At the mention of Peace Corps, many people in the U.S. think of mud huts, no electricity, no running water and being out in the bush. Nothing could be further from my Peace Corps reality. I live in a cement row house, with electricity and running water pretty much constantly in a rural community. But that doesn’t mean that Thailand, and more specifically my village, is not in a state of development.
Last year, the staff of Peace Corps Thailand invited Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the former Secretary General of ASEAN and student of Peace Corps volunteers, to come and speak at Group 124’s Mid-Service Conference (MSC). By all accounts, his contributions to their MSC were extremely enriching; the volunteers went on to nominate him for the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award, which is given to someone who grew up in a country served by Peace Corps, was influenced by PCVs and made a contribution to their country and world, which he won and received this month in Nashville.
Having heard about this from my friend in group 124, I was looking forward to who would be invited to speak at our MSC, which took place at the beginning of April. In my conversations with staff before the event, they wouldn’t tell me who it was, but would say they were very excited for who they had invited. Turns out, we volunteers were as well; Khun Mechai Viravaidya is Thailand’s biggest name in development, starting with family planning, branching out into business development, HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness and now running a school that embodies the practices that he so deeply believes in. His life story is extraordinary.