Apho Ratanawichaikul in the Park [DV CAM 3B]
[TC
01:35:00]
The people from outside they come to the radio station sometime and say: OK, I
want to do this, this and this with you... I really want to do it for them now,
I want to work for them now, but my boss says: No, you have to pass by the
boss. Like today, I am really confused today. Last time when I came with my
friend they asked: Can we take a picture
Dara:
Do you think that your new life in Chiang Mai is better than life in the
mountains?
[TC
02:20:00]
Itıs
a very hard question. I think that sometimes I am really sad about my
life. I want to be like the old
woman in the mountain who doesnıt know the Thai culture around here. Why wasnıt I born a hundred years ago?
Only living in the jungle with Akha people... I feel sorry for the people who
are 45 years, 40 years or 50 years in the mountains now, that they have two
pasts.
Dara: So theyıre living in both worlds?
[TC
03:03:00]
A: Yes. You know, for many people in the mountains now
their children live in the city and only the parents are left in the village.
So they donıt feel like one family. I am really sorry about that. And when the
children come back from school, they can not follow each other sometimes. The
mother and father want this and the children say: No, thatıs not my idea,
thatıs not correct, they are fighting by looking or by talking like this. The
two cultures are too different. For example now the young people go back to the
village. They donıt know the words, how to speak so they start to talk in Thai
language. If they speak in Thai language their parents donıt understand. Very
sad. For myself I donıt want to say that I prefer life here to life in the
mountains, but I can tell you, we can not live in the mountains without
problems now, because itıs not like it used to be. Before, we just stayed were
we want to build a new life.
[TC 04:26]
Before we
just stayed where we wanted and start a new life. We didnıt have to be afraid
about the government. And now, where we stay we have to have the number of the
village, where we want to start anew, and also we have to inform the government
about it. Also many new things from the city come up to the mountains, so itıs
difficult for the young people to live in the mountain-area because not
enough to work and also everything changes. If you want a good life, you have
to study at a high step to get a better job. You know, many people who come to
the city donıt study. They do very easy jobs. They have a job, like, in the restaurant.
[TC 05:30]
And then
itıs the same every year. They get lost slowly. And they donıt have education.
Every year they have the same job.
So the money they get day-by-day is just enough for living. So one day
they get sick, one day they wonıt, and they can not work for this job and it
will be very difficult. And many young people who decided to come to the city
and who have worked there already for a year or so go back to the village. The
people there, it made them lazy. Itıs not strong hearted to decide whether to
stay here or to stay there. Thatıs a very difficult life.
Dara:
And how about for you?
[TC 06:24]
A: For me
now?
Dara: Do you find it difficult being in Chiang Mai and
the future for you because thereıs no elders for you here also?
[TC 06:40]
A: For me,
only for me thereıs no problem now. I can live in the city without a problem.
Dara: But what difficulties do you find not having the
older people in the city? I know you have the older people in the mountains but
thereıs none. How do you find that?
[TC 07:05]
A: I donıt
know. But the people who have education, who have the job they just mix with
the Thai people here to buy a house, stay on the job and things like that. Like
Asseu, like me, we have a job here. We can not reach the government job, but we
have enough to live on.
[TC 07:30]
And,
about us, the Akha people: to start to have the village is difficult. If somebody
wants to do that, they have to go a little bit outside of Chiang Mai to buy the
land in order to build a house and keep their own culture. But the problem is
not where to work, not the rice field, not everyday cultural work, just to earn money by hand works,
thatıs difficult.
Dara:
Was it difficult to get a Thai ID-card or passport?
[TC 08:13]
A:
Very difficult. The first group of Akha people who lived here a long time ago
they have them already. Like me, they donıt have problems with ID-cards because
when the Thai government wants to have the information of how many Akha people
are living here, then our parents provide them with the information. We give
them our names and then we get ID-cards, which are like Thai peopleıs ID
cards, easily. Still thereıs many tribal people from Laos maybe, from Thailand,
maybe from Burma, itıs mostly Burmese, move from there to here.
Dara:
They come across the border?
[TC 09:08]
Yeh,
and they donıt have ID-cards. They think they wonıt have any problems, they, too,
think they can live here in Thailand, stay in the mountains. But they can not
live with the Thai people. So the Thai people have to go to the mountain and
the people also come to the city, so the police always checks if you have
ID-cards with you or not. If they donıt have any, they are taken to jail. If
they want to be released, they firstly have to pay money to the police and then
theyıre send back to their country.
Still, many people who donıt want to stay in Burma, keep coming over,
including Akha people.
Dara: Thereıs tribal people who have not been
registered. Theyıre always in hiding in Thailand, but they have no registration
before. Itıs difficult for them, also. Like your parents, theyıre registered.
But there have to be some people who are not registered.
[TC 10:15
A:
There is. Some of them, including people who lived in Thailand for a long time
donıt have an ID-card. Why, because they donıt think itıs necessary so they
donıt give information to the Thai people.
Thai
people check how many people live here right now. They cannot give ID-cards to
everybody. We can not hand them out to everybody, the government says, we donıt
know who they are, why donıt they go back to their own country?. They donıt
want to give the Thai land or Thai jobs to tribal people. But now they just
changed it.
If
they stay longer than ten years, the government goes to look in the village,
how they live, what kind of ethical, cultural thing they do and whether they
move often or not. If they donıt move, the government has enough information to
give them ID-cards.
Dara: Other people normally buy the Akhaıs work and
sell it for more money. But this is a place where if somebody can make
something they can sell it whereever they like in Japan, in Holland, in England
and take the money directly.
[TC 12:13]
This
you can ---counter--- develop...
Dara:
This is just one thing but there could be many things like this. This one way
of thinking can work for many different things. If you want to keep a cultural
history then it can be kept here. If you want to keep an oral tradition of
ceremonies it doesnıt have to be written. Your having so many trouble from new
script, Thai script, everything. All this can be kept on the oral tradition on
the internet. So if somebody wants to have a Thai have a Akha child in Chiang
Mai and he wants to know what was it like or even in Holland or Belgium he can
look on the internet. And itıs then like a library, a cultural library also
left for anywhere in the world where somebody may end up once people leave the
mountains they can end up, maybe Cuba.
Also
we want to work with Deuleu and Golden Triangle and also Leo and with the
archive of his collecting all the spoken words. Everybody can use it. You could
also if you have an email you can probably keep in touch easy with your friends
in Holland but also the music from the radio station conducted on the net.
[TC 14:05 ]
Apho:
The problem is it is not so easy to have internet and computers at my work.
Dara:
But I mean itıs coming so fast. Four years ago nearly nobody in England had
computers. Now nearly everybody is having... so you can say within the next
five years itıs gonna become easier.
[TC 14:41]
A:
Last months, about 3 weeks ago, also a guy from Holland came visiting the radio
station and said maybe he could choose one or two person from this radio
station to train them about radio station programme. So yesterday I got a
letter from him saying that heıs trying to find the money. If he can raise it
Iıd have to go.
Dara: Thatıd be good. You know, you can also make
radio on the internet. Did you ever have a look on the internet?
[TC 15:49:00]
A:
No. My sister, sheıs looked very well, sheıs doing very well and sheıs the
member of the internet, so, whenever I want to send an internet to my friends,
I just write a message on a piece of paper and she does it for me. I donıt know
how to use it myself because I donıt know about computers.
Dara: Very simple now. Maybe Tarik can show you
bits.
[TC 16:22]
A:
Everythingıs very easy to learn about computers but at my work itıs not allowed
for
everyone
to use the computer. And theyıre very slow.
[TC 16:44]
This
is my brother (showing photo to camera) who finished studying law. My younger
brother, his name is Aoye, he studied in Bangkok, he studied law and now heıs
finished and he works in the bank in Chiang Rai.
[TC 17:19]
This
is the first Akha man who finished a law-degree. He works in a bank. This is my
sister.
[TC 17:32]
My sister,
her name is Iminium. She also finished. She studied in the latter part of
Chiang Mai. And now she works for the NGO projects which is sponsored by
Germany. She works to solve the
problems of the children who come to work in the city. And this is my sister in
Akha dress. This is me with very short hair, like you. Thatıs the way I was with
Leo [ed: staying at SEAMP as student], ten years ago.