June 25, 2006

We had our final Phang-nga focus group today at a rubber plantation about an hour from the office. We arrive, say hi to everyone. Sit down in someone’s home, which is made from bamboo and raised off the ground. Kind of like a treehouse. I will now list the day’s events.

1. Not enough people for the focus group- some men take the truck to go pick up others from their homes around the plantation.

2. Those remaining are served Burmese noodles, which are tasty. In addition to the fish /onion sauce, they are served with a giant platter of green beans, cilantro, mint, bean sprouts, fish sauce, chili, and garlic that you can add as you like.

3. Having had some pretty mild chili powder the last time I ate Burmese noodles, I heap chili powder onto my noodles. Everyone is impressed and comments, “We didn’t know Americans ate chili.” I am impressed with myself, breaking down stereotypes and all that.

4. Nice try, tough guy. My mouth is on fire, everyone is watching my every bite, so I compensate by adding tons of green things to my bowl and drinking obscene amounts of water.

5. Maybe all the water wasn’t such a good idea. I ask about the location of the toilet. Everyone giggles then points up the hill, which is apparently the community toilet.

6. Sidenote: I took this Water and Sanitation last semester and the professor began the course by giving us two tidbits of knowledge: 1.) Poop flows downhill. 2.) Don’t eat poop.

7. As I return to the hut, a young boy, who I’d been “chatting” with earlier runs over to me with a dead bat. He waves it in my face. I politely smile. He waves it in the face of the younger children nearby. They scream. He prefers this reaction. He throws the dead bat at another child. Child goes ballistic.

8. Many more people arrive. Instead of focus groups of 6 – 8, it looks like it’ll be 12 – 14. And everyone brought their kids.

9. New arrivals eat. I watch children chase the chickens and the ducks until they catch them and tackle them.

10. Focus groups begin!

11. Our female group is momentarily distracted by barking dogs directly below our hut. There are about 6 dogs mauling each other. Blood is being splattered onto the ground.

12. Howling turns to screeching. Two puppies continue to duke it out.

13. Old man separates two dogs, one continues to whine.

14. Man punts dog about 10 yards across the now bloody yard.

15. About five men, apparently late, roar in on motorbikes and do some wheelies. Hoot, holler, and enter the men’s hut.

16. Man exits men’s hut with slingshot. Tries to shoot at duck. Owners of duck are ticked. So is the duck. It flies onto our roof. Slingshot man returns to his focus group.

17. Men’s focus group moderator falls through the bamboo floor of hut. All women leap up to regard the commotion on the other side.

Can you find the public health problems in the above scenario? At the end of it all, the workers on the plantation had, by far, the least knowledge of HIV / AIDS. Some couldn’t really identify what it was. People living near the water received a lot of NGO attention after the tsunami. The workers on the plantations, as they weren’t affected by the tsunami, haven’t been the focus of any NGOs or funding. The only organizations who’ve tried are small religious groups who require that the recipients go to church. As they are Buddhist, this little arrangement is not always agreeable.