LGBT Story Project
The other day I had an interesting conversation with Dan. We were staying at the remote mountaintop school in a Karen village near Chiangmai, Thailand. We looked at the sixty plus primary school students and wondered how their future life would be. You know, for kids who are already in their sixth grade, half of them are still unable to read or write. This is appalling.
What could we do to help? Dan also mentioned low income people he met in Nepal, street youth we saw everywhere and even LGBT kids who were kicked out of their homes. What could we do to help them? No doubt, one easy way nearly everyone can think of, after these poor kids are fed and sheltered, is giving them education. I think education is important and sometimes, it might be the easiest way out. I always feel that way when it comes to my life. Without education, my whole life will probably be completely different. However, will school education be really effective to everyone, especially to people we see right now? I doubt. At this school, kids have spent about 5 years here but they are still illiterate. I’ve seen their text books and watched a few minutes of their video classes. Do they need to know every bit of fancy life described in those colorful books? You know, they live in such a small, remote and impoverished village. Octopus, giraffe and pandas won’t help them much when talking to foreign visitors, which according to my observations, is probably their major income source. In these cases, do we want to reconsider what tool to provide for them? Maybe the quick solution for these kids is to help them master English or Chinese ASAP so after a few years, they can find a job in Chiangmai’s blooming touristy industry. We need to educate people, but at the same time we need to let them learn some skill to make a living. Dan mentioned, in the case of runaway or kicked-out LGBT youth, yes they do need the education about HIV/AIDS, but they also need to be able to earn some money. Why don’t we provide some training and help them become peer trainers, peace maker, sustainable farm keepers, facilitators… He argued that donors may like the idea as well. It will help diversify their portfolio. They don’t always put money into one single cause but can support various initiatives and generate bigger social impact. This conversation definitely reminds me of OPEN group I visited in HCMC, Vietnam. The founder maintained a big house to provide shelter for young people who are kicked out of their families once they come out to their parents or discovered by them from nearby provinces where people still hold a strong belief that being LGBT is a wrong doing. To keep the house going, they are trying out online shop and selling second-hand clothes. Their way of trying to be self-sufficient is definitely interesting. But I sense some waste of labor and talent. If they are some good training, maybe those talented kids can do more on their own?
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AuthorHi this is Martin. I am traveling in greater China and Southeast Asia. Looking for conversations, adventures, and more. Archives
April 2015
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