Thai Journalism Project

I got interviewed for some local newspaper in Scotland(?) about my time as a volunteer in Thailand. The full Q&A is up on the NGO's website here: http://www.kayavolunteer.com/testimonials/id/3

- Tell us about your experiences with Kaya (sign up process, preparation, etc)
I found it very straightforward and simple. The staff at Kaya were in regular communication with me and were very knowledgeable about Thailand's customs and culture. I felt very reassured by Kaya and able to put my trust in the fact that the whole process would be well organised and I would be well supported while I was out there.

The process of signing up was easy, and I had the freedom to book my own flights and have some flexibility with my arrival and departure dates, which was fantastic for me because I was on a round the world trip at the time.


- Tell us what made you choose that particular project/country?
I chose the journalism project in Chiang Mai, Thailand, because I am a freelance writer in my spare time back here in the UK. However, I still consider myself very much an amateur and wanted to get some proper journalistic experience, working for a news agency in a real newsroom, dealing with weighty subjects like drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle and Burmese politics. The fact that the project was in Thailand was great as I love Thailand and had visited before, but for me it was about the journalistic experience and I would have chosen to do that project regardless of where in the world it was based.


- Tell us about your experience in your accommodation (homestay)
I was a little bit apprehensive about the homestay. On the one hand I was really keen to have as authentic an experience as possible, but I was also anxious about whether they would like me and whether I'd like them. I like to have my own space when I'm at home and I was worried I might feel obliged to stand on ceremony. I also wasn't sure what to expect in terms of living standards - would there be a western style toilet? Could I have a hot shower? Etc...

As it turned out, all my fears were completely unfounded. My host family were lovely and very relaxed and laid back; which is truly the Thai way! Their house was very modern with flushing toilet (yay!), internet, TV, all the usual mod cons. Sharing their family life was a really enjoyable part of the experience. Despite being in a country where the culture is very different to the West, I found that there were many more similarities in our day-to-day lives than there were differences. We'd all eat together in the evening, sometimes I helped the daughters with their English homework, and then we'd watch terrible Thai soap operas on TV or head out to the mall or each do our separate things in our rooms. I felt very welcome and well looked after. Plus, my host mother was an amazing cook!


- Tell us about your role in your project.
At first I acted as a support to the English editor. She was a trainee journalist from Shan State in Burma and already had excellent written and spoken English, but was a little unsure about how to structure a story so that it had the biggest impact. I'd correct any spelling and grammatical errors and suggest ways we could structure the article so that it flowed better and was written in a simple enough way that laymen in the international community - who made up a large proportion of the readership - would be able to understand the very complex and arcane issues of Burmese politics.

During my time there I also slipped into a kind of consultative role. My background is in advertising and although I'd been viewing the trip as a career break, I ended up putting my advertising skills to use at the news agency, suggesting ways they could refresh their brand and communicate it through different digital and social networking channels so that it could build its presence as a media brand in the far east and the wider global community. We even went so far as to look at redesigning their logo! It was a lot of fun to be able to be so involved in all aspects of the agency.


- What were you most worried about before you came?
Apart from the apprehension about the homestay, I was worried that I might not have enough to do on my work placement - which proved to be far from the case. I was also a little worried about how I'd fill my free time; what would I do with myself at the weekends for example? But the project support staff on the ground were fantastic at organising weekend trips and activities with other volunteers, so I got to spend time with other people who were going through a similar experience and I found that was very helpful.


- What have you been surprised by during your stay?
I suppose by how at home I felt, how I managed to rise to the challenge in ways I didn't expect that I would, how similar we all are really despite the surface cultural differences.


- What has been the highlight of your trip?
It feels obvious to say it but there were so many highlights: getting to know my host family, building friendships with my colleagues, being able to haggle with tuk tuk drivers in pidgin Thai, getting up at 5.30am to go and give alms to the monks outside the temple... One thing that definitely stands out for me though was swimming with elephants at the Thai elephant home. That was really special.


- What has been a volunteer mean to you (versus just visiting as a tourist)?
Thailand's biggest industry is tourism so as a tourist a lot of what you experience will have been contrived to impress and entertain you. You'll still have a fantastic time but it won't be a truly authentic experience of the country and its people. What I liked about volunteering was being able to go behind the scenes as it were and meet people from different backgrounds and put myself in situations where I could get a taste of what it was like to really live and work in Thailand. As part of research for articles, I attended lectures on Burmese politics at Chiang Mai university - something I would NEVER have been able to do if I were just there as a tourist.

All of my colleagues in the newsroom had come over the border from Shan State and were living under a beaurocratic kind of limbo which meant they couldn't move freely around the country and had to stay in Chiang Mai. It was fascinating to get an insight into their community and to learn about their lives in Burma and hear first hand about the struggles of the ethnic people there.


- How has this experience affected you?
On a personal level I'm really proud of myself for having done it because I was very, very nervous about it before I left and nearly chickened out loads of times. I'm also proud of the work I did at the news agency; the articles that were published and the branding and strategy document I produced for them. I've made some good friends whom I have remained in touch with and I feel now that Chiang Mai is a bit of a second home. Every now and again I'll think 'Oh I'll pop into that shop on the way home', or 'Maybe I'll go to that restaurant this weekend', and then I'll remember that I'm in the UK and that restaurant is about 8000 miles away! I feel like my homestay and the news agency are just up the road.


- Do you think this experience will influence you in your job back at home?
It's definitely helped improve my writing and I think the whole experience has been valuable in terms of my CV. I deliberately chose a project that was going have some application to my career. Tempting as it was to sign up to look after elephants, I felt like if I was going to go all that way and spend all that money and length of time staying there, I should get some useful practicable skills out of it.

Having said that, now that I've done the vocational thing, next time I am definitely signing up for the elephants!


- What would you say to to others thinking about taking part in a volunteer project?
Be prepared to work hard and choose a project that you think you will enjoy, not one you feel you 'ought' to do. Go into the experience with an open mind and remember that you're there to help so be proactive about getting involved. Do your research before you leave too. Understand the local customs, some aspects of your host country's cultural practises may be slightly at odds with your own norms and beliefs, so it's important you reconcile that before you go so that you aren't shocked or upset by anything while you're there. Be respectful.


- Do you think your work experience was useful to you on your project?
Do you mean was my work experience from my job in the UK useful to the project in Thailand? If so then, yes definitely. I'd written for different publications in the UK before, so I already had some knowledge about how to write a punchy headline and research a feature. I didn't expect that there would be any need for me to draw on my advertising background but in the end, that was the thing I ended up doing the most of!


- Any other comments

Hope my ramblings will be of some use :)