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Our orientation is now over for the Peace program. The group is 22 people, 12 men and 10 women from all over the world. We each had to give an 8 minutes (not long!) presentation on a conflict we are working on. We will then apply the knowledge we learn each section of the program to that conflict (i.e analysis, strategies and transformation).
Folks are working on interesting issues from Taliban in Pakistan, child trafficking in SE Asia, Refuges in Bangladesh, ethnic conflicts in NE India, tobacco smuggling in Poland, First Nation land issues in Canada, poverty in Guatemala and political issues in various places in Africa. So my little land use issues in rural northern Michigan seem irrelevant but I guess conflict starts somewhere!
The photo is of our class and the younger Thais are students at the university who gave us a tour and will be giving us Thai language classes if we choose.
Cultural notes: The university color is pink; this is because the King Chulalongkorn was born on Tuesday and the color of Tuesday is pink. I guess a long time ago Thai's would wear the color of the day (this is no longer practiced). Also, Thai university students all wear uniforms.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have quite the diverse group working on very interesting conflicts. You'll have a lot to teach when you return! ;) Go rural northern Michigan and go PINK!