What inspired you to work for The Mirror Foundation?
I wanted to do some volunteering during my travels. After reading about the foundation on a backpacker blogging website, I contacted them for more details. After my one month volunteer program had finished, I decided I wanted to continue helping.
I rented accommodation in town and would go to the foundation each day to help out. Eventually I built a website for them and created the English language liaison position for international volunteers and volunteer agencies to contact.
Describe a typical day at work.
I can't, because it varies so much. It could include: website building and maintenance, marketing, answering emails, Thai-English translation, grant proposal writing, driving, farming, construction, trekking, firefighting, flood relief, heavy lifting, and loads more. If you want to get a bit more formal, then I guess I could say an average day should begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. but this is rarely the case as things crop up all the time.
Naturally, we are posing as Charlie's Angels on top of Phu Chi Fah, Chiang Rai
Why do you do what you do?
Initially it was a way of utilizing my time when travelling to do something useful, something which had meaning. I didn't want to just have a hedonistic self-obsessed trip. Eventually, very quickly in fact, I realised I loved the variety of the work and the sense of achievement I felt when working. That still remains after 16 years (and counting), although having a family now is also a reason for earning a living, you can't escape bills wherever you go.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The variety is my favorite part, it keeps me interested and fresh. Particularly, I love learning new things, and applying them in real life. In most cases this is through my website building, I am self-taught from scratch, so I enjoy fiddling and updating the websites.
I love to get away from the laptop as well, and sometimes this means trekking in the surrounding hills. It keeps me relatively fit, and it's great to be out in nature.
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
When I joined as a volunteer, there was almost no English language skills among the staff, and so communicating with individuals and organizations who were interested in volunteering or learning about the foundation was virtually non-existent. I used my pre-press background to build an English language website, with a linked database, to administer international volunteers because I'd had a difficult time when I was a volunteer.
My native English skills were vital in liaising with all sorts of people and organizations. I can say (humbly, but honestly) that much of the funding, volunteers, trekking groups, and visitors wouldn't have happened without me.
What challenges do you often face and how do you overcome them?
Learning by doing, one of our mottos, means that work can often be seat-of-the-pants style. Which means that when you try to solve a problem or improve a situation, you have to learn as you go. Once it's done though, you have a new experience under your belt and a new skill set to carry forward.
Personally, my main challenges are with the websites. Also, fitness is a challenge as I grow older (57 yrs and counting...).
Stopped for a quick break on route to Gokyo Ri, Nepal by going through the Himalayas.
What are some current projects you are working on?
I've just finished a new combined website for the foundation, and I am working through errors as they appear. I'm also working on marketing and promotion for the foundation's volunteering and trekking programs.
In February our annual Forest Firefighting project begins (Feb-April each year), so I'm sure I'll be involved in that again. That means lots of trekking and carrying firefighting equipment in a variety of locations in the northern region while doing firefighting and fire prevention work. It's very tiring, can be dangerous, is depressingly common in SE Asia, but gives a great sense of achievement, and is lots of fun too.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Learn about the culture and lifestyle you're going to enter. Learn some basic vocabulary and be respectful of everyone. Realise that you are not the centre of anyone else's universe, only your own. Leave your ego and expectations at home.
Know that experience is just that, experience. What you do with it in the future is what can be deemed 'good' or 'bad'. When you travel, suck up as many experiences as you can and live in the moment. Once you return home, or wherever you may end up, that's the time to evaluate, not before.
What makes your organization special?
The Mirror Foundation is grassroots, it was founded, and is run by locals. The organization is apolitical, areligious, caring, and open to new ideas. Technology plays an important part in solving problems, and the work is largely aimed at empowerment: women and youth. Education of the youth is considered by us to be paramount in giving them a better chance in the future.
Why should someone choose The Mirror Foundation over competitors?
We are a real NGO, working with local communities. Our work is important and we are known throughout Thailand for many of our projects. We are pioneering in a number of fields and have changed Thai law to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority peoples.
Institutions contact us, to work or partner with us, because of the good name we have here. We offer volunteers the chance to change lives, to experience things most others will never have, and to take away memories that will stay forever.
Shocking to see this flooded home. We came to volunteer for flood relief work in Bangkok.
What makes your organization easy to market to potential participants?
We offer a simple application process, with dedicated staff who will respond to questions quickly, honestly and fully. We have native English speaking staff, and many of our Thai and hilltribe staff have English speaking skills.
We offer volunteers the chance to do real work for real people. We do not do "dig-a-hole/fill-a-hole" pseudo-work. Volunteers can be confident that the work they do makes a real difference to peoples' lives.
What is your organization's mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Our mission is to empower women and the young generation, create a level playing field for education and employment, and improve daily life, for ethnic minorities in the region. Technology plays an important part in solving problems, and so technology is often at the forefront of our projects, such as using drones as part of our forest firefighting project.
We have recently doubled our handicraft project staff by employing another five local Akha hilltribe women because our workload is nearly doubling year-on-year. We train local youth in practical skills, such as car maintenance; welding; plumbing; electrical wiring; and many other skills. Also, we employ local hilltribe guides, giving trekkers an authentic experience, and generating income which goes directly back into the local economy.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
Experience which can be evaluated when they return home. Knowledge of a different lifestyle, and of the problems and issues faced by ethnic minorities. Empathy which can be passed on to others they meet through life. Most importantly, the volunteer spirit, the desire to continue to help others wherever they may be in life.
What questions do participants often ask you, and how do you typically respond?
Do you speak Thai fluently? No! It only seems that way to people who don't speak it at all. I often confuse Thai speakers with my limited vocabulary and unique sentence construction, 555! 555 is a Thai version of LOL because “5” in Thai is pronounced Ha (with a falling tone), so 555 is hahaha... funny, eh?
That's me wearing the bowl, testing out a singing bowl while in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
Because it opens people's hearts and minds. It makes issues become real, rather than being a bunch of statistics. It also gives you the chance of new opportunities and experiences, and maybe new lifelong friendships. It puts you out of your comfort zone, and can be humbling as well as inspiring and it is challenging and fun!
Why do you think learning a new language is important?
For me, learning Thai was very important as I decided early on that this was where I would probably live for the rest of my life. Without learning Thai, I would be cut off from so many conversations, opportunities, experiences, and relationships. It also shows respect, willingness to learn, and just makes life SO much easier.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Learning new things, having new experiences, and doing things I would never get the chance to do if I sat at home in the same town, same job, same relationship, for life. Ugh, how depressing is that! Aside from that, putting something into the local communities, and giving yourself the sense of achievement and self-worth that can't be found when just mooching around the world.
Mind you, I'm at an age where travelling is not really part of life any more, apart from the occasional trip back to the UK to see family and friends (once every 2-4 years is more than enough). I spent years traveling looking for the greener grass, and in 2007 I found it.
What qualities in program & host community relations are important to you? (And your organization?)
Good relationships with local communities are paramount. The projects we run are in cooperation and conjunction with the people we are assisting. A project should NEVER be imposed, and it should never be inflexible. Projects can be replicated in many communities, but must always be adapted to suit the individual circumstances and situation.
Good communication is vital, and information should be disseminated as fully as possible. Knowledge is empowering and practical.