Day 5 in Mae Chan (Fri. 5-12)

What a day! Though today was our last day in Mae Chan… it was probably the best day we’ve ever had here thus far.

I should first probably introduce myself. I’m Nicole or as Mod would say Moana. I joined BLUELab Thailand my freshman year and am a part of both the finance and design ethnography sub-team. I plan to major in Mechanical Engineering. Fun fact about me: I am from a tiny island in the Caribbean, Sint Maarten. It’s beautiful. You should go there.

Anyways back to the best day of our lives….

Today we did not have breakfast at Mae Chan Coffee, but a location (that’s as specific as I can get because I don’t really know where it was or what it was called). I had a pumpkin egg dish with rice that was amazing. One thing about Thai cuisine you will learn is: don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Post-breakfast the team meets up with Mr. District to assist in his plan to establish a sustainable agricultural coffee and banana plantation in a Hill Tribe community up in the mountains of Mae Chan. Due to heavy rain, our vans could not reach the top of the mountains and casually as if it were no trouble at all Mr. District called the local military for backup. They drove us up to the top in their Hum-V. Let’s pause there… the army let us, a couple of college kids, ride in their HUM-V. The military. Ava and I initially thought we were just taking pictures in the Hum-V, but no… we were riding in it. It was by far one of the most thrilling rides up a mountain.

The beauty of the wildlife up in the mountains is scenic. The clouds kissed the hills. Cows nonchalantly ate away in the large fields. Dirt roads and untouched nature… it does not get much better than that. Though this was not the view for the entire ride as we also saw fire scorched mountains damaged by crop burning associated with corn cultivation.

Mr. District plans to establish coffee and banana plantations that will hopefully shift village agricultural practices from corn cultivation that destroys the mountains to produce that works with the ecosystem. Banana and coffee plants require a healthy ecosystem to flourish, forcing the villagers to care for the forests. In addition to those plans, he explained his proposal to create a new weir system to reduce flooding and create a fishing reservoir for the community. This is a win-win situation for both the government and the villagers as the government eliminates deforestation and crop burning, reduces flooding, erosion and air pollution, and the villagers gain a sustainable source of income that does not involve partaking in drug trafficking.

In the past, the relationship between the local government and the Hill Tribe communities has been tense due to the perception that the government and military was the enemy because they only ever came to the mountains to catch drug traffickers and the Hill Tribes were typically blamed as the source for many of the issues faced in Mae Chan. Mr. District has been working to combat this perception and has successfully forged a healthy relationship between both groups through this project.

When we reached the Hill Tribe community, we were astonished at how closely the military, the villagers, and the government were working together. As we arrived, the clouds broke and sent down a cascade of rainfall, but that did not stop the project. Our team assisted in planting new crops to rehabilitate the forests in the pouring rain alongside soldiers, villagers, and Mr. District (who for the record was not afraid of getting soaked and his hands dirty). One of the crops Mr. District hopes to plant is the endangered plant, Makka, which will grow to become a large tree that will help replenish the soil with nutrients.

This community project was one brought together groups from all sides. Buddhist monks also assisted in this project and requested all visitors to bring plant donations to help rehabilitate the forest. Sambuom, the lead monk at this community, has worked closely with the local religious leader to help the community deal with various issues including drug use and trafficking. The monks hope to restore the ecosystem of the forest by releasing rabbits with the intention of bringing back secondary and tertiary consumers. Sambuom was very enthusiastic about this project and is willing to be patient in order to see the regrowth of the forest. He plans to learn English in a year to better communicate with our team and was glad to see us take an interest in the betterment of Mae Chan. On the way back down, OF COURSE, WE RODE IN THE HUM-V, at least Cassidy and I did. The others rode in the back of Mr. District’s van…. Lame.

Next stop on the best day ever was to meet with a local weir controller, Mr. Paanya. Mr. Paanya is a man, who is not a stranger to fame as he was featured on a national TV for his work as a weir controller. He is one of 18 weir controllers in Mae Chan, but is one of the oldest. Having managed his community’s weir gate for about 27 years, Paanya is respected by the upstream weir controllers and local government officials. He explained to us the difficulties of being a weir controller and a farmer as there is often disputes over water distribution, especially during the dry season. There is not a great interest by the younger generation to be weir controllers, and those that take on the job are not very patient. This along with the enormous manual labor required to open and close the weirs creates a large need to optimize this system. The thought of an automated weir gate brought a large grin to Paanya’s face as he enacted clicking a button to open and close the gates.

-Nicole Parchani “Moana”