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Thai Matters
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Soroptimists to present a treasure-trove of traditional music
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Northern Thailand featured in Clinton visit
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Micro-financing and birth control empowers rural women
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Thai Matters
The birth of a salon
Carla Hoogland
Lee works as a masseuse near the notorious Patpong district in
Bangkok. That is not always fun to do. The working conditions and the
customers are not always ideal. The days are long, the payment is only from
commissions. No massage is no money, and three times a week the ladies have
to work in their own time to clean the shop. They start at 9 a.m. in the
morning. In the evening, their work goes on until 1 a.m.. Every day the same
and one day off in a month. Lee is thirty-four and would like to go
elsewhere. Especially since the boss of the salon applies a tight and unjust
regime. For example, because Lee helped with the rebooking of our tickets,
she had to pay 10,000 baht fine to her boss. She knew it was not permitted
to have contact with customers outside the shop. We have known Lee for a
while now and think that she is reliable. We are willing to help her to
start a company, but at first send her to Wat Po for a medical massage
training and to hairdressing training.
 Moving
in...the blessing ceremony, during which our monk clearly has to make sure
he hasn’t missed any areas!
The salon should be opened in Chiang Mai, after Bangkok the biggest place in
Thailand, with 300 temples, but maybe just as many massage parlours. At
first, Lee researches into the possible sale of established salons. That
does not really succeed, but a broker in the area has a shop for sale. The
owner wants to go to live with her boyfriend in Australia.
The sale is closed quickly. For us westerners Thailand is cheap, and so is
buying a business. We realise that what we will be earning will also be very
little, but we are not opening the shop with the idea of becoming rich.
After a deposit has been passed over, we get the key to the three-storey
building. The official transfer will take some time because a Thai Ltd.
Company must be formed. In Thailand, foreigners cannot own a company - 51%
of all shares has to be in the hands of a Thai. A brief chat with our lawyer
tells us that, legally, it is possible for us to make it difficult for our
Thai partner to sell the company without our knowledge. Furthermore, we must
first speak with the landlord. The rent will remain the same, as agreed, for
three years. The rent is low, at least that is what the former owner of the
shop tells us. After a few days, we realise that the rent is three times
higher than we were told. This is a shock, as we have just moved inro the
shop. Everything, from couches to the full inventory of a hairdresser, all
brand new and bought from the only hairdressing wholesaler we were able to
locate in Chiang Mai. For around 300 euro, we now own everything from
shampoo, hairdryers and hair serums to a hair spa. I had never seen a hair
spa in the Netherlands - a kind of hair dryer with holes which allow the
hair to be sprinkled. Very popular with Thai ladies, who almost never wash
their hair by themselves. They will, if they can afford it, go to the salon
every day. Later on, we realise that, during her hairdresser training
course, Lee only learned one thing...how to wash hair! Cutting, etc, comes
in the 4th year of the course. Ah, well, priorities are priorities!
Meanwhile , we prove that westerners are more resolute than Thais. We decide
the same day that the sale cannot proceed because of false information.
Because we know our way around town, (a little bit), and speak a few words
of Thai, within half an hour the moving company is back. Consternation all
around. By coincidence, on a nearby corner another shop is for sale. One
floor more and, we think, a better location, one street from the
world-famous Night Bazaar. When we look it over, we have never before seen
such a mess! On the floor is a carpet full of massage oil. There is a great
deal to be done, but the fourth floor also offers the possibility of a
condominium for our manager, Lee.
We decide to buy shop 2, in spite of the mess, as the purchase price is
significantly lower and our already purchased items must go somewhere. The
owner of the shop is very happy and, a few days later sacrifices to the
Buddha in the shop. A complete vegetable and fruit market is displayed on a
rug, and the pig’s head is, luckily, already off! We are, obviously, going
have a lot of ‘good luck’ in the future. Behind the display stands one of
our first customers for a foot massage! Everything’s possible in Thailand.
Now, we must think about renovations, electricity, staff and everything else
that’s involved in running a Thai shop.
To be continued next week.
The intrepid entreprenuers’ shop, now up and running, is Leena Massage &
Hair , 2/2 Soi 6, Charoenprathet Road. Tel.: 053-818-870 / 086-882-7450 or
visit their website at www.leenamassage.com
Soroptimists to present a treasure-trove of traditional music
Songs of Memory:
Traditional Music of the Golden Triangle
The next open meeting of the Chiang Mai chapter of Soroptimists
International, to be held on August 19 at the Amari Rincome Hotel, will
include a presentation by Victoria Vorreiter, entitled, ‘Songs of
Memory: Traditional Music of the Golden Triangle’
 Victoria
will highlight these ancient musical traditions using film, recordings,
and images, in a wonderful presentation that will give an insight into a
different world, so close and yet so far away from us - a window into
the world of traditional hill tribe peoples, who live close to the
earth, in synchronicity with the seasons, and with lifestyles little
changed over the centuries. The photographs, audio and video media
clips, will introduce tribal cultures visited by that the Resonance
Project.
High in the mountains of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos , and
Myanmar once knew no boundaries, live a rich multiplicity of traditional
peoples. Prominent among them are the Karen, Hmong, Mien, Lahu, Akha,
and Lisu, six distinct groups who have maintained their independence and
identity to a high degree. Each group represents an extraordinary world,
unique in history, language, customs, arts, religion, dress, and
features. No less astounding is the diversity of their musical
traditions. Living in nature and rooted in animism, these mountain
peoples have developed a vast repertory of songs, sacred chants, and
instrumental music that is ever-present and vital to their lives.
The keepers of the bardic tradition - the master musicians, shamans,
headmen, matriarchs and patriarchs - use their rich trove of songs,
legends and rites to connect people with something greater than
themselves. Music, supported by ritual and formality, anchors members of
a community to their life-source. It reunites them with their ancestors
and aligns them with their deities. Ceremonies and songs remind them of
their origins and preserve collective memory. Music promotes a sense of
communal harmony by instilling identity and belonging. Songs are the
chronicles and oracles of the tribal way of life.
The presentation will commence at 5 p.m; all are welcome. Admission,
including a High Tea, is 350 baht for non- members. To reserve, please
email to cory@loxinfo. co.th; for more info on the speaker and her
subject, please visit www.musicand thecyclesoflife.com
Northern Thailand
featured in Clinton visit
A Northern scholar and a former female Senator
each had the opportunity to get ‘face-to-face’
with the Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton,
during her visit to Thailand.
On July 22, Secretary Clinton was on the
programme ‘World Beat with Suttichai Yoon’,
recorded at Phya Thai Palace, joined by honorary
guests and over 150 students.
Dr. Chakrapand Wongburanavart, the Dean of Mae
Fah Luang University’s School of Liberal Arts,
who met Secretary Clinton in 1996 during a
previous visit to Thailand at the Thai Women of
Tomorrow Project in Chiang Rai, recorded a
question about the newest U.S. policies to
control drug and human trafficking in Southeast
Asia. You can read the entire interview at
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/july/126335.htm
After the programme, former Senator and founder
of the Hill Areas Development Foundation,
Tuenjai Deetes, had the opportunity to offer a
traditional Thai greeting to Secretary Clinton
at Phya Thai Palace. Tuenjai was one of a select
few female activists to greet the Secretary
privately.
Micro-financing and birth
control empowers rural women
One of the largest and most diversified NGOs in
Thailand, the Population and Community
Development Association (PDA), had its
beginnings over 40 years ago due to concern
about increasing poverty in rural areas caused
by a lack of family planning. Initially
complementing the then government’s efforts to
introduce the concept of contraception to poorer
families, PDA’s project at first met with
resistance. Due, however, to the friendly and
practical nature of the programme, targeted at
mothers, it soon became accepted. One strategy
employed was the establishment of a form of
micro-credit scheme in villages, whereby women
won a pig if they managed not to get pregnant.
The pigs were then raised for 6 months and sold
for a profit! The message was, ‘the more
children you have, the poorer you will become’;
the ‘win a pig’ scheme and others introduced by
PDA managed to reduce the average number of
children per household from 7 to 1.2, with
population growth rate decreasing to 0.3%.
In the 1980’s, PDA introduced an HIV/Aids
prevention and education strategy, encouraging
villagers to distribute condoms and
contraceptive pills in remote rural areas where
their availability was restricted.
Having realised that poverty was, (and still
is), the root cause of many of the kingdom’s
social problems, including HIV/Aids, a further
development undertaken by PDA was the setting up
of the Village Development Bank, aimed at
eradicating poverty by encouraging
self-reliance. Financing, again on a
micro-credit basis, enabled villages to whom
conventional financing was not available, to set
up and maintain their own businesses.
PDA’s programmes now cover more than 1/3 of
Thailand, employing 800 people and working with
12,000 volunteers. Apapan Kulapongse, the NGO’s
project manager, believes strongly that, ‘the
poor are still poor because they lack two
things: access to credit and training in
business, and life skills. The Village
Development Bank gives villagers access to
micro-loans with affordable interest rates. We
also give them skills to run the fund,
distribute loans and do bookkeeping. After that,
we also encourage them to use the profits from
the micro-credit fund towards development
activities for their own village’.
Proof of the success of this belief can be seen
in the areas hit by the tsunami, where the funds
have grown and, most importantly, the mindset
and attitudes of villagers has also changed,
specifically amongst women and young people.
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