Becoming an Aa saa sa mak in Thailand

Technicalities….

Buzz word of the day (in Thai): Aa saa sa mak = Volunteer

Weeks two and three have been all about getting to the heart of what it means to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. Personally, it means learning to adjust to a variety of situations, having heightened consciousness, being open-minded, and also being sincere.
On the technical side it also includes, at large, becoming a competent, able-bodied community development facilitator. In the Thai government structure, a person with the job description most comparable to this in the public administrative position is chief executive (or ‘Naa-Yok’) who oversees the “tambon” –A tambon can be likened to a ‘county’ in the States which can include a number of smaller villages within it.

Of the 51 volunteers in group 121, 24 of us are community developers (CBOD). The remaining 29 volunteers are English Teachers and community organizers (TCCO). Ours roles, as volunteers, often intersect so we learn basic skills about teaching English and the teachers learn about community organizing. Training activities include a “mock” CBOD project. This entails breaking up into groups of 4 and being assigned a certain Tambon to work in. In this project, we conduct community mapping, participatory needs assessment activities, and intentional relationship building (IRBing). By the end of the ‘mock’ project, we present our findings to our Peace Corps, the Naa-yok, community members, and public administrative staff.

The ‘mock’ project takes up most of our afternoons as we go out into the communities and ask questions, draw maps, and get a sense of the local lifestyles and livelihoods. After each major activity, we come together as a group to debrief and reflect upon our findings.