Dry-zone and the fellows

Last week the entire course went to the dry-zone area in the middle of Myanmar.

After a 12 hour bumpy bus ride we arrived to the quiet countryside, where we stayed for the next 3 days. During these days we experienced the small communities, local people and different cultures. In this post we are going to share about our meeting with the fellows, who are the local volunteers of the area devoting their lives to improve and develop their villages.

The fellows are villagers who participated in the fellowship-program, facilitated by Actionaid. In this program the fellows are being empowered by the tools ActionAid provides, as well as learning how to empower the rest of the community. When working to change and improve a community it is important to know where power comes from and how to use it.

There is the power within (yourself), the power with (with others), the power to act and the power over (others).

For the fellows it is very important to have power within, because they will be facing a lot of challenges in their work to improve the living standards of the community.

The power within have to overcome all of the personal obstacles and resistance from the family, neighbors, friends and so on. According to most of the fellows, building trust to the local community is the hardest task they face. In some cases it can take 5 years even gaining their respect. Both because the community has to believe on the fellows intentions for the greater good, but also because they need to risk and invest some of their energy for the course.

They also need the power with, in order to work together with the villagers, not forcing solutions on them. Only by working together as a unit, they will be able to accomplish their goals, as no man can change the systems alone.

Very importantly, they also need the power to act upon their ideas and hopes for the future, otherwise nothing will change. The fellows need the contacts and social respect to reach not only the other citizens, but also the authorities on a higher level.

The fellows main tool for achieving the different kinds of power as described above, comes from the training given by ActionAid and is called the Villagebook. The villagebook gives some tools for problem solving and village planning. The fellows create the villagebook together with the rest of the community. It contains important information about the village, the problems they are facing and how to solve them. Making them aware of the common problems they are all sharing, and thereby helping them to come up with a joint solution.

To sum up, our meeting with the fellows showed a real life example of both the theory we have learned in the sessions, and also how ActionAids programs work in practice.

A very inspiring experience!

How to find yourself

People all over the world are looking for themselves. They look in the magazine, their TV, their idols, their parents, their friends, their psychologist, in their surroundings. But I know where to look: go travel.

Coming to Myanmar and experiencing a different culture with a different history, cultural and social values and a different way of living has made me more aware of what I come from. Attending a course that focus on being a global, active and informed citizen has made me more aware of my obligations and responsibility toward all people. So now I have an idea of my foundation and a direction in life. But is this the way of getting to know yourself? 

A little bit I think.

If you look for your history and roots don't look where you always look. How will you find your answer if you look in the surroundings you been made in and has made yourself. 

They didn't know what to give you to begin with. 

Travel outside them. Meet yourself in what you are not, in surroundings that are not familiar. You will discover what kind of glasses you see the world through. I have discovered that I come from a very structured society. There are a system for collecting garbage, taking public transport, conservation of old buildings, paying taxes. Not much is left to chance. 

I am kinda a product of my society and it can be seen in my personality, my expectations and what I take for granted. Here in Myanmar their society is much less structured and from an outsider it can seem very chaotic. But still things happen in their own way. Their society and their history can also be seen in them. I find the people of Myanmar so relaxed and so helpful. Wherever we go people are helpful and they often don't expect anything in return. This hospitality and immediacy I will take with me home. So even though I have only been in Myanmar one month I have discovered some of my roots, some of my personal boundaries and something I like to change. 

And fortunately being an global citizen gives mw a hole world to travel in and a connectedness that will always follow me. 

// Signe B