Building Community Relationships

Being as hot as it has been lately, I’ve asked my family and some local farmers about the heat as it pertains to the normal climate this time of year. I have had some good opportunities to talk to many local farmers and field workers with my Thai ajan—as this is part of CBOD IRBing (intentional relationship building). When we did a transect walk with a local villager guide, the idea was to walk across an area of the community that the guide deemed to be important and have them explain to us the landscape, history, climate, important places, etc. Later, we drew a map of the transect walk and included the different landscapes and important points brought to our attention. This is just one example of the many activities we have done with the community in order to assess the status quo and community needs in addition to building relationships.

Through conducting interviews, and conversing with various community members, it is apparent that the weather is currently very unfavorable. Everyone says this season is significantly hotter than it has been in years past. Some say it is hotter than it has ever been. Actually, for the central region (where I currently reside) there should be a decent amount of rainfall this time of year. These intermittent periods of drought have negatively affected the local farmers and their ability to grow and yield profitable crops. Unless a farm is located nearby a river or stream, irrigation possibilities are limited. Therefore, certain crops previously scheduled for planting, are being forgone because the soil is so dry.

In this area, the crops primarily consist of, corn, sugarcane, kassava (a root used to make starch preservatives and flour), tobacco, rice, and fruits (including: pineapple, coconut, mangos, dragon fruit, rose apples, tamarind, bananas, oranges, papaya, mangosteen, durian, jackfruit, and grapes). The demand, especially for cassava and corn has declined since the last harvest season and the negative effects of this are felt among many farmers. Stagnations in the global economy and commodity prices only exacerbate the current status in crop production. For instance, this past season corn and cassava production in the area has over-exceeded demand. What is more, the global decline in prices in addition to governmental subsidy cuts has lead to a freeze in production. Literally, fields of cassava stand ready to be harvested for next year because there simply is no place to sell them for a decent price—to sufficiently cover the cost of harvesting and labor. It is worth more to leave the crops to be sold as a second year commodity when prices have potential to be more appealing. Often times farmers will not outright say their crop production is hurting but rather speak of economic hard times in general, poor weather conditions, and having to depend more on their savings than anticipated income not yet received.

As a person new to the area and not fluent in Thai, I probably would not have been able to pick up on these current issues and how they are deeply embedded in the community without the help of my Thai ajan. Being fluent and able to perceive feelings through dialog—she is ever so helpful when trying to get to know the community. Soon enough though, we will take our training wheels off and be on our own at different sites! Slowly, I am becoming more acclimated to the high-context Thai culture. Unlike in America, people do not show on their faces or talk about the burdens they carry with them. Thus, I must learn to detect subtle cues within context, body language, eye contact, voice, and gestures if I am to really understand how to ‘read’ people and act accordingly.