Arrival, Quarantine, Diving, Another Quarantine, and onto Much More Serious Stuff, and now Waiting Again.
Prior to jumping in with how things have been the past two weeks here in Thailand I would be amiss if I didn’t first say sorry to those of my wonderful San Diego friends I wasn’t able to see before leaving. I missed some of you by just a few days upon my return from Hawaii, then many of you were gone for the holidays, and then I just really overestimated the time I had left. I was always planning on being responsible to make sure I wasn’t spreading COVID far and wide on my travels, but upon reading that I would have to spend 10 days in a Thai hospital if I tested positive on arrival, or any of the post arrival tests, I decided that I wasn’t being as responsible as I could be. It was heartbreak not to be able to see Avery and Wesley (niece and nephew) one last time before leaving, but deemed necessary by all involved based on the severity of Thai travel restrictions and some lingering symptoms the little’s had that could be? Is it? It feels like everything could be COVID right now. A sniffle? COVID. Headache? COVID for sure. Mosquito bite? Could be a new symptom. Haha. Okay, maybe not that one (as I examine a few lovely little bites on my ankle). So I ended up isolating the last week before leaving to make sure that the RT-PCR test taken 72 hours before travel would turn up negative. It did, with results coming back just 14 hours before flight. Whew. I can sleep. First test down. A quick aside: if you don’t have to stay near LAX in order to receive a negative PCR test, just don’t. Even the supposed nice hotels are well, shit, and I’ve stayed in some real winners over the years.
After all the precautions pre-departure it was much to my dismay when I arrived at the airport in Bangkok that I was crammed into a gate with a number of maskless travelers, some even laughing and shaking their heads at the kind Thai airport staff requesting they wear their masks in the airport during our cramped 12 hour layover. Yes, a 12 hour overnight layover with maskless sneezing tourists on airport seating before heading to Koh Samui on a sealed flight to be carefully tested and then wait in my hotel through the night until my results came the next morning. Visions of 14 days of hospital quarantine dancing in my head were not recipe for a sleep-filled night, nor the first night in my hotel on Koh Samui waiting for the results.
On the fourteenth day of hospital quarantine my true love gave to me, 14 Russian tourists sneezing, 13 nasal swabs swabbing, 12 N-95s masking, 11 hand sanitizers sanitizing, 10 motorbikes not braking, 9 airplane seats not reclining, 8 positive PCR tests, 7 pit vipers viping, 6 scuba tanks failing, 5 Golden Pagodas, 4 SIM cards calling, 3 rabid street dogs, 2 snapping turtles, and a Tokay with really bad mask breath.
The results came back negative at 10am, and I took a long nap before enjoying the mandatory fancy hotel time I had left. The above little ditty may have come to me during my loopy extended period of very little sleep. The next day I was “free” to travel, using a dedicated van service, and then not so dedicated ferry ride to the island of Koh Tao where other tried, true and tested travelers were free to eat out, and really do any activity they like until the Day 5 or 6 test. This whole experience was known as The Samui Sandbox, which once tested and inside felt more like a little bubble vacation. It felt kinda like the TV portrayals of a nudist colony, maskless tourists playing volleyball all fancy free, jiggling, laughing.
So now I’m in Koh Tao, and it’s not by accident. There is one thing I’ve always wanted to do and why not use precious quarantine time to achieve it. I have always wanted to get scuba certified, but due to my work and time in country dedicated to that work, I never pulled the trigger. Koh Tao is one of the great spots to do so. So I planned my mandatory sandbox time around diving. I got my open water certification over 4 days, and then my advanced open water certification over 2 more, with plenty of online study time and another negative PCR test all in between. The diving was fantastic, especially the Advanced Open Water. I couldn’t have been happier with the dive school, Sairee Cottage Diving, a PADI Certified Dive Center with nice little bungalows and a pool deep enough for our pre-ocean dives. Also, our dive instructor Airies was really great: knowledgeable, fun, laidback but professional and really kind. Koh Tao has warm clear water, and I’ve always been a frog. From lifeguarding, waterpolo, teaching swim lessons, being a pool manager, to being a surfer, I’ve always been drawn to the water and can’t believe I waited this long to get certified. Of course there’s an environmental draw for me too. With forecasts predicting most of our coral reef systems could be gone within 3 decades time I’ve really been feeling the pull to see more of the ocean, and understand what can be done to prevent the collapse of the systems, if at all possible. Much of Thailands current coral devastation comes from fishing boats trawling the bottom, but more of it is happening due to rising water temps.
During the Advanced Open Water we got to dive an old WWII battleship wreck. The American destroyer was sold to Thailand, who used it for many years and then it was eventually decommissioned and sunk as an artificial reef. We dove an obstacle course of sorts to practice and hone in our buoyancy and trim, crucial to make sure you don’t disturb life on the reef. Then we did a night dive, which was pretty amazing. Every meter you descend into the ocean the less of the color spectrum you are able to see, so diving at night, and shining a light onto aquatic life and coral (from a safe distance) allows you to see the true colors of the life down there. After the course, saying goodbye to some new friends, and following my last negative test, I grabbed the ferry back to Koh Samui and hopped a flight to Chiang Mai. Where I am now waiting until something changes.
Upon arrival here my plan was to stay a few days in Chiang Mai, then rent a motorbike for a month and a half and ride the familiar road 6 hours northwest to the school in Mae Hong Son Province. The whole reason I am back is to help write our proposals to donors, in hopes of keeping the slim funding we still have and possibly drum up some more. Secondary is to help plan and determine whether KSDC will be able to begin hosting foreign teachers and interns again come June 2022; a vital piece that keeps an outside connection alive. There has been a two year pause to the foreign teacher program due to COVID-19, but the school itself has kept running due the amazing grit and determination of the local staff and teachers. On little to no salary at times the Karenni teachers have continued to show their dedication to passing on their knowledge to the next generation regarding: human rights, democracy, rule of law, the environment, local and constitutional law, international law, as well as community development subjects in order to continue the ongoing community work on behalf of the Karenni people.
Most unfortunately upon arrival in Chiang Mai I began receiving updates on Messenger from alumni, current staff, as well as important partners of the program, that the camp recently closed due to COVID. No one is being allowed in or out for an undetermined amount of time. Which means that the work I need to do with my Principal is now on hold until I’m not sure when. I’m hoping camp will be closed only a few weeks, though that’s a pretty rosy outlook. Almost the entire adult population inside camp has had two doses of a vaccine, though exact numbers are hard to come by and vary depending on who I talk with. Prior to this, for almost two years, there had been little to no cases inside camp (at least that were detected). My hope, and the hope of all of those I’ve talked with is that since most adults are vaccinated the cases will hopefully be quite mild and short-lived. My worry is many people in camp have preexisting conditions due to low access to healthcare and the environmental conditions in which they live; like the current and annually recurring smoky season that is so hard on people’s respiratory systems and long term health. I wish that were all I had to report, alas there’s much more.
The civil war following the military coup on Feb 1 2021 has only escalated inside Myanmar. The number of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) is rising rapidly as more and more villages are burned down or subjected to airstrikes by the vastly more equipped Myanmar Military, known as the Tatmadaw. Thailand has mostly closed its gates this time around. Not many IDPs have been allowed refuge in Thailand, so their existence just inside the Myanmar border is tenuous and not tenable longterm. They cannot cook, afraid that the military will target them upon seeing their location from above. Most have little to no possessions after having to flee at night, or having their houses burned down. Most have seen or experienced things beyond most of our imagination. Many of the IDP camps are purposely targeted by the Tatmadaw, which is against many human rights statutes and laws, but who is to stop them? It is estimated that as many as 2/3 of the roughly 300,000 people that live in Karenni State are either displaced or have been displaced during this conflict that started on February 1st, 2021. Karenni State is the state with the smallest population, other ethnic minority states with vastly more people are suffering under the regime with large portions of their population displaced as well.
So now what? Well, I’m on a self enforced quarantine after getting sick on arrival here in Chiang Mai. Runny nose, sore throat, headache, G.I. stuff, mosquito bites. Haha. I tested negative once with a self test. Today my symptoms were gone, so I’ll give it a few days before testing again. This coming week I’ll be meeting with one of our alumni students here in Chiang Mai who is in contact with some of the IDP Camp Leaders to figure out what efforts can be made on their behalf. Most likely it will be a fundraising campaign to purchase and deliver food, water, and necessities to those IDPs that are reachable on the ground in Myanmar. My first priority is to try and get help to those who haven’t received much if any, second is to make sure it is done responsibly and by, if at all possible, trusted partners. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on this and send any relevant links your way. If you have any contacts you deem relevant please do send them my way as well. Then I plan to meet with a contact here who has been vital in helping IDPs closer to the Mae Sot and Chiang Mai regions, and absorb as much information as she’s willing to impart.
In the meantime it’s Chiang Mai for me, where I’ll be working on what I can for KSDCs fundraising needs, waiting for word that I can head north, helping fundraise for the IDPs in Karenni State, and continuing to complete my own study in becoming a facilitator for peer-to-peer trauma resolution for communities. I had planned to return to California towards the end of March, and possibly head to San Francisco area in order to help facilitate and then take over the end of a program for my trainer who heads to South Africa to help with programs there, but that timeline is still unclear. I’ll do my best to keep you updated here. Please feel free to reach out and say hi. I’ll leave my contact info below and attach some pics of my time so far.
Much love to all of you,
Matt
writemattgreen@gmail.com
