Hello INPAENG

the first two weeks

19 Mar 2007 

Living in INPAENG
It has been two weeks since I came to INPAENG network. I live in the INPAENG centre, which is the training and meeting centre. Many groups and organizations come to this centre almost every day. Some of them spend only one day to study INPAENG lifestyle, some stay overnights. So, I 've got opportunity to participate the meeting and training to gain more understanding about the concept of INPAENG network (includes INPAENG lifstyle and the adminstration in the network). Moreover, I spend two days and nights with a host family. Mr. Kampan was my host.  He told me his story about how he could survived from debt and starvation by adopting the INPAENG lifestyle (Plant everything you will eat and use, eat and use everything you seeded). He also told me about the pride of being self-sufficient and showed me a good hope of his family. Mr.Kampai was my first informant and by listening to his story, I saw the interrelation of health, lifestyle, occupation, pride, family and mother nature. This urged me how important the INPAENG concept is.

I revealed all my identities to them. They know that I am a PhD student from Australia who got a scholarship from my office, Thammasat University, and I am exploring the Buddhist concepts, Thai social capital and their health. I also told them that if they find anything that I can help for their training program, I am happy to do so. Mr.Thavatchai gave a job of English translator when a foreign group came to the centre (12-16 March, a group of NGO officers form Myanmar came to have a training at INPAENG centre), and computer database program, and also teach children (they are on their school holiday) for English and anything that I want to.

English- Thai translating In the a workshop for Myanmar brothers and sisters. 

I stay in a wood house behind the main meeting hall in INPAENG centre. They were so kind to make a bamboo partition for me so I can have my privacy even when I have to share this house with other trainees.

 

I planned to participate the meeting as many as possible in first two weeks. Luckily, I’ve got what I wanted. From 4-19 March 2007 only fifteen days, I joined two short training course (one day course), one five-day training course, three network meetings, and one staffs meeting.

Moreover, I’m very lucky to meet Mr.Yongyut. He is an NGO officer who worked with people in Thailand North-eastern area, including INPAENG. It can be claimed that he is one of the most influenced people in the network. It has bee twenty years since Mr.Yongyut and a group of villagers form the INPAENG concept. He is also a Thai traditional doctor. But he looks like a very ‘modern’ traditional doctor, because he knew the modern medicine very much (his wife is a tutor in faculty of Nursing, KKU). His knowledge is heavily based on scientific evidence, but his work focused on the self-dependent way of disease treatment (by using herbal medicine that can be found in the local areas, change living and eating lifestyle or using Thai traditional massage). I talked to him several times to learn the basis of Thai traditional medicine and Isan lifestyle. He can be considered as my very important informant.

Mr.Yongyut and his students