Spent the day exploring the area of the Thai-Myanmar border. Traveled out to Chiang Saen. Visited the Golden Triangle and communities known for their drug and human trafficking. Helped and learned from Mickey how to interview strangers and take portraits in a short time. There are a lot of children under the age of 16 working on ships in the area.

Total HR: 104

Spent the day in Mae Salong. It is a charming village with a lot of Chinese influence. The entire village smells of Jasmine tea. We visit a local school and talk and photograph the children as well as their teachers. In the afternoon we go to a tea house and discuss/debrief what we’ve experience so far as well as the different cultural views of human trafficking. 


After a few hours we leave Mae Salong and travel by car to Mae Sai, a Thai-­‐Myanmar border town.


Total HR: 97

In the morning Mickey, Sandra and I woke up at 5 am for a lesson on photography as well as to photograph the brothel. The village was completely silent and we were able to get our pictures without any trouble. Around 10 we sat down with one of the family's in the village who had agreed last night to talk to us. We know the father is involved in illicit trading and that his brother in the house next door has sold his children.  During our discussion a young girl walks in. She looks to be about 15 or 16 years old. Mickey speaks in Thai to the man and then tell me that the man has informed him that she is his niece and that she works in the brothel and happy to provide for her family. 

Culture is a huge factor in trafficking. There is a sense of familial duty for young people, and often they do not question the choices of their elders, making trafficking accepted and systematic. For this reason, the girls do not always see themselves as victims. Rather, they are fulfilling a duty, even if they don’t always like what they do.

Next we visit a family whose daughter joined Mickey’s shelter last year and give them an update on her progress. The father admits that he has only had limited education and is happy that his daughter is being given the opportunity to make something of herself. Mickey informs him that she is excelling in mathematics and wants to set an example for the village. 


Total: 91

 Left Huay Junn Si and trekked to the hilltribe community of Bor Leh, near to Baan Khun Suay. Mickey had never visited this village and the villagers were very curious of us. We are here because Mickey wants to develop a relationship with the local heads of the village and possibly create a program to help girls get out of human trafficking. There are many young girls being trafficked in the village. We have to be careful taking pictures and talking to the girls, but there is a lot to document. In the evening we visit the local head of the village. Though I don’t speak Thai I could tell by the end of the meeting that things didn’t go well by the tone of voice and way in which Mickey and the other men talked. 

Total HR: 85

In the morning we gathered in the sala for a breakfast of 3 in 1 instant coffee, rice, bok-choy, tofu veggi scramble and sticky rice buns with red bean paste filling. 

Then we said goodbye to our hosts and started our 8 hour hike to the village of Huay Junn Si. After 4 hours of hiking we reached a waterfall where we had lunch. To cook the rice our guide's cut down bamboo and filled it with water and put it over a fire.

 As we made the fire, Mickey told me about one of our guides. As a child he was kidnapped and trained to be a child soldier, but at the age of 14 he escaped from Burma and came to Thailand. After lunch we continued on our walk, stopping for photography lessons along the way. 

We reached Huay Junn Si around 8pm.


Total HR:80

Spent the day visiting and photographing different children in the village who are part of the COSA foster care program. The children in the foster care program were either rescued from a brothel or at risk of being trafficked. Mickey comes up every few months with his team to make sure that the kids are going to school and that there aren’t any health problems.

At 6pm we headed back to our host family for dinner. As we were eating three young girls approached us and asked to speak to Mickey. They had heard he was in the village and that he helped girl get out of the brothel. One of the girls was 2 months pregnant and being forced by the brothel owner to live with the man who impregnated her. The girl was only 12 years old. 


Total HR: 75 

We left the Baan Yuu Suk shelter in Chiang Mai around 10 a.m. It was a long 4-5 hour drive to the Baan Khun Suay Hill Tribe community. For most of the drive we were on a bumpy dirt road surrounded by shrubs and what looked to be palm trees. Occasionally a bamboo hut could be seen between the trees.

When we arrived we were greeted with Thai hospitality, we enjoyed a hearty dinner of mountain rice, eggs, fried pork and gua fruit. Mickey ate, drank and talked with our hosts as if he were family.  

 “When I first arrived the villagers were weary of me. They didn’t understand why I was here, only that I wanted to learn but over the last few years they have come to accept and welcome my presence” Mickey tells me. He goes on to explain that trafficking is not always seen as a negative thing within the hillside villages, in most cases it is actually seen as profitable, a way to make a living.

After dinner Mickey and I took our cameras and went on a walk through the village. He gives me my first lesson on documentary photography while educates me on the issues surrounding trafficking in the village.

A young boy stands outside the community brothel. 

Total HR: 70

Orientation and Workshop

In the morning Sandra and I gathered with Mickey in the office for an orientation/workshop.

Topics covered:

• -­‐  Human Trafficking
  
• -­‐  Understanding the issues both locally, culturally and politically
  
• -­‐  Meeting the victims
  
• -­‐  Understanding ‘trafficked’ and ‘self-­‐trafficked’
  
• -­‐  The important role and power that photography has as a story teller
  
• -­‐  Outlying the assignment
  
• -­‐  Ethics in photography
  
• -­‐  Understanding intellectual properties and copyrights
  
• -­‐  What makes a good photographer? 
  --  Field experience: Photography is both an artistic and      technical occupation. To become a photographer, you should have a broad technical understanding of photography plus as much practical experience with cameras as possible.
  
  
  Afternoon was spent packing for tomorrow's trek and assisting Laura with English lessons.  
  
  
  Total HR: 64
  

Sandra, the other volunteer going on the photography expedition arrived at the shelter today. She is a professional photographer from Canada who has traveled all over the world. I'm a little intimidated by the thought of traveling with two professional photographers when I'm really just an amateur. But I know it will be a great learning opportunity as well!


When the girls arrived home from school I assisted Laura in teaching an English lesson as well as a craft project that involved each girl painting a picture of themselves on a large piece of paper. On top of the page the world "Family" was written. The idea behind the project was to show the girls that they had a family here at the shelter. 


Total HR: 58

Lesson Plans

Spent the day helping Laura organize a lesson plan as well as creating meaningful activities for the girls living at the shelter. We chose the themes for the activities to be learning English and communication skills. Laura emphasized in the discussion that it is not as relevant how much English the girls learn as it is that they gain self-confidence and get to participate in meaningful activities. Thus the motive of the activities was to support and strengthen the sense of self worth and self-esteem of the girls at the shelter.

Total HR: 55

Today after spending the morning finishing up the reading Nicci had given me on human trafficking and getting the girls off to school we went into the old city where we visited a few of the old temples. They were all within walking distance of each other. Nicci told me the history behind the city and how she came to work with COSA. After exploring the temples we hit the night market and I stocked up on handicrafts and souvenirs for friends and family back home.

Total HR: 50

Midmorning, Nicci and I ride bikes to a local coffee shop. Over steaming cups of tea she gives me a talk on the work the shelter is doing as well as an overview of the issues surrounding human trafficking in Thailand. The problems surrounding human trafficking is more complex then I could ever have imagined. I have to admit I felt a little discouraged and emotionally drained listening to Nicci spout off number and statistics. 

But then she pulled out a binder containing a picture of each girl at the shelter and a brief history of what the girls had been through.  Seeing each girl's smiling face and reading about what they had overcome gave me hope. I might not be able to fully tackle all the problems surrounding human trafficking but I know I can make a difference in a least one girls life. 

When we returned to the shelter I spent a few hours going over some material Nicci gave me to read on human trafficking and when the girls arrive home from school I help them with their homework as well as a craft project.

Total HR: 48

I just arrived in Chiang Mai. A woman named Nicci who works at COSA (Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia) picked me up from the bus station and drove me to the shelter for girls who have been rescued from human trafficking. From what I have seen of the shelter so far it seems like an amazing place. A small stream, brimming with fish runs behind the shelter and just beyond the stream is a large organic fruit farm. They also have a few mushroom huts as well as some chickens.

Photographer Mickey Choothesa and his wife, Anna, founded the shelter after witnessing the human trafficking of young girls among the Northern Thai Hill tribes. Currently there are 18 girls between the ages of 5 and 18 living here. COSA is unique in the way they address human trafficking. They work directly with the communities who traffic their children. Every other month, Mickey connects with the traffickers to help show them that educating children is a much more sustainable practice than exploiting them.  

When the girls arrive from school they are excited to meet me. I help lead the craft project and work on learning all their names. Despite what they have been through they are all smiles! In school they are learning English and I find that I'm able to communicate with them quite easily. They even teach me a few Thai words. The older girls who are more proficient English speakers want to know what life in the States is like and if I like the Spice Girls and One Direct. I laugh and tell them that the Spice Girls are no longer together. They are shocked by the news and inform me that they are really big in Thailand. I don't realize how big until I go into the girls bedrooms and see the posters lining the walls. Life size cut outs of the Spice Girls all decked out in 90's fashion. 


Total HR: 44

Today was my last at the Surin Elephant Project. I woke up at six to pack and do a little light cleaning. Then I headed to the office for an hour to update the blog, add pictures to the website and type up the ideas we came up with the previous night. Then I headed over to the enclosure for breakfast and final goodbyes. By ten o’clock I was on a bus headed for Chiang Mai. 


Total HR: 42

Today we took the elephants on a three-hour walk to the watering hole. Before starting out on the walk I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to get into the water because Josy had warned that there may be leaches, but after three hours of walking under the hot sun I was ready to jump into the water and cool off.

Back at the camp we fed the elephants and then headed over to the enclosure for a meeting with the local shaman. He talked to us about the history of Surin and the spirit of elephants. He spoke in Thai and Apple translated what he said into English.

An hour or so before dinner, the other volunteers and I filled out evaluation form on our experience. Then we discussed marketing schemes and advertising ideas that would attract and educate people about the project. In the past some of the volunteers had arrived at the project expecting to see the elephants do tricks and ride them and Josy wants to find and advertise to volunteers and tourists who actually want to contribute to the welfare of the elephants, not just their entertainment.  

Total HR: 41

Today, over 50 Thai government soldiers descended into The Elephant Park. They claimed they had been given an anonymous tip that the park might be hiding a wild elephant. The mahouts spent the morning digging up paperwork proving that their elephants were born and raised in captivity. After several hours of searching they found one elephant without the proper paperwork. A large truck was brought in and the elephant was loaded in and taken away.

After lunch we walked the elephants, planted food and cleaned the shelters. 

Total HR: 35

The Eye's of Thailand

Today’s activities included picking up after the elephants, feeding them and cutting down sugarcane. As we work the other volunteers and I hummed popular pop songs and talked about what had brought us to Thailand. Sophie is from England, Anna is from France and Maggie is from New Jersey. In the late afternoon I updated the website and added pictures to the Surin Project facebook page and blog. 

Total HR: 30