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Afterthoughts from winner of Amnesty International’s Young Journalist Award
Mae gives her presentation.
Mae Underwood,
Student at The Regent’s School Pattaya
‘Was it okay to quote my father?’ ‘How do I create references to
sources within the text?’ ‘Is the layout of my article equivalent to what I
would see in the newspaper?’ These were all questions that ran through my
head towards the end of the second school term as I scrambled to finish my
article for Amnesty International’s Young Journalist of the Year award.
It was quite a challenge to push myself to finish this article, since there
is really no break when it comes to IB; doing optional assignments were no
longer as easy to follow through with. But my efforts led me to achieve more
than I could have imagined: to be awarded ‘Young Journalist of the Year’.
Mae (2nd left) with student
competitors and Andrew Chambers (right) with the prize.
My article was about refugees and migrant workers in
Thailand, specifically the human trafficking issue they are facing at this
very moment. There are many online newspaper articles that will tell stories
of men getting coaxed into the labor trade and ending up on fishing boats
for years on end. As I said in my presentation, about half of one of
Thailand’s largest international markets, the fishing industry, relies on
labor provided by human traffickers. The worst part is that even the
officials are said to be involved in the illicit trade. It disturbed me
particularly because this topic was not being discussed among our local
community. Before I wrote my article I had known very little about refugees
being trafficked and enslaved in Thailand.
The rules of the competition were that our articles would be internally
selected by our schools before being submitted. Then 20 winners would be
selected by Amnesty International, and invited to attend a journalism and
human rights workshop for one and a half days in Bangkok. When I heard I was
one of the 20 shortlisted students, I was both shocked and amazed. But I
immediately dove into my next obstacle, which was the two-minute
presentation. We had one week to prepare, and our teachers played a big role
in getting us informed and ready for the big day.
Mae receiving the award for
the U18 category.
In Bangkok, our first workshop lasted two hours and took
place at The Nation building in Bangna. Some of us were interviewed for the
Thai PBS program, ‘English Breakfast’, before joining the rest of the group,
who were in the journalism workshop. Here we were able to make friends with
the other finalists, interview each other and learn a little bit about
reporting and writing.
We then met again on Saturday to learn more about the human rights movement
in Thailand. Truth be told, humans rights violations in Thailand are not a
big concern among the government and the newspapers, but we are creating a
starting point to get more people aware and concerned. Members of AI usually
campaign about specific human rights issues and write letters to
governments, political prisoners and other victims of human rights
violations in an attempt to facilitate change.
Moreover, a columnist from The Nation newspaper spoke to us about the
constraints of journalism and the traits that make a good journalist. He
also told us about human rights violations in Thailand. We talked about
freedom of speech, too, and whether newspapers try to be impartial or
subjective. Then we had a lunch break, which many of us used to prepare for
our presentations.
For the presentation we had split into two age groups: the under 14s and
under 18s. The score we get from our presentation would make up 20% of our
final mark, which is added to the score attained from our articles.
Everybody in my group was confident about public speaking, but I think we
were all nervous for each other anyway. Many stood at different corners of
the room silently rehearsing their speeches just a few minutes before our
presentations. When it was all over, we answered a few questions from the
judges before moving onto one last workshop.
The last workshop was the most meaningful of all; we learnt about specific
victims of human rights violations. There is one man in Taiwan, Chiou, who
had been harassed, tortured and imprisoned by the police for a kidnapping
and murder that he was accused of with little to no evidence. After 23 years
of detention he has now been sentenced to death, but is not told of the date
of his execution. Amnesty is fighting for this man’s freedom, as well as the
abolishment of the death penalty, and so, for an activity, we created post
cards for Chiou. In a video explaining his story, he had said that he liked
getting pictures of different places he’s never seen, like the Taipei 101
skyscraper, and so many of us began drawing pictures of places for him,
while others wrote letters to the Taiwanese government.
All in all, I feel like the experience and education I received over that
weekend was invaluable and timeless. It could not be stressed enough how
important it is to acknowledge human rights issues going on around us today
and to be concerned about them. I think that, especially as our younger
generation are less aware of what’s going on around the world, we should
work together in identifying issues, spreading awareness about them in our
own communities and doing something to help, whether it be campaigning,
writing letters or even spreading the word among family and friends. That’s
the first few steps to being a global citizen, and all it takes to become a
human rights activist.
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Regent’s student wins Young Journalist of the Year Award
The two winners - Mae and
Suthicha.
Andrew Chambers
The Regent’s School Pattaya and Amnesty International Thailand have just
announced the results of the inaugural Young Journalist of the Year Thailand
awards. Several thousand students from 20 international schools took part in the
competition organized by Andrew Chambers of The Regent’s School Pattaya, and the
charity - they had to write a 500 word article on a human rights topic such as
the death penalty or migrant workers.
The judges included Pravit Rojanaphruk - Columnist with The Nation (English
daily in Thailand) and Dr. Varaporn Chamsanit - a university professor of Human
Rights. Thai PBS (Thai Public Broadcasting Corporation) also were involved with
interviewing the finalists.
The winner in the U14 category was Suthicha Kanacharoen from St Andrews School
Bangkok for her piece on the Rohingyan Muslims in Burma and the winner in the
U18 category was Mae Underwood from The Regent’s School Pattaya for her piece on
refugees and migrants in Mae Sot.
Below is Mae’s winning piece and her reflection that followed.
The Winning Article:
Migrant Workers in Thailand
By Chuliporn (Mae) Underwood
The Regent’s School Pattaya
According to the International Organization of Migration, an estimated 2.5
billion migrant workers in Thailand were recorded in 2012, with about 300,000 of
them being children. Every year thousands more from Burma, Cambodia and Laos
seek asylum in Thailand from political and economical repression. Yet those who
are able to complete the protracted administration process for refugee camps are
a minority. Many live outside these camps and are thus regarded as ‘illegal
migrants, being subject to arrest, detention and deportation under immigration
law’, states the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Being illegal, many are subject to trafficking, child labor and other forms of
exploitation. They are often trafficked or forced into labor by unlawful
recruiting agencies. Both adult and child migrants are coaxed into accepting ‘a
decent job opportunity,’ but end up stranded in isolated areas, prohibited to
leave.
Lewis Underwood, Chairman of the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive, writes in
the Pattaya Mail: “Desperate children, especially pre-teens, are at most risk
without adult protection.” Many children become victims to the severity of the
fishing industry, he claims, where they are forced to work on fishing boats
under prison-like conditions.
Half of laborers in the Thai fishing industry are Burmese, adds Time Magazine
reporter, Jesse Hardman. They are abused by their employer, and those who seek
help from police are either returned to Burma or sold back to their employers. A
Burmese migrant worker reports: ‘We have to work 11 hours a day, and we get 1
day off a month’ - they also make less than $2 (60 baht) a day, Jesse states.
What can be done to help these families? Experts believe education is the most
effective solution. By reducing the vulnerability of these refugees, the root of
the problem is directly addressed. However, availability and quality of
education continues to be a challenge for Thailand, more so for migrant
children. Many emigrant families struggle to send their children to school,
mainly because they live in extreme poverty. Migrant workers are paid much less
than the minimum wage of Thais, so rarely are these families able to afford
education.
On the other hand, education is gradually becoming more available for both
documented and undocumented migrant children in Thailand. By 2005, all migrant
children were legally allowed to attend public schools, in addition to
participating in educational programs established by non-government
organizations. Yet scholars say that only a small number of these children are
able to access their schools, partly due to travel expenses.
‘In order to improve the conditions of current migrant families, the government
should consider funding education for emigrant students and making public
schools more available in isolated areas,’ suggests Katerina Onufrieva, a
Regent’s student, ‘They should emphasize the importance of education, not just
for local Thai students, but for everyone, including emigrants.’ Migrant
protection currently relies very heavily on human rights groups; as long as
people remain unaware, migrants may never receive the protection they deserve
until after a very long time.
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Chon Ratsadorn student achieves perfect score on O-Net exam
Punyakorn Thaweechart.
One student at Chon Ratsadorn Amroong School scored a perfect 100 on Thailand’s
national O-Net standardized exams, leading a parade of gifted students passing
university entrance exams at the Pattaya school.
Punyakorn Thaweechart, a Mattayom 6/2 pupil, earned a perfect score in
fourth-level mathematics on the test, which is administered to Mattayom 1-4
students nationally.
Principal Uthai Singhtothong said it has been a good term for Chon Ratsadorn,
with a large number of students passing entrance exams for top universities,
including Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Kasetsart, Mahidol and others.
Jesters Care for Kids, Pattaya Street Kids Support and Share Love with Friends Project present rice to disabled children in Nongprue
Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive 2013
(L too R) Woody Underwood, Bernie Tuppin and Bill
Freeman prepare to help deliver donated rice.
Vittaya Yoondorn
Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive, Pattaya Street Kids Support and
Share Love with Friends presented 80 packs of rice, each weighing 5.5 grams,
totaling 14,200 baht to disabled kids, including autistics. Each family received
3 packs of rice at the Nongprue Municipality to alleviate their difficulties.
Cash was also donated to some of the families, who cannot help themselves. For
those families, who cannot make the trip to Nongprue, it meant visiting the
children and delivering the rice to their homes.
On April 6, in front of Nongprue Public Health and Environment office, Woody
Underwood, chairman of the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive, along with
committee members Bernie Tuppin (Projects Advisor), and Bill Freeman (Fair Site
Coordinator), along with Sam (Project Manager of the Share love with Friends
Project), gathered for their monthly rice distribution. Their goal is to make
the families of these special children have easier lives and reduce expenses for
the parents. They also help these people by providing wheelchairs and modifying
their 3-wheeled motorcycles, so they can travel as a family and work together.
Woody and Bernie visit Nong Ice, who is suffering
from scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, and cannot stand.
Woody disclosed that currently, there are many disabled children in the Pattaya
and Nongprue municipal areas and the care they receive is not always continuous
and/or the caretakers can not always care for their children and work at the
same time. He added that there are several groups, clubs, associations and
others offering donations to help out for these poor people and kids in need.
The remaining rice was distributed to the children suffering from serious
disabilities, who could not come to the office and cannot help themselves. One
is Nong Bas, who has been suffering from Hydrocephalus since he was 2 years old.
Currently, he cannot see with both his eyes, cannot stand on his own and shows
no facial or physical response when people try to communicate with him.
The committee visits many homes of disabled children like this every month in
Nongprue and helps with their problems whenever they can, such as medical and
food expenses.
Woody and Bernie present rice presented to Nong
Ice’s mum.
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244 hill tribe & Sattahip youths join
monkhood to honor royal family
Sattahip youngsters join with hill tribe youths to
enter the monkhood in honor of the royal family.
Patcharapol Panrak
Nearly 250 area youths and hill tribe children honored the royal family by
becoming Buddhist novices in ordination ceremonies at two Sattahip temples.
At Sattahip Temple April 7, 86 youths pledged to spend their summer studying
dharma and honoring HM the King by becoming monk novices. They were joined at
Throngmetta Wanaram Temple by 34 children from five hill tribes in Chiang Rai,
plus 124 children of Royal Thai Navy families. Their ordination came in honor of
HRH Princess Sirindhorn.
Sattahip Mayor Narong Bunbancherdsri said the program will run 24 days over the
school holidays. Eighty-six youths were selected to mark HM the King’s 86th
year.
Vice Adm. Sonthaya Noichaya presided over the larger ceremony, which brought
youths from the Hmong, Yao, Khummu, Muser and Lahu tribes from Chiang Rai to
honor HRH the Princess’s 58th birthday.
Nattarasamee Srewwattanayon, director of Thungsrai Pattana School, which
organized the field trip, said the hill tribe kids come from poor,
underprivileged families and are at high risk of getting involved with drugs and
crime. Joining the monkhood, even for a short time, can lead them to become
better individuals, she said.
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St Andrews ends term with Songkran celebration
Bank P. Saengsawang
Last Friday, St Andrews students, teachers and friends were celebrating
the end of Term Two with our annual Songkran Celebration. Children were
celebrating the day by playing water games and wearing the traditional,
colourful Songkran shirts. Throughout the day children were also participating
in blessing ceremonies organized by the Thai Department. A great finish to the
end of term.
Have a happy holiday break everyone!
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