What Would You Do????

We Are What We Do is a global social change movement. We believe it is not just politicians, institutions and big business that change the world – it is also ordinary people like you and me. Our aim is to bring people together and demonstrate how, using simple, everyday actions, we can create a global movement of doing and changing; doing small actions and changing big problems.

We also believe that every time we do one of these small things, we send a powerful message about what matters to us – to politicians, to business leaders and to those around us.

We started back in 2003 with the simple question, "what would you ask one million people to do to change the world?" We received thousands of suggestions from all around the world and the result was this book, first published in the UK in 2004 and now published in countries all round the world with more editions in development.

The first action in all the books is "decline plastic bags whenever possible" – such a small action and one that we can all do to make a small but important contribution to our environment. So why weren't we, we wondered? We asked designer Anya Hindmarch to help. Together we created the "I'm not a plastic bag" bag. People saw it. And cottoned on. Millions of people all over the world.

We've done loads of other things too, you can find about all about them at our website:

www.wearewhatwedo.org

We've seen the power of small actions. How they can change the big things. And if there ever was a time to be changing big things, it is now. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "We must be the change we want to see in the world."

Who are we?
We Are What We Do.

A Good Cause

I'm going to take a quick break from telling you about Tina's trip (we had a few more adventures together) and take this time to tell you about an amazing guy. Ben Fairfield is a PC volunteer here in Thailand. He is amazingly creative & resourceful (he makes his own soap, can weave backpacks using plastic bags, and made an adobe oven). To top it all Ben has now made a cd. Here are the details:

Hello friends!

Did you know that you can create a convincing drum set out of paper, brooms, screen doors, silverware, and pillows? It’s true! This email announces the arrival of “SMILE LAND,” the latest album from Ben Fairfield, created entirely with instruments and household items costing less than 5 dollars.

Recorded on location in rural Thailand, these 16 songs have something for everybody. And, all the profits from the sale of this album (while we’re still in the country) will be donated to the hill tribe dormitory in our local village. The dorm houses nearly 400 students and provides room and board, life skills activities, and educational assistance for students from very remote villages surrounding our area.

SMILE LAND is now for sale online at http://www.lulu.com/content/2758545 or by from my website, http://www.benjaminfairfield.com, where you can hear audio samples and read more about the process and project.

++++NOTE: the website does not give out my location or make use of the PC logo++++

I hope you have time to check it out. And, if you like the music or the cause, please forward the link to your friends.

Thanks so much!

Ben Fairfield
www.benjaminfairfield.com

You can listen to samples of the music on his website & it's amazing! Please take a listen!

The Waterfalls

The next day, we all went to Erawan Waterfalls (I also went there with my family when they came to visit). There were a LOT more people there this time - which I don't understand as it's the rainy season & technically the "low" season. Here are some pictures...

It was a long trip, but Tina & her mom were troopers and we made it to the top (there are 7 tiers and it took us a few hours to get to the top).

After the waterfalls, we headed back to Bangkok as we had a plane to catch the next morning.

More Tigers

So we showed up at Tiger Wat bright and early the next morning. They had us "make merit" with the monks (donate food) and then they brought us up to the temple for breakfast. We get there, and all the volunteers are sitting in a circle with the tiger cubs running around playing. So we sat down and immediately, one of the cubs come over to me and starts chewing on my pants!

We got it off of my pants & it moved right to my purse!

They were a lot of fun to play with!

Here's Tina.

After we ate, it was time to feed the tigers!

Then it was time to take them for a walk down to the canyon so they could play.

We each took a tiger (with a trainer of course). Here's my tiger.

And Tina.

And her mom.

We took them down to the canyon so that they could play in the water. We had to form a line to "block" the tigers from running out of the canyon. There was NOTHING between us & the tigers & I have to tell you, if you of those guys really wanted to get by, I'm not going to stop them! Here's video of the playing. (We took the younger tigers first & then did it again with the older tigers). Here you can see that there's nothing between them & us.

And here they were playing right at our feet.

And here they're really playing!

After playtime, we had to give them a bath (I don't have the pics for this right now, but I'll get them up as soon as I get them).

12:30 rolled around & they opened it up to other visitors and we took that time to do a little exploring. We found a momma tiger that had just given birth 11 days ago!

There were a lot of other animals on the grounds. Here's a very friendly deer!

It was a pretty awesome experience. And as for the speculation that they drug the tigers, I really can't say one way or the other. The staff at the temple say that big cats sleep during the hottest part of the day to conserve their energy for hunting (even your cats at home spend a big portion of their time sleeping). They also say that drugging the tigers everyday would be physically impossible as the tigers would develop a resistance to the drug & you would have to keep giving them more & more until they eventually die. It makes sense, but then I'm not a vet. If you want to learn more about Tiger Wat, you can visit their website at: www.tigertemple.org.

Tiger Wat

The guesthouse we stayed at in Kanchanaburi was really neat. They were little bungaloes out over a marsh.

The first day, we decided to do an afternoon trip to Tiger Wat. I had thought about taking my family there when they came to visit, but we were told that they drug the tigers so we didn't feel comfortable going (I now totally regret that choice).

We got there late in the afternoon & there was a short line of people waiting to have there picture taken. They had about 10 tigers stationed throughout a canyon & they would take people around to the tigers to have their picture taken.

It was nearing the end of the day, so they made us line up against the canyon wall as they walked the tigers back to their cages.The abbot took the last tiger up & we were allowed to walk with the tiger. (Notice the guy behind me in the yellow shirt? Those are not really his shorts...they were his girlfriends, but as this is at a temple, her shorts were considered inappropriate. She didn't have anything else so her boyfriend was kind enough to switch with her).We were told that they had another program where you could come in the morning & play with the tigers & feed the babies. Tina & her mom really wanted to do it, so we signed up to come the next day.

Bangkok

After a few days in Chaing Mai, Tina, her mom, and I flew down to Bangkok. Where I took them to the Grand Palace...

The temples at the Palace are amazing. I don't like to go there though, because it makes me so frustrated! The charge foreigners a fee for entering...which is completely fine, don't get me wrong, but they do it based only on looks...they don't check identification. So if you "look" Thai, you can enter without paying (one of my fellow volunteers can get in without paying because she "looks" Thai...her mother is from Afghanistan & her father is caucasian).

Anyway, after the palace, we took the river taxi back to the guesthouse then went to Cabbages & Condoms for dinner. And the next day we headed out to Kanchanaburi to see some tigers!

Tina & Elephants

My friend Tina & her mom came to visit me last week. They arrived on the 20th & we spent that first day relaxing, getting foot massages, and shopping. The next day we went up to Doi Sutep Temple outside of Chaing Mai (I've posted pictures of the temple already so I'm not going to do it here).

The next day, we went to visit an elephant camp about an hour outside of Chaing Mai. We were the first ones there so Tina & her mom got an elephant ride in (I skipped out as I've already done it). Then they brought the elephants by for "feeding."

Then they got a bath.

Then we went to the "show." Here's one of the elephants raising their flag.

Then they had a parade.

And took a nap.

Displayed amazing feats of balance by walking on a log.

Did some work.

Painted a picture.

And played us some music.

After the show, we headed over to the animal hospital to try to find Motala. Motala was working in Cambodia when she stepped on a landmine & shredded her foot. She walked to Thailand & found help. They had to amputate her foot & they fit her with a prosthesis. Tina's mom had seen Motala when she was here back in 2002 & wanted to check up on her. So we set off for the elephant hospital. We found a sick elephant.

And some babies.

But no Motala. So I asked some of the elephant trainers & they told us she was at the hospital. So we went back to the hospital & I asked there. They pointed up this really steep hill so we started walking. We had gotten about 2/3 of the way up when a guy on a motorcycle stopped and asked where we were going. We told him that we were trying to find Motala & he pointed back down the hill to the hospital. So we went back down and I asked someone else at the hospital. They told me that she was at another hospital about 500 meters up the hill (the same hill we had just climbed up). As we seemed to be getting the run-around, we headed back to where they put on the elephant show so that I could ask someone in English. We were told that Motala had been moved to the Royal Stables and was not allowed out in public or for the public to visit her. This was pretty frustrating as we had just spent an hour looking for her. So we got on the tram to head out of the park. I could tell that Tina's mom was pretty upset...she really wanted to see Motala, so I gave it another try at the front ticket office. They told me that she was at another hospital & that our driver could take us. The driver went to ask for directions then we headed back into the park. Apparently there are two elephant hospitals right next to each other. The big one that everyone goes to is sponsored by the Thai government. The other hospital is privately run & they are the ones that have Motala. Here she is without her prosthesis.

The surgery to remove her leg made the Guinness Book of World records for the most vets involved any surgical procedure.

Another look at her shoulder harness.Apparently the run-around that we received trying to find Motala was not unusual. When trying to find her, people have been told that she was dead, that they can't see her, or that she was no longer at the hospital. The hospital has received threats & has had a number of suspicious fires set on their grounds. If you would like to find out more information, or would like to help a sick elephant, you can visit www.elephants-soraida.com