiang Dao community, the rice-farming, Study Tours and Theatre Lab programs, the playground making, and the stream of visitors coming through Chiang Dao.
We have just completed a trainers manual in theatre arts for conflict resolution called The Art of Peace. This outlines many of Makhampom’s key workshop processes. We will bring a box of the books to Australia for distribution or can be posted from Thailand for other countries. Let us know if interested. Cost is $10 plus postage.
Refugee Program
As the situation in the refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border worsen, Makhampom’s role there grows, although we would be happy for this to reverse. Our work in the camps in driven by providing support for local refugee community organizations with skills, resources, and methodologies that can be of use in their activities in camp and within Burma. Alongside this, we conduct numerous training and development programs with NGOs addressing existing problems in the camps.
In 2008, our refugee program includes: · Dispute resolution trainings with camp leaders in 3 Karen and Karenni refugee camps from Jan-Mar; · A major theatre workshop and performance project with UNHCR to address stigma towards HIV in 2 Karen refugee camps from Feb-Dec; · Theatre training project with Karen theatre workers from Karen Student Network Group (KSNG), Karen Womens Organization (KWO), Karen Youth Organization (KYO); · Women’s centre workshops with Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) along border;We are also playing a role in the Homelands project in Australia, which involves building connections between place of resettlement and homeland.
Makhampom is effectively a family of Thai volunteers, with most members having joined the group as volunteers and grown into the group, with the directors all having cut their teeth in the group this way. With the Makhampom Living Theatre in Chiang Dao up and running, and the organization sorted out, we have created an international volunteer program to support our diverse activities. There are many requests to volunteer with Makhampom or undertake an internship, so we have attempted to create a good approach to this.
Previous volunteers can attest that Makhampom is an exciting group to meet but a difficult group to work with. At the heart of this is language. Without Thai language, there is a big barrier, as English, and other languages, are either limited or avoided. Another aspect is expectations, where hopes of working intensively with remote communities or in refugee camps are usually dampened by the cautious approach we take to working in new contexts. And the third point is culture. There is food, climate, work approaches, belief system, communication, behaviours to adapt to. So volunteering with Makhampom has its challenges.
We have found that participating in the Study Tour program is the best step into a volunteer role, as it provides an intensive introduction to the group, the place, the community context, and our methodology. Significantly, it also shows a commitment to work towards raising funds to support our work. And most importantly, it allows both prospective volunteers and Makhampom to know whether we can live together or not.
As of 2008, we have just said farewell to Mayumi Nomura, our Japanese volunteer who was with us for 2 years, working in Chiang Dao community programs, the refugee program, documentation roles, and developing international Study Tour for Japanese groups. Willow Kellock is currently 8 months into an AVI placement, working on the refugee program, and her partner, Marcus Veerman has initiated a Hands-On alternative education project, which is currently going full steam ahead with a playground project in the Pang Daeng hill tribe school.
Who is coming this year? Htoo Ler, is an Australian-Karen human rights worker and former refugee, who has worked with Makhampom in Australia and will join Makhampom on a VIDA assignment, over several years. Lian Low, from the 1999 Study Tour, is looking into 3 months from June working on writing, editing, and come community programs in Chiang Dao. Georgie Davill, from Carclew House in Adelaide and the 1999 Study Tour, will join us for a 3 month Asialink residency from mid-September to give our training and organization approaches a bit of a shake up both in Chiang Dao and Bangkok. Marbu, a Burmese Karen activist from the Karen Environment and Social Action Network, will have a 6-month internship later in the year.
And what is available?
We are also inviting volunteers to work with Makhampom in Chiang Dao, starting in July 2006. Our preference is for participants of Makhampom’s Study Tours as there is already a relationship, mutual familiarity, understanding of the Makhampom context, and a commitment to support Makhampom’s work. The volunteer roles identified by Makhampom are:
1. International Program Organiser manage Makhampom’s English language website; manage the PR program for Study Tours and Theatre School; part of hosting team for Study Tours and Theatre School/Camp programs; participate in general Makhampom programs in Chiang Dao and elsewhere. 2. English Teacher teach English up to 4 days a week, in poor local and remote schools, as well as for Makhampom staff and volunteers; participate in general Makhampom programs in Chiang Dao.
Faces of 2007
Circus Project
After the performance of the Study Tour in the Pang Daeng ‘dalaang’ village, idea of a circus program at our Chiang Dao base has grown legs. John Butler and Frank Minitti from Swinburne/NICA, Shien Chee from Spaghetti Circus, and several Study Tour participants have sparked interest amongst the youth groups in Chiang Dao. Recently, Jerry Snell from New Circus Asia visited with the plans for an Asian circus network and regional projects. We will join the conference in Battambang in April to become involved in the network.
So, in short, the circus project we are looking at would involve two main parts: 1. Youth Circus in Pang Daeng We are working with the youth theatre group from Pang Daeng village (displaced dalaang ethnic group from Burma) every month of 2008 on a project that studies dalaang identity, in terms of history, belief, performance, farming techniques, arts, etc. One of the objectives is to create a performance of their stories that they can perform to tourists. They depend on tourism as they are stateless people, cannot own land, and the current tourism is part of the hilltribe zoo culture. The circus aspect would become part of the theatre training, devising, and performing part of the project. 2. Circus School in Chiang Dao We will set up a regular circus class at the Makhampom Living Theatre, with evening trainings for members of Makhampom’s youth theatre groups in the district.
Volunteer trainers and circus equipment would be welcomed to make this project a reality.
