Qui Bangkok, a voi Alumni - racconti dall'estero di Alin Horj, UNESCO
Thailand on the field!
I am always happy to give updates about my internship at UNESCO Bangkok. So many interesting events are happening here that it would be a shame not to share them! The past few weeks were about putting theory in practice, and a lot of credit goes to my supervisor for this. He is a revolutionary and inspiring man!
Recently, he participated as a speaker at a University conference on "Unequal Worlds of Development: Crisis of Public Knowledge, and the Transnational Social Science Agenda in the ASEAN region". I had the opportunity to attend this conference too and it was not only an occasion to learn something more about social, political, and economic issues in the ASEAN region, but also to meet some very interesting people.
Furthermore, a few weeks ago I have been to a park in Kraeng Kachan, a region at about 150 km out of Bangkok near the Myanmar border. I was with my supervisor and two of my other colleagues. We had to make the final arrangements before the UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassador Programme would take place and which would bring around 100 peace ambassadors from around the world to plant 250 trees in the park, which was just inaugurated as the International Peace Park.
Waking up early in the morning at 5 and 6, was the best time to work in order to avoid the sun heat later on. We worked so much in the park moving stones, cutting trees, irrigating gardens, constructing a biological toilet, and many other things. We even made up some 7-8 wooden chairs! Darryl is also very appreciative of every being on this earth, even a small insect! Incredible and very inspiring.By loading his car with all instruments needed to work in the jungle, and getting to pretty remote areas, it also seems like he likes off-roads but I believe he will have to check up his car more frequently.
All these activities made me understand that Darryl is a on the field person rather than an office one. Thanks to this, I now have a different view about UNESCO's work and I appreciate and better understand its activities. I must admit that thanks to my supervisor, this internship turns out to be more practical than I expected, which will definitely be useful for my academic and professional career.
