Right in his own backyard

[nyeinchan@xxxxxxxxxxx]

(from Outlook - BKK Post July 2nd, 1997)

Right in his own backyard

Joni Odashao is Thailand's most outspoken hilltribe leader who has spent 
more than two decades proving that Thailand's forests can be saved if we 
return to our cultural roots

Story by Karnjariya Sukrung
Photo by Somkid Chaijitvanit


Joni Odashao, Thailand's most respected hilltribe leader, has travelled 
around the world only to find out that the secrets of peace and 
conservation can be found right in his mountain-top village.

"Our ancestors teach us to protect the water that we drink, to protect 
Nature that we depend on," says the tall, grey-haired 51-year-old Karen 
with a thick accent. The key value, he stresses, is respect and caring. 
"The world can be saved if only we listen."

Few Thais probably know him. The village headman of Baan Nong Tao, a 
forest community up in Chiang Mai's mountains is highly respected among 
environmentalists here and abroad for his commitment to forest 
conservation and down-to-earth wisdom.

In 1996, he was honoured by the prestigious Khon Dee Sri Sangkom Award 
for more than two decades of work in forest preservation as well as the 
protection of the indigenous hill people's rights and culture.

He is also the driving force behind the country's biggest 
tree-ordination event: 50 million trees in 100 community forests in the 
North were ordained to celebrate His Majesty the King's Golden Jubilee 
last year.

"We want to prove that lowlanders and highlanders can work together to 
protect the river basins in the mountainous North. That forest dwellers 
can be the best forest guardians," he said.

It was in the lavish forest of mountainous Mae Jaem, Chiang Mai, that 
young Joni learned the ways of the Karens, memorizing Karen tales and 
customs that have been passed down for generations. And later as a 
farmer, following the Karen's ecological farm rotation system.

At a young age, Joni was the only child in his family to survive an 
epidemic which killed all four of his siblings as well as his mother. 
Joni believes he was probably spared in order to carry out a special 
mission.

Although he was close to his father, he was determined since childhood 
that he would not fall prey to opium addiction as his father did.

The young peasant's life took a new twist when he met a Karen Christian 
priest. He became a Catholic at the age of 18.

Christianity, he says, gave him education and opportunities. With other 
young Karens, Joni left his village in 1964 to learn how to read and 
write in Chomthong, a town at the foot of Doi Intanon mountain.

"I heard people say that whoever studies is smart. I wanted to be smart, 
so I decided to study," recalled the Karen elder. Although his study was 
brief, it was enough to study the Bible which he says is a treasure 
trove of knowledge and wisdom for him.

At 31, he was appointed a Christian leader in the village. Instead of 
taking the Bible by the letter, Joni courageously interprets the 
teachings in his own way, blending his indigenous beliefs with his 
new-found religion.

"The Karens revere guardian spirits who reside in natural things. They 
are manifestations of God. God creates everything including forests. Our 
ancestors tell us to live in harmony with nature. It's the same thing as 
respecting God," he explains.

Being a Christian leader of the indigenous hill people has also widened 
his world beyond the mountains.

He has been chosen to represent the indigenous people of Thailand at 
various international conferences. The Philippines, Japan, America, 
Peru, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia. You name it, he has been there.

A deep understanding of his own culture and extensive travels have made 
Joni, who has only a Prathom Six education, a learned man.

"I don't care about degrees. The world is my never-ending book," he 
says.

"I may know only how to read and write, but I would read anything that 
comes my way," he adds, picking up a snack wrapper on the ground to read 
its English information.

"And if there's something I want to know, I just go to ask those who 
know."

Apart from reading and asking, Joni believes learning by doing is the 
best education.

"One of the Karen tales says that if you want to know how high the 
mountain is, climb it," said Joni, looking upwards to the lush green 
mountains. "I once climbed Mount Everest too," laughs the good-humoured 
elder.

Believing in experimenting, he set up an elephant-tour business ten 
years ago.

"At that time, I heard people talk so much about business, profit, loss 
and capital. I was curious to know what doing business was like, and the 
only way to know is to do it," recalls Joni with a broad smile. "I also 
wanted to know how I would feel, whether or not I would know when to 
stop when I became rich."

After five years, he had the answers he was looking for, and quit. 
"Business is an endlessly moving wheel. There's never enough. You always 
run after it, constantly tired while the debts are like ropes strangling 
your neck," he says, his face growing stern. "I had enough."

While he was experimenting with business, Joni also started pursuing his 
passion to revive Karen traditional knowledge among the young.

As a self-taught man himself, Joni has noticed the weaknesses in the 
formal education system which kill children's curiosity while fostering 
competition.

"Education is not only in schools. It is out there in our surroundings. 
Even forests can be our teachers. Modern education teaches children to 
compete with one another. It teaches children to be selfish and it tears 
away them from their roots," he said.

"I want to pass on Karen wisdom of harmony, between ourselves and 
between us and nature. It's the way to live happily with nature and with 
ourselves. This is an urgent task as schools have invaded every 
village."

Targeting schools, he asks teachers to accept his non-formal educational 
approach to instill in young Karens their ancestral knowledge as an 
extra-curricular course once a week. The course focuses on Karen values 
and culture, and the relationship between nature and human beings.

These lessons emulate his childhood learning of Karen culture through 
myths and tales which children usually enjoy.

As a child, Joni liked to plead with his father and other relatives to 
tell him tales. He refused to listen to the same story twice and sought 
out the people who could tell him new stories until he knew all the folk 
tales of his tribe.

"I learned later that these tales actually have academic and scientific 
inferences. They teach about climate and natural resource management, 
for example. And they are fun."

By keeping the tales alive, the Karen's beliefs and culture will also 
live, he says.

"Our traditions are fast dying. If we don't pass them on to the young 
generation, we will soon lose our ancestor's valuable knowledge 
forever."

For seven years now, Joni and a group of Karen elders have been 
travelling from one village to another to promote the study of Karen 
tales in schools.

But farming is an important part of the culture too. If the Karens do 
not stop chemical farming which destroys the environment and return to 
natural farming, he believes the future is grim for the Karen 
communities.

Joni himself was poisoned by chemical pesticides on a coffee plantation. 
"I learned from my own experience that modern cash crop farming is not 
good for people or the environment."

Chemical farming, he explains, has a negative impact on wildlife and 
plants. Pressure for cash has also intensified poaching among the hill 
people.

"This is because we've forgotten what our ancestors taught us, that is, 
to restore nature if we use it. Modernisation takes us away from old 
wisdoms and finally brings disaster to our life and nature."

His forest conservation work started over 20 years ago when he was 
deputy headman of the village. Although the village population has grown 
several fold, Nong Tao remains lush and green because of strict 
conservation rules and zoning.

Rights violations, he says, remain a serious problem for indigenous 
people who are normally looked down upon by mainstream society as forest 
simpletons. "This is the problem of indigenous people worldwide."

Their urgent problem right now is the threat of eviction. The government 
wants to move all people out of rain-catchment forests, which happen to 
be the homes of many hill people.

Joni and other hill people have joined the Assembly of the Poor to ask 
for justice since they have lived there long before the areas were 
declared national forests.

They also formed the Northern Farmer's Network in 1994, consisting of 
over 100 grassroots organisations, with poh luang Joni as a leader. The 
network aims to increase small farmers' bargaining power on the price of 
commodities. And to promote integrated, natural farming as well as 
forest conservation.

Practicing what he preaches, Joni has used natural integrated farming 
methods for 14 years. "Seeing is believing. People don't believe what I 
say if I don't have proof for them."

Joni says his extensive travels around the world have convinced him that 
people everywhere are facing the same problems which stem from clinging 
to power, greed for money, natural resources wars, intolerance to 
different beliefs, and gender discrimination.

"There is a simple solution to these problems. We've got to truly know 
and understand ourselves and our roots. And to follow our ancestors' 
age-old teachings to live in harmony and tolerance."


"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."


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