Junten Junior High School / Senior High School

Twenty 2nd Year student went to Thailand from July 23rd to August 6th this year. （報告書PDFはこちら）

In the Study Abroad in Thailand, there were four different elements. One is to stay at the hill tribe village and do home stay. The 2nd element is to visit local orphanage in Chiangmai, which is the 2nd largest city in Thailand, the 3rd element is doing a home stay in Bangkok and the forth course is to do a sightseeing. The itinerary is filled of a lot of exciting activities : visiting Mae Sai, then going to Chiangrai where the hill tribe resides. Then the students will go to Phayao Phitayakhpm School where students from Junten and Phitayakhpm School will have a chance to get to know each other. Then the group will move to Chaingmai and visit local NGOs, then do a home stay in Bangkok. Finally the group will visit Ayutthaya! 

（手前がタイ・奥がミャンマー）

The students, first, visited Mae Sai which is a border city. The area is called Golden Triangle.Mae Sai sits on the boarder of three countries, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. It was interesting to see the site, as Japan does not touch the borders of any countries. This area is known for the illegal production of poppy seeds and the illegally produced goods are sold as high prices as gold. There is a Monarchy of Thailand project to deal with the issues, that has introduces the alternative business ideas, such as growing vegetables or coffees, yet there are still a lot of people who has work in the illegal industry. The local NGO worker said, “I’d like local people to learn agriculture”. The worker is from Lahu Tribe. When he was younger, he obtained the Japanese citizenship then studied agriculture in Japan. He returned to Thailand and established an NGO to teach agriculture). 

At Phitayakhpm School in Phayao, students introduced themselves and exchanged gifts. There were buddy’ss who have studied Japan and they assisted in the orientation, where the mixture of Japanese and Thai were used. The Junten students realized how difficult to teach their native language. In the afternoon, students from each school showed their performances. After the performances, the students from Junten explained their research themes to the Thai students. The prior to the visit, Junten had gave a questionnaire. Junten was able to collect 180 responses! 

Next the students visited a training farm where students can learn about the hill tribe. The hill tribe used the slash-and-burn agricultural method for livelihood. The Thai Government banned the agriculture style and there were farmers who started growing illegal substances. The local farmer decided to build a training farm to train local people to grow food.  The hill tribe was not recognized as Thai, so the children could not enroll Thai schools Local volunteers built a children’s help center, which has grown into a school with a dormitory facility near the city.  Junten students had time to communicate with the children at the facility and they showed the Yosakoi performance. 

From the dormitory, Junten students moved to Locha village where they will experience staying at local families at their houses. The houses haver raised-floors. Bathrooms are outside and it was a rainy and windy night, so students had a scary night! Junten students had a plan to have a second-hand clothes sale, but it was rescheduled to next day due to the bad weather.  In the morning of the next day, there was an announcement letting villagers know that there is a clothes sale. So a lot of people came to buy clothes. The fund raised by selling the clothes went to the local village leader. 

The villagers used to cook using firewoods, but not there is propane gas. The meal had rice and locally produced vegetables. 

In Cham Mai, students visited four places. “House of Love”, “House of Hope”, “The Volunteer for Children Development Foundation” and “Banromsai”. “House of Love”, is a children’s facility for children with difficulties, such as hearing disabilities or being orphans. “House of Hope” is also a children’s facility that was created by a nurse and medical anthropologist Kinuko Omori and Tassani. 

The students, then, went to “Banromsai”. This facility is built by Ms.Miwa Natori and it is for orphans who became infected with HIV. Ms.Natori didn’t take any donations, but funded by the sales profits made by folk art and hospitality businesses.  Ms.Natori told Junten students, “forget about your own measurements, but please watch the reality.” 

“The Volunteer for Children Development Foundation” is created by UNICEF.  There is a drop-in shelter in the city for street children. Small street children sell flowers. Once they grow up the start prostitution or selling drugs. The staff who used to live on street teaches about risks of HIV and drugs. The children at the facility make accessaries and sell them. 30% of the profit goes to the children, 30% goes to the scholarship funds then 40% goes to the shelter. Junten students had an opportunity to interview the children who grew up at the shelter. 

Junten students had precious opportunities to meet with children who have a variety of backgrounds and the meetings with the children who have beautiful smiles became great opportunity for the Japanese students to think about their lives.  

In Chiang Mai, Junten students rode on elephants to hike. They were so surprised about how elephants and their ivories are strong. They enjoyed the elephant performances too, such as elephants playing succor. 

In Bangkok, Junten students stayed with the families whose children go to the National School of Chitlada. The host families were waiting for the Junten students at the Bangkok airport. There were students who visited Junten this Spring, so they were very excited to see the Junten students again. Junten students spent time with the Thail families, doing sightseeings or shopping together. They also had a rare opportunity to try on the traditional Thai clothes. It was only 14 nights and 15 days, but they had wonderful and fruitful time.

Finally, Junten students visited Ayutthaya Remains, that showed us about the history between Thailand and Cambodia. 
　Each day was filled with excitement and learnings. Junten students met a lot of people who have different stories and experience from their owns. Once the students returned to Japan, they will review what they learned and reassess their research topics. The experience they gained from this trip will be a great part of their academic growth.