Category Archives: Field Trips

Rotary Peace Fellows Class XII

Posted on April 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

Class XII after a meting at the Women’s Skill Development Organization

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Kathmandu and Pokhara

Posted on April 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

One of the stand-out meetings of the second field trip was with Search for Common Ground.  I found their approach to peacebuilding to be very holistic and their level of positive engagement with the community to be inspiring.  Their award-winning TV program “Our Team” uses the theme of football to open up discussion on social issues affecting the country.  Each character in the show even has their own Facebook page that viewers can interact with.  My meeting with International Alert was also a professional highlight of the trip.  I met with an SSR specialist form Alert and received a real insight into how peacebuilding is happening at the grass-roots and governmental level in Nepal.

Meeting at the Underprivileged Children’s Educational Program (UCEP)

Midway through the week we made a long bus journey west, to the City of Pokhara.  On the way we visited the Hoste Hainse Child Development Society NGO and their “Zone of Peace” School. 

 

Playing a quick game with the school children.

Pokhara is a haven for someone like myself interested in the outdoors as it acts as a gateway to the Himalayas for many hiking and kayaking expeditions. Hopefully one day I’ll get some time there for some exploring.  We made a stop in two Tibetan refugee camps in town.  These settlements stood in stark contrast to the Burmese camps in Mae Sot as the Tibetan community are much more integrated into the wider Nepalese society than is practically possible for the people in the temporary camps in Thailand.  

 

Meeting at a Tibetan refugee Camp in Pokhara

The CHESS/Heifer International project that we visited on the side of a mountain outside of town demonstrated how a holistic, well thought-out and practical approach to development can have a profound effect of conflict transformation on a community level.  The project was obviously set in a very picturesque surrounding but it will be the testimonials from the women I will take away with me.

A community group welcoming us to their project.

Dawn over the Himalayas on our last day in Nepal

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Field Trip 2: Nepal

Posted on April 17, 2012 | 1 comment

We left for Kathmandu last week for the second of our field trips.  The overall theme was “Conflict Transformation and Building a Sustainable Peace”.  Nepal is in the process of recovering from a ten-year conflict which was finally ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2006.  When we were there the politicians where in the middle of negotiations about the Constitution which must be agreed  upon by the 29th May.

A view of Kathmandu from the Monkey Temple

Kathmandu struck me as a very culturally rich city with many historically significant sites such as Bodhnath Stupa and the Living Goddess Kumari.

Buddhists Stupa’s (Bodhnath & the Monkey Temple, accordingly)

At the same time though you cannot help but be caught up in the traffic chaos and taken aback at the sheer amount of rubbish in the city.  It is estimated that 42% of the overall population of the country are living below the poverty line and the difficulties that a ten-year conflict creates in terms of governance, civic amenities etc. are very evident.

Waste Management Issues on the Bagmati River in Kathmandu

 

 

 

 

 

 

With over a dozen formal meetings with various NGO’s and a 7-12 hour journey to Pokhara midway though the week, it was an intense field trip.  More pictures and details to follow…

Meeting at The Nepal Transition to Peace (NTTP) Initiative

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Field Trip 1: Mae Sot

Posted on March 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

Our first field trip is to border town on Mae Sot.  It’s an industrial town situated seven hours north-east of Bangkok on the Burma/Myanmar border.

Mae La,  28-year-old “Temporary Shelter” for 50,000 people on the border

We arrived on Sunday and we’ve spent the last few days meeting NGO’s and governmental organisations dealing with issues around Human Trafficking, Human Rights and Migrant Labour.  There have been many meetings each day which have so far included the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and woman’s groups representing the Karen tribe etc.  Not surprisingly, the details of how traffickers practically go about their daily business, has been the most sobering.  The internet connection hasn’t been great up here so I’ll be adding more details over the weekend when I get back to Bangkok.

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