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
