TIMES UNTOLD BY TRADE MONKEY

As many of you know, I left America to travel the world and embark on a journey to learn more about other cultures and ways of the world. For myself, I wanted to do something good, contribute positively in this world, and hopefully be an inspiration for change in others.

Along my travels, I met Mark and Alana who have become close friends of mine here in Chiang Mai. Inspired by their travels in Thailand, they wanted to do one simple idea, MAKE A SMALL CHANGE IN THE WORLD. And in this simple concept they created Trade Monkey, a company to help independent local artists here in Northern Thailand and connect them to the rest of the world to share their handicrafts while creating better living through economic opportunities for them.

In Mark and Alana’s words, “Our overall mission is to enable micro-enterprise businesses to sustain themselves and thrive, while contributing locally to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. We hand select the items we sell to bring you awesome, unique handmade products. You know where, and who your product comes from.”

Let’s face it; aren’t you all tired of lining the pockets of corporations who clearly do not operate fair trade while making huge profits? Then put your money where your mouth is and help support socially responsible business practices in putting the money back into the artists’ pocket. Be a part of the change in this world and help support Trade Monkey’s vision.

To help them off the ground, they have created a Rocket Hub campaign where we can all contribute. As Trade Monkey has said, this is "not an investment or charity. It is an exchange: funds from supporters for Goods from us. "While I know many of you are backpackers on tight budgets and new families with babies and mortgages, I’m asking you all to be a part of the change in this world starting with your spare change at $1, something we all know we can part with. For those of you who can contribute more than $10, expect to find some lovely goods in the mail. This way, you don’t have to buy that plane ticket to Thailand to get some awesome stuff and you can feel good about supporting artists here.

For some of my friends back home, perhaps we didn’t have birthday cocktails/dinner or exchange Christmas gifts this year. For any food, booze, or gifts you might have given me, I’d rather see that money go towards someone and something useful in this world instead of fattening my ass, decaying my liver, or adding another object into my storage unit that I may not see for many years. If you could find yourself on my friends’ Rocket Hub page contributing those dinners, drinks or “things” you might have given me, I would be enormously grateful and we can all feel good about being a system of change.

Please check out their Rocket Hub page here: Trade Money on Rocket Hub

Or their like their Facebook page here: Trade Monkey on Facebook

And yeah, I took the photos...

THE $25 BIRTHDAY PARTY

Seems to be one happy birthday girl

A few months back, when I first got to my mom’s town, she let me know that it was one of my great-niece’s (the one that looks a bit like me when I was a kid) birthday the following day.  I was pretty stoked about that as I’ve never attended a child’s birthday in Thailand and it’d be fun to help her celebrate and take photos of her and her friends – they LOVE having their photo taken!  It was the very least I could do and my one small contribution to the day since I clearly wasn’t prepared to bring a gift, then I could later bring a photo album next time I come to visit. 

The next day, I wake up and ask if we should go into town to get some items for her birthday and I find out that her mom was having some financial challenges so no party, which apparently disappointed my great-niece as all her friends have birthday parties that she goes to and she wasn’t able to have one on her day.  So I tell my mom I’m happy to contribute to the party as whenever I visit, they typically don’t let me pay for anything since I’m a guest. 

So, my mom orders a custom cake which takes a few hours to make and I find out the price for the two small cakes is 260 baht – a mere $8.50.  Include some snacks, dinner, drinks, etc. for the party and it comes out to less than $25 (that includes lunch for the adults too).  To see the look on her face when she finds out that she is going to have a party for her and her friends is absolutely priceless. 

A birthday party out in the country entails this: several little girls getting together, swinging off tree branches from a platform only to get dirty and hurt themselves on occasion, going out in the nearby field and sing songs with a dance routine, then do some sort of game where one of them acts like a sergeant and gives commands, followed by a game of tag.  Did I mention that this field where they’re playing is where the buffalo often hang out in and there’s buffalo shit everywhere?  Yeah.  Then, they all get together to have snacks and dinner together, followed up with cake, and then coloring pictures together with many giving their drawing to the birthday girl.  Not too different than regular Western parties, however this one is out in the country under a rusted tin roof structure, no theme, no matching décor, dirt ground, an old broken desk with ants all over it, plastic mats on an old wooden platform, two hammocks, a strange mish-mash of ropes, spliced tires and nails holding everything up, and a cement patio table that looks like a tree with blue insides.  These girls don’t know what it’s like to have a themed party and you know what?  They had an amazing time.  They probably had a better time!  No expectations of gifts or what she didn't get, and she didn't miss what she's never had.  Goes to show me that you just don’t need all that crap to have a good time with friends.  (See!  I know why I left doing events for a living!)

One thing I learned about Ip, the birthday girl is, is that she takes care of people.  Maybe it’s because she’s the eldest child of two, with a little sister who is a big handful and hasn’t had the luxury of being selfish.  When dinner was coming out, she was setting the plates and utensils out, getting cups out and filling them with ice and soda, then for her own cake, she was lighting the candles with a little help from her friends, then after she blew out the candles, she put the candles on another cake for her little sister (she can’t be left out of the celebrations so another cake was ordered for her), lit them and lead the procession to her sister.  The entirety of her party she was taking care of others, not stomping around like it was "her day" and that the world should revolve around her for that particular day.  And even when it was time to blow out the candles, she bowed her head (doing a proper Thai wai) and did a prayer.  How many children do you know pray before blowing out their birthday candles??  I’m pretty sure she wasn’t wishing for the new the PlayStation either.  I think the typical prayer involves good health and luck - but who knows, I'm not young girl, she could be hoping Justin Beiber comes to find her in her village, though I'm pretty sure that's not the case.  This little girl is pretty special and I hope she gets every opportunity to succeed in her life and able to celebrate the day that she was born every year.