Monday, July 20, 2015

A Day in the Life of Mplus+ (สวัสดีครับ วันนี้ผมจะพูด เกี่ยวกับทำงานใน Mplus+)



Hello, Cormac here!

Today I’m going to write a little about a day in the life in Mplus+, an organization working in sexual health amongst MSM (men who have sex with men) and TG (Transgender) populations in Thailand, as well as promoting LGBTQ rights across Chiang Mai.  

Every day is different...

Working at Mplus+ it is fair to say no two days are the same. Some days we work in the evening, others in the morning, sometimes in the office, sometimes outside of it. There is a great diversity to the time and setting of work which is nice and spices things up, however for the most part our work is based at the Mplus+ office in Chiang Mai. This is a really nice two storey building with lots of space downstairs for meetings and eating, and with really good kitchen facilities. Upstairs is where myself and Maria work with the others - there are three rooms, although most of us work in one big room with lots of tables and computers, making for a really nice, communal atmosphere. However, in saying that over the last few weeks we have found ourselves in Chiang Mai University for the ‘No His-tory but Ours’ LGBTIQ event, at a local hotel for a series of workshops on empowering HIV community support workers, plus a local bar and a local sauna for outreach work. This mix of settings and times makes for an interesting and fun work environment.  

The most generous staff you could meet...

Myself and Maria are so lucky to be work with these staff members. I think you would be hard pressed to find staff as kind and as generous with their time, and with their food! On my second day here, one of the staff brought us to a café and bought us tea and cake, which was so delicious. Each day the houselady brings us something to eat, and one day gave us so much food and tea myself and Maria were totally full and just could not eat any more! Since then we explained that we got a packed lunch from home, and so we just eat that now, but any time we ever forget our lunch they are always first to get us something.  

The people here are also very generous with their time. I’m forever asking them how to say this, that and the other in Thai, but they never seem to get annoyed and are always willing to help. Because myself and Maria are the only native English speakers at the office, it makes sense that they talk among each other in Thai most of the time. However, when we’re at meetings or workshops, they are always willing to translate for us, for which I am very grateful.  

Looking Forward to the Next four weeks...

Today marks the beginning of my fifth week in the organization, and as such I have crossed the halfway point in my time here at Mplus+. All I can say is I can’t wait to see what the next four weeks have in store, as I learn more about Thai language, culture and from the other volunteers in the volunteer house.  

That’s all for now, โชคดี ครับ

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