The Organization
Trip Start
Sep 2005
1
2
15
Trip End
Ongoing
Way Hot, Thailand
Saturday, November 5, 2005
As I learn more about them, I realize that it's possible that I'm here teaching radio so that the US can say that it's doing something about the situation inside Burma. It doesn't really affect the work with my students, whose cause I truly believe is just. Their projects will provide health info, traditional music and storytelling, and news to people who are confined to remote locations amidst a very active war. However other radio trainers working for the Organization are encouraged to put a certain spin in their students' radio stories, which are broadcast through outlets renowned for their use of American propaganda. My students do not have to do this, which is why I took the job.
Now as long as my students don't say anything bad about the country that has been hosting them as refugees, the Thai Government lets the Organization do its thing. At least some parts of it do. It's like the local cop and the FBI arguing over who has the authority to handle the case, only there's several groups, some of them friendly to the Organization (because they get bribed), and others who could just as easily deport me or my students.
Here in the town of CLASSIFIED I teach the kids and help them produce stories with their own ideas and relatively little interference from the Organization, so long as the paperwork gets done. It's not that bad of an arrangement, but I also get very little useful information from my employers. I've learned more about the local situation and the Organization itself from other aid organizations than I have from my bosses.
Welcome to the dangerous border town near where you can smell the war crimes happening, you are responsible for the welfare of your illegal students, first deadline is Friday. Good Luck.
