Perhaps you are visiting this site because one of your friends or loved ones is participating in the Rollins College field study to Thailand over the winter break 2010-2011. Here is some basic information about the trip.
Q: Why are you going to Thailand?
A: We will be studying human rights advocacy in Burma, the country next door to Thailand. Because Burma is one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world, millions of Burmese citizens have fled across the border into Thailand in recent decades. They are living there as refugees, undocumented migrants, and political exiles. Some amazing human rights and humanitarian work is happening in the two towns we will be visiting, Chiang Mai and Mae Sot.
Q: What will you be doing during your trip?
A: We will be meeting with several of the organizations that are doing human rights and humanitarian work inside Burma and along the Thai-Burma border. We will also be volunteering for a couple of these organizatoins. A sample of these organizations include the Democratic Voice of Burma, which sneaks video journalists into Burma to tell the world, and the Burmese people, about the repression occurring there. Another group is Free Burma Rangers, which smuggles food and medical supplies into displaced populations, and documents human rights abuses that they suffer. Another group is the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which is a group of political exiles who have been tortured in Burmese prisons for many years. Another group is the NEED farm, which teaches Burmese communities how to develop sustainable agriculture so that they don't have to rely upon food handouts.
Q: Is it safe?
A: Yes. Of course, there are risks involved in every trip, but Thailand is generally very safe. We will not be going into Burma itself, and the activists we will meet are accepted by the Thai people. The Thai people are extremely welcoming to Western travelers, earning Thailand the nickname "the land of smiles." Thailand was in the international news last spring for some political violence in Bangkok, but the situation has since calmed down. In addition, we will not be going to Bangkok, and Chiang Mai and Mae Sot were extremely calm even during the political tensions. We will be taking all reasonable safety precautions, and Rollins College has a strong network of support to back us up.
Q: Why do Rollins students need financial support for this trip?
A: We have a terrific group of students on this trip, and many of them require scholarships to be able to afford the cost of the trip. They are a really deserving group! We did our best to keep our costs as low as possible, but of course it is expensive to travel half-way across the world. The students in this group are motivated to learn about the Burmese democracy movement, volunteer with migrant children, and return to work for human rights back home. While we will certainly have some fun, this is not a vacation for them, but a service-learning trip.
