I have neglected my Blog for quite some time but here I start yet again.

I am back at The Mirror Foundation again for my third time round. I think I kinda like it here!! 555+ (hahaha)

I am on a program funded by the Australian Government, called VIDA (Volunteers for International Development Aid). My project is to stay at Mirror and work on one of their projects. The eBannok Handicrafts Project is directed by a dear friend of mine, P'Ao. I am placed here for 12 months, on this project, I am essentially a Marketing and Creative Officer for the eBannok Handicrafts Project.

The Project has been running for quite a few years, they basically hire local Hilltribe people to make their signature product, the Clay Bird Whistles as well as other handicrafts such as bags, pouches, laptop cases and clothing. The project at the moment is draining money from the foundation itself, so I have been brought in to basically develop the branding and start marketing the brand and gain more sales hopefully and get the project to start making a profit.

Recently we had a group of fantastic and enthusiastic consultants come from Australia. They included Emily (a previous volunteer and dear friend of mine), Jesse (he runs a fair trade business in Australia), Deb (a fashion designer and trainer) and Pedo (who was a documentor). This group came to Thailand to train six women how to make various new fashions which in the future be produced to sell to foreign market, essentially Australia, US and Canada. The foundation built a new building adjacent to the current eBannok Shop onsite, which would accommodate all the women and materials and machines for the next phase of the eBannok story.

So keep an eye out, as we will be loading up our new fashion story soon enough!

Cheers,
Z.

Childrens Day 2011

Here at the Mirror Foundation, we are preparing for Children’s Day 2011 and need your help!

Some of you may already know that Children’s Day is an annual event for the local hill tribe children living in the surrounding communities. We try our best to provide a great day for the children (about 3500 children plus their parents/guardians) and that everyone has as much fun as possible. We give the children toys, food, snack and great day out!

In order to do this we rely on donations given by both individuals and organizations. We are asking both past and future volunteers to help us as we need both toys and contributions towards the food costs for the festival.

If you have any unwanted toys that you are willing to donate please send them to us or if you are able to provide a monetary donation the hill tribe children will be most grateful.

If you are able to help please consider the following:

~ Shipping toys to us from your home may be expensive and a better option may be to bring them with you if you are due to volunteer soon or to give them to future volunteers who may live near you to bring

~ If you are able to cover the cost of shipments please send the donations to;
The Mirror Foundation (Children’s Day 2011
199/1-3 Moo 21 Singhaclai Road,
Wieng Muang,
Chiang Rai, Thailand 57000

If you can contribute some money please do so via Paypal at http://www.themirrorfoundation.org

We thank everyone for your ongoing support and look forward to seeing all the new volunteers who will arrive soon.

Z. and The Mirror Team

Eco-Tour Dinner

Ok so the other night we all went out for dinner, and by all I mean the 26 odd staff and their families. The staff all work on the Eco-Tour project. Colleagues also went, I am a colleague. We went to dinner at a BBQ place, vegetarianism went out the door (I am a confused vegetarian), never in my life have I eaten so much meat. I feel really bad saying that, but next year I will go back to normal. But I have been vegetarian for 9years so one year off, isn't too bad.

I sat with Surachai and his family (and my son), Stuart, P'Nu, Sakura, Rima, Tae and Win.

Surachai is the god of all farang (foreigners) and he looks after the Outdoor Program. Stuart our IT Guru for England, he also helps myself to look after the volunteers and support them. This is his family, he was off getting food when I had my camera out. But this is his 2 youngest sons and his wife. Arsaw is my son and I will be kidnapping him when I leave, he said he wanted to come to Australia... Arsaw is in the 2nd picture.

P'Nu run the Youth Project working mainly with teens from the local villages and he works on organising the schools and supporting the volunteers. Sakura and Rima are Japanese and Sakura runs the Japanese side of the Eco-Tour Project. Rima is like myself, she supports the volunteers and works on other projects as well. This is a picture of Rima and myself...

Tae is Akha (Hilltribe) works on a day-t0-day basis with the Outdoor Volunteers. He will also answer to Kha-dtoy... la la la

Win is Akha as well and works with the Japanese Volunteers, he takes them on their homestays and to schools etc. Below is Win, Sakura and Rima (L-R)

Overall it was such a fun night out, and good to see everyone of the Eco-Staff together. I actually didnt realise how many there is of us, and may next year we grow and prosper and better ourselves and the world.

Z.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

I know I've not done too much lately in keeping this updated but I will promise I will try to do better...

Mirror ATM.

As usual everyone is running around, we have Christmas coming up and New Years which is then followed closely by Children's Day. Currently we have only a few volunteers here, a small group but with a large intake coming in a week. Its Saturday here now and I have a Trekking Orientation that I will do with Stuart this morning, then off to do our normal work. Stuart is our IT Guru. You hear his name a lot especially if the Internet has gone down.

Today is a chilled day, the volunteers are currently playing games with the local youth who come from 3 main villages. They play for an hour and then our Indoor Program Volunteers teach English for an hour. Today they are focusing on Christmas. After that then the kids learn Japanese with the Japanese Volunteers.

The lunch! We had stick rice with custard for brekky this morning with thai donuts and 3 in 1 coffee. Can I just say that 3 in 1 coffee or milo or ovaltine is like the best invention ever. Its coffee, creamer and sugar all in one little convenient packet, perfect size for a cup! YUM!!

Anyway then the Outdoor Volunteers have there time in the spotlight with the kids for an hour. They usually do some type of craft thing with the kids. I think today they will be making Christmas Decorations. After the lessons are all done the volunteers can go get ready for town, and packing their bags...

Today is a sad day, we are losing 3 great volunteers, Patti, Melissa and Sean. They have been here for quite a long time and will be dearly missed after they leave. Melissa I think will come back and work on a Project as an Intern. Which would be awesome fun, as I will hopefully be back here next March, to work for Mirror under the Ebannok Handicrafts Project. I am so looking forward to coming back and working, I know I will be able to make a difference here.

Well that is today in kinda a nut shell, Stick Rice for brekky, teaching and trekking, leaving.

Cheers,

Zoxo

Home-Stay #13 Part 2

Part 2 aka Day 2-4

There is something about homestead that I just love, maybe its the chickens waking you up at 4am or the flutter they do before they wake you. Which ever I love homestay. We woke up and after doing my few things in the morning I went to help our host mother prepare breaky. I love homestay food! So delicious, not that our food at Mirror isn't good too, just something different.

I was so excited one of the kids brought me a fresh sunflower to eat the seeds. I eat a lot of sunflower seeds back home but had never tried them fresh like this, it tasted like peas or bean seeds. They were yum! Chekidek is what they call them in Turkish (Tys sorry on the spelling). Me with my sunflower, do I need to say more...

Off to work we went, the first day was a little slow as we are really just used for manual labor, unless a volunteer comes with some type of tradesmen skill. But not many do, so its more moving sand or buckets of stuff from one place to another and usually a few cement mixing sessions. Obviously everything has to be done by hand, buckets and a hoe with a bamboo handle. Just a quick note to say bamboo is one of the most amazing things ever in the world!! Some of the villagers who have not been far from the village have never seen white people before so we supplied them with some entrainment. Below is a shot of some of the villagers and the kids that go to the child care centre we were working at.

Our job essentially was to tear down a sala (open air structure made from bamboo) which was at the local Child care centre and rebuild a concrete, walled version. So first was the destruction, it took maybe 1 hour to tear the whole thing down. Its amazing how it is so easy to tear something down so quickly that took so long to build. It was a matter of preparing the foundation and then building the skeleton roof. There were so many villagers there to help (as the village was quite large) so we just did odd bits and pieces. We had some Indoor Program people with us who spent the days there teaching the children. Below is the before picture...

Some volunteers also had to go off site to get sand with a tractor looking vehicle. There was one villager who was a little intoxicated or rather quite a lot that was helping us out. The locals just laughed at him and we tried to avoid him. But no one can say that he didn't do anything, he helped with the sand quite a lot. And saying 'Thank you' in English a lot too.

It took us two days to finish the building, the second day for us was a lot more work that we could do like mixing the cement, cutting the bamboo, getting the sand used as a filler etc. Below is the finished product, we also added in paths.

Our last night we had a celebration and was able to do Lahu dancing, which is similar to line-dancing but you do it in a circle. I love it, its so much fun. And some of the women, including our host mum dressed up in traditional clothing.

We also donated blankets to the village, representatives from each family lined up to receive the blankets from the volunteers. In winter it gets really cold at night (ok not like in Canada) but the thing that gets them here is that the houses are made from wood, bamboo and grass roofs, there is no isolation to keep warmth in, but no warmth to make as there is no heating. They have a fire in the kitchen but they light that every morning and can not sustain it burning all night. In the local village near Mirror, from memory they have a few cases of people dying each year, purely freezing to death during the night. Here are some ladies with their new blankets, 2nd from the right is our host mother.

At the moment Mirror is co-ordinating a blanket and jacket/jumper donation project, to supply blankets to as many houses that they can for the coming winter. If you would like to help this cause please do not hesitate to contact myself or Mirror directly.

Peace

Home-Stay #13 Part 1

So it's been a while. Life just got in my way I guess.

Rainy season is basically over and now things are starting the heat up, prior to them cooling down for winter.

Mirror as usual has been pretty busy. Last week we had home-stay for the new volunteers and the outdoor program. We went to village about 2-3 hours away, we packed up into two cars the Eco and the white truck. Linda, Jim and myself were in the back of the eco car and headed off. Of course stopping at the petrol station 20 mins away to get a bucket load of snacks and drinks for our trip, not that we knew how far it was at the time, you know thai time is a little different. And of course who could forget the ice-cream. YUM!
Off we went and was nice to be able to put some time in on Pimslers (?) Thai audio tapes, i think i did like 15 mins then went to music. La la la Needed a bit of a pick me up. Tis all fun a games.

The home-stay was organised last minute as our original village's access point was compromised and we were afraid we could not get there with the

cars. So we went to another village, we met with another NGOs representative who lived at this village in a town near the village (30 mins away from the village). We followed him to our destination. Below is the track to the village.

The track to the village started to get really muddy. Someone popped up with 'how funny would it be if we got bogged'. That was the sign or jinx. The reps car got bogged trying to make it up the hill. We all jumped out to give a heave-ho (in thailand you get in the back of the ute and jump up and down, pretend your in a mosh pit thats elevated and moving so hold on tight!!) It was fun, then it started to rain and of course next the Eco car got stuck, we did the same and also had to push. Finally the white car had to come through, with Thellie at the wheel and a lot of muscle power they were able to make it through…. just. So we made it to our destination a little muddy, for some a lot muddy, and a few good laughs on the way. Below is Jayden who got a little muddy.

Our home-stay village was Lahu tribe, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out waiting for dinner and watching the village boys playing soccer, and one of the volunteers joined. All you could hear was 'galah' 'galah' which in Lahu is foreigner (not the bird). Jim played really well. And provided much entertainment to the locals I'm sure. Dinner was all together at one of the houses on top of the hill, after dinner we had a meeting where we got to learn a bit about the villages' history and traits. This is the view from the village, so beautiful.

After that we went to our host mothers house. I was roomed with Melissa, Caitlyn, Lydia. We set up our stuff in the house and sat down with the family, or rather the family sat there the entire time and watched us as if we where 'animals in a zoo'. We had to put up of mosquito nets and that was very comical for our hosts. They ended up getting string and hammering nails in their house for us. 'Thanks' Talk about being a inconvenience! All good though, I then just dropped my stuff and sat on the floor (no chairs I'm afraid). They spoke little thai or they couldn't understand me or just ignored my attempts at thai (I found out it was the later two). Which ever we sat there and stared at each other. They cut up a melon for us, eating casually as we could Ms. Lydia decides to drop a piece on the floor and picked it up to eat it. And shoved it quickly in her mouth, I started laughing which then everyone was laughing. They were having their Lahu/Thai convo and we were chatting in English. Can anyone say AWKWARD!

This is one of the local kids! So cute!

It was all good though I love homestays! Part 2 coming soon.

My new do... a No. 1

Big question why and a bigger answer...

I think many things pointed me to this point in my life, but here are a few of the reasons why. Sorry Mum!

Ok well as most of you know I'm buddhist and have been focusing on it more in the last few years, I am reading a book called 'The Tibetian Book of Living and Dying' its quite a famous book, not just for buddhists but anyone of any faith or of no faith. It talks about essentially a way to live in today's world and how to die. I bought it maybe 6 years ago and haven't really been able to read it and understand and comprehend the ideas til this year. So the chapter I was reading talks alot about the connections we have to various delusions and the way we value things in a our life and life itself over things that should be important but are never really considered regularly.

And talking to people (mainly Trina, an inspirational woman) while I was in laos, we got to talking about it and then I a realisation that I was more scared to shave my head (so completely attached to my outter appearances) than I was to get a tattoo as now these days I have quite a few, most are hidden from people. And the crazy thing is a tattoo is there til the day leave this body, where my hair would grow back in a few months. Trina who also has done it 4 times now. So she was a bit of a katalyst for it as well. She actually did the cutting at a bus station in Udon Thani, Thailand, with a pair of scissors I bought from a stationary store, then I went to a barber to get the rest done and cleaned up (in Chiang Rai, Thailand) the next morning.

I have always admired girls who could do it. I have always wanted to do it for years but never had the guts and was scared of how people would react to my birthmark on my head as I was always told but my mother to cover it up and never show anyone for the sack of appearances... My birthmark happened during my birth, I was moving too much during it so the doctors decided to sedate me, they aimed for my arm but I moved as they were injecting through the stomach. They instead got my on my head (leftside) now as the result, luckily I survived but I have a mark of a bald patch that will never grow hair.

One thing that my friend who had done it, said that it was amazing and almost enlightenling because you have nothing to hide behind anymore, no safety net and people truely see the person you are and what you are about. No pretence. No ambition. Take it or leave it. So yeah guess thats kinda the reasons why I shaved my head really, in a nutshell anyway...

It has been one of the most unfathomable experiences of my life. I hope other find it as inspirational as I do.

La La Laos pt. 2

Well after our disasterous trip with local Laos transport we opted for the Minivan at 110,000 Kip each. And that wasn't much better at all, we nearly lost our lives maybe 3-4 times, but we did gain a few more friends to our international group. Som (French/Laos guy and his name means organge in Thai sii som) and 3 japanese girls.

We got to Vang Vien at about 7-8pm ish or there abouts, in our car there was a couple who had travelled here before so that was good, as they pointed us in the right direction. After our 6 or so hour trip I was really thankful to get out, I was car sick most of the way, but I didn't see my breakfast twice thank B!

Can I just say that Laos has the most amazingly beautiful mountain range I have ever seen! I couldn't believe it, the mountains were simple spectacular. I wish the photos I took gave it justice.

Vang Vien has is for me little to be desired, it was very touristy or rather it was full of youths, so drunk and probably high that I was so disgusted that I couldn't wait to leave. But one of the main attractions there is to go tubing down a river, tubing for Australians is Li-Lo-ing. I did it growing up in the Blue Mountains and on camping trip so I opted out. But the others went and had a amazing time, but as a heads up if your going there are bars that line the river and various other activities. Be careful, alcohol and swimming can be a dangerous mix. Its a beautiful place though.

The next day we caught another minibus to Vientiane, I strategically located myself near the door for 2 main reasons, I didn't want to be car sick again and also then I would have leg room. It proved to be the best decision ever as the others were so cramped that they could barely walk when they got off the bus.

Vientiane, is the capital of Laos. Its quite a beautiful city, heavily doused in French architechure and styling, it was really weird to see writing in Lao and then french underneath. Like most cities it was quite expensive to stay and eat there (compared to other places in Laos and Thailand). But thank to the Lonely Planet belonging to Som and Auralies absolutely destroyed one we were able to get around and see quite a lot. Vientiane was essentially where our international group of travellers were to leave one another. But it was an amazing time.

Z.

La La Laos

Wow what a trip its been amazing...

On Monday I went to Mae Sai to get what I thought was easy enough was my Non-Immigrant visa extension. But apparently not. So after a wasted trip I ended up back at Mirror with no extension and a piece of paper dictating what I have to bring to get my extension (mind you it was written all in thai). After much descussion between Thai officials (on the phone), Thai Mirror staff, Thellie (our resident farang who speaks thai) and myself, or rather I was just listening, the conclusion was for me to now go to Laos.

I had 12 hours til my songthew (thai taxi) came to get me at 6am Wednesday to take me to Chiang Rai town where I caught a mini van with other farang to the border town of Channg Khong. We were then put on a longboat which took us across the Me Kong river. When we entered Laos we had to do all the visa paperwork and pay the immigration officers.

Welcome to Laos
$30US later we were put in another minivan where we and our new guide took us to the slow boats dock. Myself and a couple from Switzerland Auralie and Dameon had decided not to take the slowboat and opted for a bus which took us to our destination in the one day... supposedly.

Laos Transport
On the bus maybe 2 hours into our trip (which is like 11hours long) the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere! After a few hours we were hungry and decided to walk to a village I saw not too long before we broke down. We got some food and drinks and headed back to the bus.
7 hours after breaking down (and meeting new friends) we were able to bribe our way onto another bus VIP bus. Cramped in the asile on the floor was little tough but the driver had offered me this bed area behind the driver seat, so myself and Duarte from Portugal went and stayed there. We pulled into our destination at like 10am-ish. A total of 30 hours later we got there, the 2 day slow boat pulled in 4 hours after us. Go figure.

Mama
We found a guest house (loving Lonely Planet right now) which was run by a lady named Mama (or i think thats just what everyone called her). She was so amazing, I loved her, she would teach me Lao and we would both speak in thai together. She really looked after us.
While here I went to visit a few temples, a stupa, the National Museum and just hung out. I found so many people were amazed when I spoke thai and then would say "you know thai?!", it was funny. The the conversation would start and my little brain would freak out and all I could say would be "Mai lau" (I don't know). Thai and Lao are very similar. Same same but different.

But sadly we had to leave the beautiful town of Laungpra Baan (sorry spelling is a bit off) and off the rest of Laos, all 5 of us.
Duarte and Jorge from Portugal,
Auralie and Dameon from Switzerland
and my little old self.

Z.

Aftermath of Friday 13th...

THE PLANTATION

We survived the ordeal of Friday the 13th to enter today. And what a crazy day, today has become.

At Mirror Saturday is hectic, the local children from the surrounding villages come to play games, learn English, Japanese and some sort of activity. We also teach local guide which we thought was cancelled, everyone left for the activity. 30mins later we find out the guides are here and need their lesson, Stuart and I had to teach with no preparation and lesson plan. We winged and think it came out all good, luc

ky for us I knew one of the boys and the other was a friends brother.

The activity was banana tree planting with P'Pi. The volunteers went down to Baan Leepa to plant the trees when disaster struck. Firstly Zoe (boy) dislocated his arm, Stuart tripped on a rock and basically opened his toe, it looks like a puppet now with its little flap flapping away I have decided to call it Edward, Adrianne earlier had come off a bike and hurt her leg and knee she's hobbling around on her crutches, Stacy with her infection of BORK (Buddha Only Really Knows), Pam with her foot injury, and little old healthy me trying to stay that way. Ok that was all in the past week but hey whatevs...

Another thing that has been coming up with me is my iGoogle BGs (Backgrounds), for people who use iGoolge I don't know if you love it as much as I or get as much excitement as I do from it. Some say small things amuse small minds, but I think small things amuse mindful minds. Through constant mindfulness you can see more and appreciate more even something as simple as a girl climbing a giraffe at a bus station BG on my iGoogle account. But now I have, yet again moved on from tea house to the bus station with a very interesting girl to some "i'll ninja kick your ass" ninjas! Who doesn't love ninjas!? Pure awesomeness. I could even say pure Dankness!

Tonight we go into town to Big C an do a lil' shopping and dinner and off to the Saturday Walking Market. Should be fun. Then tomorrow we have P'Ao's (one of the most influential and inspirational persons in my life) birthday. I hear a BBQ being started. Yum! So with that note I'm off for tee ang gin kow (Lunch in Thai).

Z.

The Start Part. 2

Its a little scary that I decide to actually start this properly on Friday the 13th... oh well.

Its amazing how travelling can really show you the person your really are, weather you like that person or not. Thailand has changed me more than any other country on earth including home.

Let me start from the beginning… again.

I had pretty much came to the realisation that there was nothing holding me at home any more. I had quit a great job, then my other half and I split, my new job turned out to be an industry that I hated. So basically like many people 'my world' felt like it was falling apart.

THE SEED

In 2001, I went to Nepal with a group of people who till this day I would do anything for. It truly was a once in a lifetime chance to go to a third world country and work and trek as a teenager. Thanks mum and dad. I have always wanted to go back, but as many people know, life came along and grabbed hold of me and took me from my dreams, not that I knew what they were. 'One day at a time' for some but me its more like one day leads to the next, to the next week, to the next year till eventually next lifetime.

So from my situation all I could think of was to start back at one again. Lucky for me had many family and friends, great boss and many who supported me. I went to the same company who had organised my trip to Nepal. This time I was leaning more towards Thailand/Cambodia region. The theory was it's like Nepal but warmer. I wanted to go for 6 months but I could only do 3 months. That was long enough really to figure 'me' out or so I thought.

THE SHOOT

I came to The Mirror Foundation. Everything changed from the day I arrived. Mirror has a habit of attracting a certain type of person. To volunteer here for many is a life changing experience. Its amazing what you can do collectively and how much you can really live without, like hot water for one.

So in short, I did my 3 months here and didn't get that moment of enlightenment of what I am meant to do with my life. But slowly I think it dawned on me that I was doing exactly what I wanted to do. I went home for 2 months and it was the longest 2 months of my life, I hated many moments of it. I knew I could live a better life somewhere else, somewhere like Mirror, but needed to get money together. Home was not home and not that loving environment that it was 3 months earlier, and I know it hadn't changed, it was all me.

THE FIRST LEAF

I have disappointed some people in my life and past, more have disappointed me but this will be my test to face for however long it will last. Mirror is challenging, beautiful, inspiring and encouraging all rolled into one. I have grown up with unusual thoughts and reflections, I have known that for a very long time. Recently someone close to me told me that I 'was on a completely different level to everyone' not better not worse I think but just different. I seem to see things very differently and some see the same things but sometimes not till quite late in their lives. But its funny when you realise that you are on a completely different level to most people, but amazing when you meet a few like you there. Mirror brought those types of people into one place. I also see some people that inspire me so much that it almost makes me sick with worry that I can not do all that I want because of them, because of their ideas, because of their kindness, beliefs, thoughts and souls.

THE BLOOM

I am growing into the person I always wanted to be, I am learning the lessons that always evaded me, I am inspiring myself to push me, I am just me.

Home Sweet Home

Well here I am back at mirror foundation in Chiang Rai Thailand.

Sorry to say to home but it feels like home sweet home here.

I've been here for a few days now on my second trip back here. It was great to see people here that were here before. I don't have my same bed but funnily I am in my same dorm. Its the middle of rainy season here so the weather is humid and hot during the day then in the evening it pours down like nothing else, but that lasts maybe a hour or so.

Tuesday was spent in the office helping Stuart doing a few things and me going through close to 100 websites and screen shotting them so to see what my/mirror's site will be like. I will have to do basically 2 websites, one for Mirror org and another for the volunteers to use. Emily had also given me a report on Anti-Human Trafficking Project, so for the last few days I have been doing that. It was a bit tough at first but we now have the design down, so its a matter of just doing it. Hopefully I will finish it today.

Talking about today, its my birthday!!! So nice, went to morning meeting and got a cake, present and songs. So awesome and I have to wear a crown all day, I'll upload pics later.

Last night we went into town to the Night Bazaar, I haven't been there since I left last time (march 2010), we had some dinner and did a bit of shopping, I got a really nice skirt, which I am wearing today, a headband and a few other little bits and pieces. Its started pouring down around about 8pm. But before we left I needed to go to 7/11 to get a big bottle of water and some seaweed (my favourite), Nadia and basically drowned and nearly fell on our behinds numerous times. Stupid farang!!

Mirror Foundation have many projects on at once which essentially help better the living of the Hill Tribes people in Chaing Rai, Northern Thailand. They also help in these people getting citizenship so then they have access to Medical, Schooling and other benefits the Thais get on a normal basis.

Mirror Foundation is a grassroots NGO.