Back to Basics: Pitbull Incidents & Pot Noodles

It’s always going to be strange returning to an old place of work, more so returning after a 5 year break to the same office with the same chaos of shelved paper folders some of which spookily have my handwriting scrawled on the sides (probably untouched since I left). The same receptionist, cleaner, porter, administrator and catering staff.  Uncanny familiarity, glimmers of recognition..same, same but different (more aged and jaded).

I rediscover my teaching skills lurking in a dusty corner of my brain and soon regain a rhythm in the forgotten mania of Further Education.  Having previously taught English for Speakers of Other Languages, it is a shock to my sensibilities to teach Adult Literacy classes to students “mandated” to attend by “Jobcentre Plus”…as well as attempting to navigate the labyrinthine Kafkaesque bureaucracy born out of the Further Education meeting the welfare system.

I participate in a bizarre socio-economic experiment which angers and benefits our “clients” in equal numbers. At the end of the Summer I leave the laboratorial classroom unsure whether this system is a good thing or not. However, at the risk of sounding like an indignant Daily Mail editorial I can confidently bemoan the state of a nation; 21^st Century Britain to be precise.  Countless young people leaving secondary education with little literacy and numeracy skills to speak of!  The weekly assessment sessions I conduct never fail to shock. Young people who left school from the age of 11 aside, I meet several young men who have “completed” their secondary education ‘til 16 and can only just write their names. This is the extreme of the spectrum, a group which includes many with dyslexia and learning difficulties.  These difficulties have not been successfully supported through years of schooling and although beneficial the college 12 week courses can only touch the surface

As a consequence of this mass failure of schools the government ploughs millions into remedial education for adults. This could perhaps be avoided if intensive literacy support were provided for all children who struggle and consistent assessment support provided for children with dyslexia.  Short term economizing by governments brings later economic and social costs.

The assessment sessions provide an opportunity to meet many interesting characters with curious responses to my questions. I ask one chap if he has been to college before, “no” he responds (with no irony) “ but I’ve been to prison”, not necessarily the obvious response.  I try to focus on education and not get drawn into complicated life/ health/ family/ addiction/ criminal stories.  This is challenging when planning teaching themes. I thought “holidays” was a safe topic and more engaging than tedious work related classes but several students had never been on holiday and looked at me like I was a fool.

Acutely aware of the danger of stereotyping I will provide an insight into the range of students who attend these courses.  Unemployed immigrant care workers whose work has ceased due to their poor literacy skills and the changing requirements of the profession. Middle aged men, humiliated at their jobless position and being required to attend courses after working all their lives in steady jobs, victims of the recession, taxi drivers, mechanics and construction workers. I’ve got by until now without reading so why do I need to do it now? It’s a fair point and I am at times uncomfortable at my own fudge in promoting a basic skills class to them, waffle about the changing job market.  However often these responses are defensive and once these blokes settle into a group they respond, learn, gain confidence and enjoy the process.

Youths, disengaged from society.  One quarter of young people are unemployed and I engage in the barmy task of helping those with no experience make CVs to compete in a harsh jobmarket.  The resulting alienation is unsurprising.

Women in their early twenties who behave like they’re thirteen, glued to mobile devices, watching Jeremy Kyle streaming and screeching at me, on one occasion: “how much do they pay you? Cos I could do a better job, this is boring as shite!”

Immigrants who have melted into the pot, often with no education or literacy in any language, Congolese, Pakistani, Kurdish, picking up spoken English along the way, who have reached a wall in the current harsh job climate.

Men angry at the world, angry at the Jobcentre, angry at me: “NO YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” (and I don’t)…the most challenging, but when they soften and respond it is satisfying.

Nervous people who are not used to leaving the house but come to enjoy the routine and treat it as the focus of their week. Couples who bring packed lunches and bicker in class. Inebriated women who spend the morning class raucous and the afternoon moody and hungover.

The socialization together of these motley groups is fascinating with diverse people merging and forming unlikely bonds. Bonds grow and crowd mentalities form with classes quickly shifting en masse from a positive buoyance to resentment at the teacher.  I am bamboozled by excuses for non attendance at classes which surprisingly often involve dogs.. “I were knocked over by a cocker spaniel”… “mi pitbull’s ‘avin’ puppies.”

A common vibe from new people is fear, their insecurity builds a shield which manifests itself in denial, rudeness and withdrawal. Cracking this veneer, engaging people and coercing cooperation is tough but ultimately rewarding when individuals relax, engage and learn.  One fascinating group who are generally very quiet become enlivened in preparing and delivering presentations,  I give the group free reign and the presentation topics are brilliantly creative: ‘Dragons and Demons’, ‘Sci-fi’, ‘Facebook’…

Job Interviews forms an amusing class topic with intriguing stories. “I got sacked from mi last job in a pot noodle factory cos I twatted a lass”….“when I have an interview, I phone up and see if it’ll be a man interviewing and put on low cut top, works every time!”

To get through to an interview nowadays requires literacy skills and tackling the digital barrier of our age.  I counsel distressed adults who are struggling to find work and facing reprimands from the welfare system to complete their little job books but are unable to use a computer let alone the internet. This is compounded by poor literacy.  Even those who are able to read struggle with locating the relevant information and navigating monolithic websites to locate work and apply. I am bombarded with requests for help to create email accounts.  Patience is required to set up such accounts anyway negotiating tricky security systems and frustrating CAPTCHA texts! (those annoying illegible security texts).

After an interesting ramble back into FE for the Summer I am weary and happily returning to an office job…..

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Bransdale Mill

Following the winding road from Thirsk past the spectacular ruins of Riveaulx Abbey the scenery gives a flavour of fairytale England with flower ringed stone cottages, quaint hilltop churches, Postman Pat and Lord of the Manor.  For a few weeks this summer I have found myself as a part time mini-bus driver, roaming the North Yorkshire Moors.

The bus chugs up the caravan route around Sutton Bank and the hills drop away to reveal the vast splendour of a rolling green plateau. Taking a sharp left at the village of Helmsley we go from rural to wild, heading due North and climbing onto the moors, a dramatic sweeping patchwork of purples, greens and browns. The lane is busy with awkward sheep, scattering white fluffy bottomed rabbits and plump pheasants fattened by the local gamekeepers.  £10,000 a pop for a shooting weekend in these parts where a faded landed gentry clings onto a glorious past. 

 As we shunt into the hidden valley-head of Bransdale my passengers’ eyes are bulging. One young man tells me that he has never been out of the city since arriving in the UK from Africa and our secret destination certainly provides a contrast from the inner-city.

Bransdale Mill is an 18^th Century watermill owned and maintained by the National Trust, rebuilt in 1842 its strong sandstone walls and perfectly carved orange arches still stand strong.  The mill stream gushes past, the colour of Guinness from the iron on the moor.  On my first visit I learn from a wise man about the mechanics of the mill; the old millrace where the river was redirected into a sluice to power the glorious mill wheel, now rusted into disrepair. Strangely familiar technical words that dwell in a historical literary world in my mind. Other curious features huddle around the grounds, a well house, the miller’s cottage, an old smithy and a sun-dial.  

The dial is inscribed with the words:

A modern water-wheel which powers the local farm

Time and life is over swiftly….

An apt inscription for the new found usage of the mill by merry troops of visiting youths. The mill has previously been used as a place of manufacture, a refuge for Polish refugees and a bunkbarn. Another inscription on the mill is mysteriously written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin:

New visitors to the mill inscribe the walls with Arabic, Spanish, Somali and Tigrini....

From its base in Vauxhall in Central London, Refugee Youth has now found a second summer home here in Bransdale.  Despite its remoteness this summer base is accessible from the urban centres of Leeds and Middlesborough.  The mill serves as a place to revitalise the spirits of weary city dwellers including myself, a place for strained youth workers to re-group and a secluded haven of music, food, friendship and creativity. 

After an evening treasure hunt and toasting marshmallows in the bonfire I have a fitful night’s sleep in my tent, punctuated by the cheers from the limbo competition, the rushing river and hysterical bleating sheep at dawn.  Then we head in the bus over the hills to the coast and Runsdale Bay for an afternoon of games on the beach and swimming in the icy North Sea.  We spend the evening playing games and dancing the ‘Jungle Skank’.  Toasting marshmallows on the bonfire I enjoy chatting to new friends from London, Leeds, Leicester, Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Young people from the local farms visit Bransdale and join in the music and fun brought to the dale from London.  Young Londoners visit local youth groups and farms on the moor to learn how to shear sheep and build dams. The mill is facilitating new friendships, growing new projects and rejuvenating its visitors.  Refugee Youth has injected a surreal and exuberant splash of colour into this secret magical northern quarter.

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Defending Genocide with Dr Dre

I visit the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) which are held in a white ex-army base near Phnom Penh airport.

The viewing gallery is nearly full, as we dash in late the hundreds of Khmers in the audience turn to gaze at the barangs filing in; adding to their bemusement of the whole show. A public programme connected with the procedures busses in groups of Cambodians: children; old folk; monks; from across the provinces as part of a reconciliation process.  I long to be able to speak Khmer and ask them their impressions and I really hope that despite the process being so alien that there is some feeling of reconciliation for those older people who have lived through the terrible history of the country.

The court proceedings take place behind glass screens, a grand affair with so many people, lawyers, clerks, computers, interpreters.  Every Cambodian lawyer is shadowed by an international counterpart and there are scores of interns too. Displaced behind the glass the audience are provided with headsets with options in Khmer, English and French. It is quite exciting, like a film, a familiar scene from television, war hearings in The Hague etc. As I am taking it all in we stand as the five judges file in.

I have an information pack which has an excellent level of detail about the Khmer Rouge and the whole proceedings, so I sit down to multi-task, read the notes, take note myself of proceedings and listen to what’s going on. The first lawyer to speak is a young dark haired American man, one of the defence counsel, Andrew Ianuzzi, right from an American court room drama. He starts proceedings by complaining that during the previous day’s hearings Judge Cartwright had been seen to be mouthing “blah, blah, blah” while he was speaking. The matriarchal white haired Dame Cartwright, a leading judge from NZ quickly hides her surprise and composes herself. 

Ianuzzi said he couldn’t find anyinternational jurisprudence on the matter so resorted to quoting lyrics fromrap star Dr Dre: “Some musicians cuss athome but are afraid to use profanity before the microphone.”

Asked by Nil Nohn, the President of the Chamber, to repeat the totally inappropriate and surreal reference to the Cambodian court several times, Nohn finally dismisses Ianuzzi quite brilliantly:   “We are not aware of what you’re talking about, our knowledge is not as high as your’s. Be mindful that counsel is talking to the bench rather than talking to yourself.”

The proceedings then move onto the cross questioning of an old guard. I can’t quite follow the story here but gather he was worked as a guard in one of the Khmer Rouge camps, at one point he repeats one of the old regime’s freaky slogans:

“Disclosing secrecy will lead to death. Keeping secrecy will keep us 80% victory.”

Through the alien legal speak there is some familiarity with the slogan amongst the Cambodian audience and I’m aware of a ripple of titters.

The defence of secrecy seems to pervade the whole tribunal. The regime was clearly run on secrecy so ignorance seems to be an easy fall-back position for defendants and is being used repeatedly through the cases tried.  At the back of the court room the 3 elderly defendants of this Case (Case 002) can be seen cowering and doddering, often being wheeled in and out to the bathroom. It’s bizarre. After about two hours of seemingly inactivity the court is adjourned and will go into closed session.

A Cambodian friend tells me before I attend the tribunal that it is all a long dragged out game and already I can see what he means. It is difficult for me to judge the whole process but a few things stand out. It is 33 years since the Khmer Rouge were overthrown and it took until 2003 to start setting up a tribunal.  Since starting to set up in 2003,  the tribunal has cost nearly $150 million. In that time one man has been convicted, possibly the most evil man after the KR leader Pol Pot who died in the 90s:  Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who was the Chairman of the notorious S-21 prison. Duch received a sentence of 35 years, then reduced to 30 years before being increased to a life sentence. I’m not quite sure why it took 3 trials before an appropriate sentence could be reached for a man responsible for the deaths of some 20,000 people.

Later I visit Tuol Seng, the S-21 prison which is maintained as a museum.  The KR took over a secondary school in the centre of Phnom Penh turning it into an unimaginably horrific torture centre and detention centre, today still you can see the gallows, metal beds, shackles and tens of wooden cells where prisoners were kept in cells 1 metre by 2 metre lying shackled down, starving, beaten and broken. Photos of the prisoners taken on their arrival to the camp are displayed, rows of haunting images of boys, mothers and babies, old ladies…faces of confusion, bemusement, sadness, fear and sometimes defiant smiles. I recognise the Khmer people from the people I know today.

After being held in S-21 prisoners were taken to the Killing Fields by night, having being told they were going to a new home. Loaded off trucks, one by one, people were made to kneel by pits and bludgeoned to death under florescent floodlights to the sound of propaganda music which blared out to drown out their screams. The most heart wrenching and difficult part of visiting the Killing Fields is the Killing Tree where KR soldiers (mostly boys themselves) smashed babies and children to death in front of their mothers.

This was one of many such sites across the country. During the horrific period of 1975-1979 some 3 million people of a population of 8 million died of torture, execution, starvation and disease. The regime evacuated the capital in a 3 day period and the whole population were displaced and made to work the land for rice cultivation and kept on basic rations, families split up and people indoctrinated. Following the overthrowing of the KR, Cambodia was then occupied for ten years by the Vietnamese. Even today the country is totally corrupt and far from a truly functioning democracy.

It’s unfortunate that there cannot yet be justice or closure on the Khmer Rouge period. Case 002 in the tribunal drags on while foreign lawyers delay proceedings quoting Dr Dre. A third and fourth case are under investigationhowever due to alleged government interference two international investigatingjudges have resigned within a recent 6 month period.  I’ve heard it suggested that these further cases may bring out connections with current politicians and governmental officials who are ex-Khmer Rouge cadres. To this end a tribunal held in another country could have avoided such interference.

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Cambodia Pride: Inspirational Family Stories

Many countries have a Pride Day, some a Pride Week, Cambodia has a neverending Pride Festival…10 day of fun, but a little tiring…art, films, drag shows, parties, quizzes, a tuk-tuk race. I spent much of the festival dashing about distributing the CCHR Rainbow Krama (scarf) but the highlight for me was attending the Family Acceptance Workshop organized by Rainbow Kampuchea (RoCK) to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) on 17 May.

RoCK is an organization with a great network of voluntary LGBT activists, led in part by the inspiring Srun Srorn, a leading activist in Cambodia. About 50 people were crammed cross legged into the room with a great mix of young to old LGBT people who had travelled to the capital for the event, visitors from NGOs in ASEAN countries also joined the day.  The morning’s activities were led by a visiting group from Vietnam from the organization ICS who are based in Ho Chi Minh City. ICS came to share the approach used by their project: Parents and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).  Three inspirational and emotional presentations were given by the Vietnamese groups. Firstly 2 mothers of young gay men spoke about their stories.

With interpretation going on between Khmer, Vietnamese and English, and despite the constant murmur from the crowd, participants were captivated by the stories. LGBT people share similar experiences of family acceptance and can relate to fellow stories, these were particularly emotional.

“I threw a knife at him and told him, ‘kill me if you are gay.’”  The mother told, sobbing, with amazing honesty when her son came out.  “I went to church and prayed, I took him to the doctor, I cried.”  She then joined the PFLAG project who run family acceptance workshops and gradually began to understand and accept her son’s sexuality. After her presentation and the other Mother, all the workshop participants queued up to give the 2 ladies hugs. Then we heard from one of the ICS staff who told us:

“My parents took me to the psychoanalyst, they took me to see the monk and he fed me red rice to ‘cure’ me.” Teddy took his Mother to PFLAG and she also changed her way of thinking and accepted her son.  Cambodia and other neighbouring countries are now going to look to start PFLAG initiatives.

 In the afternoon we were treated to a song written by a Cambodian lesbian activist called “Give Our Children Human Rights” then there were 2 more emotional and inspiring presentations. Both by Khmer lesbian couples who have each couple been together for 40 years. The first couple, a manly character with a traditional red krama, and wife with polka dot blouse, both standing proudly with arms by their sides.  She spoke for both of them, explaining she had recognized herself as a lesbian from 9 years old. She met her partner in 1976 and they stayed together through the Khmer Rouge period, during the 1980s they lived together but faced difficulties from their families trying to force them apart and marry men. She told her brother she’d kill herself if he forced them apart. Defiantly and bravely they stayed together and adopted 3 babies from the community and now have 6 grandchildren.

The second couple, who again live and appear as man and wife….I am interested in this way of lesbian couples here living as man and wife but remember that the cultural perceptions here of being lesbian or gay or transgender are much different to the West and confused further by different perceptions of gender.  Again, the man in the couple spoke, they also met in 1976. Through the Khmer Rouge period (KR) they were able to firstly stay together as men and women lived separately, but when they were caught giving each other extra food they were separated and punished. Pointing her finger in the air, tears on her face she stood defiantly telling her story. She was made to dig a big hole for feeding her wife otherwise she would have been killed and in 1978 punished again for living as a couple she faced another obscure punishment of carrying and eating leaves.

Following the KR period when the population was dispersed they spent a year searching for each other. Happily they found each other but faced years of hardship as their families tried to force them to marry and they escaped to other provinces but struggled to support themselves.  Eventually due to their insistence at not being separated they were accepted into their community and the village chief gave a house to live in.  Their extended family began giving them children to adopt and they now have adopted 8 children. Her advice to the young people in the audience is to “love one person, one to one, not ten people!” The response of the participants was electric, hoots and cheers.

Lesbians in Cambodia are doubly disadvantaged by traditional values expecting certain roles of women.  The emergent gay scene in the urban centres is dominated by gay men and lesbians not visible in this scene.  Hearing from these 2 couples was certainly inspiring for me and hopefully for the many young Cambodian lesbians at the workshop too. 

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Fighting for Gay Rights Across South East Asia

I joined a new project team at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) at an exciting time. The SexualOrientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Project works to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Cambodia, particularly those living in rural areas who are misunderstood and mistreated. Part of our work is to collaborate with partners from other countries to share ideas and work together for change. 

So, my first few weeks on the project coincided with Cambodia hosting the ASEAN (Association of South East Nations) Conference.  This is a fledging regional body of the ten member states with three pillars: economic integration; political security and socio-cultural of the 10 member states. The conferences are also an opportunity for civil society organisations to meet and interface with heads of government. LGBT NGOs from across SE Asia attended a Civil Society Conference called the ASEAN People’s Forum in Phnom Penh.  

There were wider problems at the People’s Forum as authorities interfered to cancel or move workshops on ‘sensitive’ issues including land rights, indigenous people rights and Burma.  This disruption seemed to be counter-productive for the paranoid authorities as the resulting outcry from the workshop organisers received wide media coverage because they disrupted the press conference. 

CCHR and Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) – a local LGBT organisation – organised workshops and social events for the visiting friends from across the region.  It was a fantastic experience, having the opportunity to meet some inspiring activists, hear about their work and also have a laugh. We organised a dinner for the group where a lot of time was spent with everyone standing up and introducing themselves, what they do, who they are with and who they may be looking for in life. This made for a fun evening and discussions on the attractiveness of the Phnom Penh tuk tuk drivers!  I felt honoured being the only non- Asian in the group and shared something from my own life, lucky that I come from a country where I've been able to marry a man.

It’s forty years since the UK decriminalised homosexuality, unfortunately the UK transported its homophobic laws half way across the world which still remain in place in many ex-colonies. These archaic laws are used here in SE Asia by Brunei, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore to harass, extort money, arrest and persecute LGBT people.  Where there are no explicit anti-homosexual laws then other countries, including Cambodia, use other legislation to harass LGBT people. In the Philippines an anti-kidnapping law is used to break apart 
lesbian couples in loving relationships.

Currently the ASEAN countries are drafting the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights, with a final plan to be adopted by November 2012 which provides an opportunity to introduce provision to counteract the harassment of LGBT people.  The ASEAN LGBT network are therefore lobbying for the provision of reference to the human rights regardless of ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity.’  It has been leaked that this reference has been ‘blocked’ by certain countries – namely Lao, Malaysia and Brunei.  So, the coming together of the regional LGBT groups at this time is crucial to lobby together.

STRAP Management Committee

13 organisations from 7 countries were able to attend the meetings – all countries in the region are connected apart from Lao. The stories shared were fascinating with a contrast between the most liberal country in the region for LGBT people, probably Thailand and the least liberal (although not without its problems), its neighbour Malaysia.  The ultra right wing, Islamic, Conservative government of Malaysia only this month introduced a ban on gay characters on state run TV.  

Interesting presentations at our meetings included the Seksualiti Merdeka – an annual Malaysian sexuality arts festival which was disrupted and banned by the police last year as the festival was deemed a “threat to national security.”  We also learned about workshops conducted in Vietnam for the families of LGBT people, football matches between lesbians and gays in Burma (the lesbians won), stories from Arus Pelangi Indonesia of the rise in homophobic thuggish behaviour, and a fabulous presentation from the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) who have the most glamorous management committee I’ve seen before.

The outcome of the meetings was a joint statement to lobby the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights and also pushing for the repeal of laws that decriminalise SOGI and to promote the well being of LGBT people.  There was a real energy from the participants and I think the network will continue to grow and push for change in South East Asia…an exciting time for the region with a lot of change, and for LGBT rights real potential unlike the dire situation in the Middle East and Africa. 

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