GlobeMed GROW 2016
Joining GlobeMed is easily one of the best decisions of my college career and I wish I had joined sooner. It’s one of the first organizations that I’ve found a purpose in being a part of and I feel truly invested in the mission. GlobeMed partners college chapters with different NGOs around the world in order for both to learn from each other. Our chapter is partnered with Social Action for Women (SAW), in Mae Sot, Thailand, which gives Burmese migrant workers and their families access to different health and education information and resources. Every year the chapter is able to send a handful of students on the GrassRoots On-site Work (GROW) internship to document the work of SAW and bring it back to chapter to share with all members. This year, I was chosen along with four other members to experience the work of SAW firsthand.
I wish I could transfer my senses to you to experience Mae Sot: waking up to the sounds of dogs yapping and wheels turning on the road outside our guest apartment, the smells of the dirt roads mixing with rain as the cool showers hit the ground every afternoon, the spicy curries perfectly complemented with light soups and hearty servings of fresh rice at every meal. Falling off your bike on the side of a busy road and scrambling to get back on, engaging in a staredown with a bull buffalo as you navigate down a steep hill, literally jumping for joy when your students finally figure out past and present tense. We tried our best to be aware of our potential impact in our interactions and to be honest with one another when we felt uncomfortable or ill at ease with different situations, and I would encourage future teams to be proactive about those conversations because it caused some issues for team.
As a new member of GlobeMed, GROW gave me a chance to immerse myself in the work of our partner and the communities they serve alongside learning about the mission of both SAW and GlobeMed. We spent three weeks with SAW and they gave us the great privilege of taking us through their work. I say privilege because the impact that we have on them is small: we provide funding for one of their fifty programs and offer five eager, thoughtful minds ready to learn and assist in any way we can. We watched a workshop where Thin Thin and Su Myat Win engaged with members of a community to provide information and resources on family planning, visited a Safe House and played with the children as Aung Htun Lin told us the circumstances the children were taken from, and talked to women staying at a home to provide protection and medication for HIV/AIDS. It was these first-hand experiences that will come to my mind as we plan our campaigns, write grants, and advocate for our partner this upcoming year.
One of my favorite memories from our time was visiting the Mae Ka Sa Hot Springs with Dr. Htin Zaw and ATL. We spent the morning soaking our toes in a stream, which Dr. Htin Zaw explained helped with skin ailments, and boiled eggs in a fountain to later top with soy sauce for a light snack. It had started lightly raining on the way back, and ATL and I sat in the back of the truck holding tightly as Dr. Htin Zaw zoomed through the winding Mae Sot countryside. ATL was gripping the brim of his tightly around his face to shield from the rain, so tight that the brim began snapping away from the crown. We talked about the importance of education, the role of failure and insecurity, and how love fuels all good in this world. He told me that if you have the opportunity to bring joy into someone’s life, take that opportunity if it causes no harm to you. We even talked about heartbreak, which was not a conversation I was expecting I thought I would have with a member of our partner organization, but in that moment, I realized how universal some of these feelings can be; during our chapter meetings, we always talk about ATL with such reverence but at heart, he is just like us, trying to make the world a better place all while feeling the typical feelings of a 22 year old.
Inspired by other GlobeMed chapters, we set the groundwork of a new leg of our partnership: providing supplemental English classes for elementary students at the SAW School and leading classes for the GED program in various subject areas. Jayla and I taught the English classes to 3rd and 4th graders respectively. I had just spent the month of May teaching a STEMM class to K-6 students in Cincinnati, and let me tell you, a Burmese school was a big switch. The students were just as playful and smart and silly, but they were used to a very different system of discipline that Jayla and I weren’t sure how to approach. We planned extra lessons based on what the students learned in their English classes and taught in their free periods, and the greatest successes were when they really enjoyed the games and activities and simultaneously understood the lesson for the day. Our GROW team was also the first to help teach classes for Social Action for Women’s SAW School and GED program. I had the opportunity to lead a supplemental English class for a group of wonderful 4th graders. The students were brilliant and goofy and extremely witty, and every day was a fun challenge to see how we could bridge the language barrier to get the most out of the lessons. I spent my weeks in the classroom teaching them about tenses and adverbs, and they taught me a colorful variety of Burmese words, not limited to butterfly, poop, thief, and one that I think translates to either monkey or butt. It took me awhile to learn all of their names but once I got it down, they would be giddy when I used it to tell them good job (and they would giggle back a “good job, Teacher!”) In a classroom settings, it’s especially powerful to use a name: it cements your actions and qualities to who you are and allows you to craft your identity around the only letters that attach to your being. Saying a name right essentially means: I see you, and you matter, and you’re doing great as you are and as you grow. We’re also recommending the next team to extend their trip and our partner has requested that we stay for 2-3 months, and I hope that the next team has the same sense of fulfillment that we did from assisting with teaching along with more opportunities to really immerse themselves in the culture.
It didn’t sit right with me that after three weeks of intentional and thoughtful reflection and discussion that we spent two weeks vacationing. We had originally bought tickets to spend five weeks with our partner, but due to some miscommunication, our time with SAW was shortened to three weeks. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach as we toured through Chiang Mai and Koh Phi Phi that I just wanted to be in Mae Sot, and some of my teammates shared the sentiment. The sights we saw were beautiful, but it just didn’t measure to the purpose we felt with our classes and learning from SAW. Koh Phi Phi was the strangest part for me: it was weird to be surrounded by tourists who would only see Thailand as a pretty beach lined with bars and pizza shops. I’m thankful we spent the majority of our time in a place where we could really immerse ourselves in Burmese and Thai cultures.
I wasn’t sure how this experience would carry back with me, but since we returned I’ve noticed my thought processes have changed in the way I approach situations and respond to others. I think I give more thought to others’ feelings and am not so quick to pass judgement anymore. I’m the only member of our team with an Exec Board position which also gives some flexibility about how I can carry the lessons I learned into our GlobeMed chapter. We just started a new Grant Writing committee, and it would be fantastic if we raised enough funds not only to support our main program, CHOP (for community hygiene), but also bring in grant money for SAW’s Healthcare House. What I’ve learned from our interactions with the SAW staff and the communities they work with is that those who are best equipped to support and improve a community are those within it who can address specific concerns that they’ve experienced and seen firsthand. GlobeMed’s partnership model doesn’t mean that we step in and tell our partners what to do; we work together to see what their needs are, contribute feedback based on what we’ve learned, and raise funds to support their goals. It’s a sustainable framework that’s ever-changing in the hopes of elevating communities to a level where the partnership isn’t necessary because the basic needs and goals have been fulfilled, and that’s definitely applicable when you looking at improvement in the communities that we work with right here on campus and in the city of Cincinnati.
I wish I could transfer my senses to you to experience Mae Sot: waking up to the sounds of dogs yapping and wheels turning on the road outside our guest apartment, the smells of the dirt roads mixing with rain as the cool showers hit the ground every afternoon, the spicy curries perfectly complemented with light soups and hearty servings of fresh rice at every meal. Falling off your bike on the side of a busy road and scrambling to get back on, engaging in a staredown with a bull buffalo as you navigate down a steep hill, literally jumping for joy when your students finally figure out past and present tense. We tried our best to be aware of our potential impact in our interactions and to be honest with one another when we felt uncomfortable or ill at ease with different situations, and I would encourage future teams to be proactive about those conversations because it caused some issues for team.
As a new member of GlobeMed, GROW gave me a chance to immerse myself in the work of our partner and the communities they serve alongside learning about the mission of both SAW and GlobeMed. We spent three weeks with SAW and they gave us the great privilege of taking us through their work. I say privilege because the impact that we have on them is small: we provide funding for one of their fifty programs and offer five eager, thoughtful minds ready to learn and assist in any way we can. We watched a workshop where Thin Thin and Su Myat Win engaged with members of a community to provide information and resources on family planning, visited a Safe House and played with the children as Aung Htun Lin told us the circumstances the children were taken from, and talked to women staying at a home to provide protection and medication for HIV/AIDS. It was these first-hand experiences that will come to my mind as we plan our campaigns, write grants, and advocate for our partner this upcoming year.
One of my favorite memories from our time was visiting the Mae Ka Sa Hot Springs with Dr. Htin Zaw and ATL. We spent the morning soaking our toes in a stream, which Dr. Htin Zaw explained helped with skin ailments, and boiled eggs in a fountain to later top with soy sauce for a light snack. It had started lightly raining on the way back, and ATL and I sat in the back of the truck holding tightly as Dr. Htin Zaw zoomed through the winding Mae Sot countryside. ATL was gripping the brim of his tightly around his face to shield from the rain, so tight that the brim began snapping away from the crown. We talked about the importance of education, the role of failure and insecurity, and how love fuels all good in this world. He told me that if you have the opportunity to bring joy into someone’s life, take that opportunity if it causes no harm to you. We even talked about heartbreak, which was not a conversation I was expecting I thought I would have with a member of our partner organization, but in that moment, I realized how universal some of these feelings can be; during our chapter meetings, we always talk about ATL with such reverence but at heart, he is just like us, trying to make the world a better place all while feeling the typical feelings of a 22 year old.
Inspired by other GlobeMed chapters, we set the groundwork of a new leg of our partnership: providing supplemental English classes for elementary students at the SAW School and leading classes for the GED program in various subject areas. Jayla and I taught the English classes to 3rd and 4th graders respectively. I had just spent the month of May teaching a STEMM class to K-6 students in Cincinnati, and let me tell you, a Burmese school was a big switch. The students were just as playful and smart and silly, but they were used to a very different system of discipline that Jayla and I weren’t sure how to approach. We planned extra lessons based on what the students learned in their English classes and taught in their free periods, and the greatest successes were when they really enjoyed the games and activities and simultaneously understood the lesson for the day. Our GROW team was also the first to help teach classes for Social Action for Women’s SAW School and GED program. I had the opportunity to lead a supplemental English class for a group of wonderful 4th graders. The students were brilliant and goofy and extremely witty, and every day was a fun challenge to see how we could bridge the language barrier to get the most out of the lessons. I spent my weeks in the classroom teaching them about tenses and adverbs, and they taught me a colorful variety of Burmese words, not limited to butterfly, poop, thief, and one that I think translates to either monkey or butt. It took me awhile to learn all of their names but once I got it down, they would be giddy when I used it to tell them good job (and they would giggle back a “good job, Teacher!”) In a classroom settings, it’s especially powerful to use a name: it cements your actions and qualities to who you are and allows you to craft your identity around the only letters that attach to your being. Saying a name right essentially means: I see you, and you matter, and you’re doing great as you are and as you grow. We’re also recommending the next team to extend their trip and our partner has requested that we stay for 2-3 months, and I hope that the next team has the same sense of fulfillment that we did from assisting with teaching along with more opportunities to really immerse themselves in the culture.
It didn’t sit right with me that after three weeks of intentional and thoughtful reflection and discussion that we spent two weeks vacationing. We had originally bought tickets to spend five weeks with our partner, but due to some miscommunication, our time with SAW was shortened to three weeks. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach as we toured through Chiang Mai and Koh Phi Phi that I just wanted to be in Mae Sot, and some of my teammates shared the sentiment. The sights we saw were beautiful, but it just didn’t measure to the purpose we felt with our classes and learning from SAW. Koh Phi Phi was the strangest part for me: it was weird to be surrounded by tourists who would only see Thailand as a pretty beach lined with bars and pizza shops. I’m thankful we spent the majority of our time in a place where we could really immerse ourselves in Burmese and Thai cultures.
I wasn’t sure how this experience would carry back with me, but since we returned I’ve noticed my thought processes have changed in the way I approach situations and respond to others. I think I give more thought to others’ feelings and am not so quick to pass judgement anymore. I’m the only member of our team with an Exec Board position which also gives some flexibility about how I can carry the lessons I learned into our GlobeMed chapter. We just started a new Grant Writing committee, and it would be fantastic if we raised enough funds not only to support our main program, CHOP (for community hygiene), but also bring in grant money for SAW’s Healthcare House. What I’ve learned from our interactions with the SAW staff and the communities they work with is that those who are best equipped to support and improve a community are those within it who can address specific concerns that they’ve experienced and seen firsthand. GlobeMed’s partnership model doesn’t mean that we step in and tell our partners what to do; we work together to see what their needs are, contribute feedback based on what we’ve learned, and raise funds to support their goals. It’s a sustainable framework that’s ever-changing in the hopes of elevating communities to a level where the partnership isn’t necessary because the basic needs and goals have been fulfilled, and that’s definitely applicable when you looking at improvement in the communities that we work with right here on campus and in the city of Cincinnati.