Positive Peace

Sà-wàt-dee ka!!!!

The 2019 Peace Fellows

Bonding as a group during a tour of Bangkok.

Breaking Roti Together

Food. Together.

That is one of the most natural ways that as a peace fellow group, that we have begun connecting in a deeper way. Last week you heard about our Bangkok Chinatown adventures. This week, we ventured through back alleys and various neighbourhoods into a quiet little enclave well known to the Pakistani community here in Bangkok. This was arranged by one of the peace fellows from Peshawar. Everyone was awaiting our arrival and we were greeted with warm welcomes, piping hot roti and cold lassi.

Over the sharing of food, easy, natural connections occur.

Eyes shine as stories from home are told and cultural traditions are shared. Language and cultural differences disappear.

The sharing continued throughout the week as we continue to explore the amazingflavours of Thailand.

Thai Language Lessons

Thai language lessons started this week and the first tentative interactions in the market and in daily interactions have provided fun and lots of smiles. Thai is a tonal language so words can have really different meanings, depending on the intonation used. For example, kài means egg and kái means fever. Judging by the smiles and laugher, I think I have ordered a fever a few times for breakfast this week.

The Teachings

This week we had the honour of having Irene Santiago and Tom Woodhouse join us as our guest lecturers.

Irene is well known for her role in bringing a gender lens into peace building processes and has the distinction of being the only woman in the world today who has been a member of a peace negotiating panel as well as chair of a body implementing a peace agreement. Irene’s United Nations report The Participation of Women in the Mindanao Peace Process can be found here: http://wps.unwomen.org/pdf/research/Santiago.pdf

Tom is a Professor Emeritus at The University of Bradford and initiated the establishment of the Centre for Conflict Resolution and was Director of the Rotary Peace Centre at Bradford. Information about Tom’s book that he co-authored, Contemporary Conflict Resolution, can be found here: https://www.amazon.ca/Contemporary-Conflict-Resolution-Oliver-Ramsbotham/dp/0745687229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548604448&sr=8-1&keywords=contemporary+conflict+resolution

Learning with Tom and Irene was precious. The extent of their knowledge and the presence they have as Elders is awe-inspiring. Every word they shared with us are kernels of wisdom to be savoured.

Group dinner with Irene and Tom at Cabbage and Condoms, a Thai-based educational restaurant. It is dedicated to the promoting better understanding and acceptance of family planning, along with its sassy commentary on current events.

Positive, Negative Peace and the Global Peace Index

Thank you to all of you for your emails, texts and responses to my question about what peace means to you. What amazing words and stories you have shared. To add to this conversation, this week we learned about POSITIVE PEACE and negative peace. Who has heard these terms before?

Interested in learning more? Check it out at: http://economicsandpeace.org/research/#measuring-peace

Explorations

This week, we had the chance to explore more of the spectacular sites of Bangkok.

Bangkok is one of the most visited cities in the world, boasting 21.5 million visitors annually!

Wat Pho "Temple of the Reclining Buddha"

Wat Arun "Temple of Dawn"

Wat Phra Kaew "Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Model replica of Angkor Wat

In recent years, annually, Thailand has greeted over 35 million visitors! This weekend, I had the chance to visit the Thailand Tourism festival, held in the spectacular Lumpini Park. At the festival, mini representation and replicas of landmarks and cultural events showcased the five major regions of the kingdom – North, South, East, Central and the Northeast. From the rich displays and warm interactions, it is easy to say that one could spend a long time getting to know all the diverse parts of Thailand!

Hazardous Dust Particles – Potential Car Ban, Drones and Artificial Rain

The air quality this week was incredibly poor, with red-code status levels of unsafe levels of PM2.5 (airborne particulates 2.5 in diameter and smaller). The safe limit is 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air and there were measures of PM2.5 above 90 micrograms! Talks of car bans and bringing in artificial rain were at the forefront of daily conversations and news until the air pollution levels improved in Greater Bangkok on Thursday morning. Drones were used to spray water and chemicals to reduce the amount of hazardous PM2.5 dust particles. I personally was relatively unaffected but those with existing breathing issues or other health concerns found it quite difficult to breathe. Masks were worn by many. Here are some links if you are interested in reading more:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30362204

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30362852

https://qz.com/1531305/thailand-fights-bangkok-air-pollution-with-water-spraying-drones/

https://vulcanpost.com/590668/king-bhumibol-adulyadej-artificial-rain/

Your Thoughts

What kinds of cultural connections have you experienced through the sharing of food? Excited to hear your stories!

All my relations,

~lorelei