September 2020: COVID's Impact on GC Thailand... and Inspiration from Jack
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Similar to the USA, Thailand has been in lockdown mode since early March. Immediately, the campus participants scattered across the northern provinces, most returning to their family homes. Those who have internet capacity are connecting via Zoom and many have phones to conduct their campus activities to participate and support one another. Yale is conducting GCC research when the internet works in his Chiang Rai village far to the north. Daeng, who lives an hour south of the city, has had to close her beauty salon and worries about her income especially since she recently bought her first home. Khun Nang makes meals and separates herself from her parents in order to not be too close. Pim is also caring for her elderly parents. Nong Kaeng goes to help the community at the temple wearing a mask all the time. For campus participants in Nan Province, they too have been greatly affected by the economy. Narong has a traditional massage shop, now closed. Jack has had to close his electronics repair shop because there were no customers. Many campus participants face food insecurity. Yet, there are also stories of acts of kindness reinforcing the typical cultural way of being kind and generous. Fortunately, through the years of networking, volunteer service, and community outreach, the campus participants have forged friendships and collegial relationships with various community organizations, some that are now providing much-needed items as demonstrated in the story below.
Jack's Story, by Sheryl Tewksbury, GCF Co-Founder:
Jack rolled up in his wheelchair grinning from ear to ear and through the interpreter, immediately invited us for dinner at his parents’ nearby home. This was many years ago on our first GCF site visit to the remote mountainous region of Nan province on the Thai-Laos border. We were eager to meet the campus participants at their opening event of the first Global Campus outside of Chiang Mai province. That evening, after a delicious traditional meal with Jack’s extended family, we accompanied him to his village shop, where he pulled out a guitar and started singing the songs of Carabao, our favorite Thai rock band, famous for their ‘songs for life’, a style of music that came to prominence through the protest songs of the 1970s. We found ourselves mesmerized by his joy of sharing his music. As dusk was settling in, we then took Jack to his own place on the edge of the village. We drove into the forest, where to our amazement he pointed to a treehouse high up in a towering tree. He parked his wheelchair at the base and proceeded to pull himself up the thick rope using a pulley system to the wooden deck. Waving heartedly from above, we could still see his wide smile as we drove off to our guesthouse. Now, that is one impressive first meeting!
Fast forward to now, Jack is the Director of Global Campus Nanoi, he is self-employed, and also works as an Ambassador/Director with Friendly Design Nan Province, a Thai company promoting universal design accessibility. Jack readily mentions that discovering Global Campuses was one of those big moments in his life where he learned to push harder and strive for more experiences in his life. Acting as a role model for others, he is most happy when encouraging campus peers to develop themselves and to learn from one another. Jack teaches from his own personal experience that we can do good things without expecting to get something back, and in fact that giving generously to others, in turn, will bring good things to your life - often quite unexpectedly. He is also personally proud of his talent to write lyrics and share his music to help everyone be happy.