Section 377

"The following content was contributed by a guest blogger. The opinions expressed or implied herein may not be the opinions of Green Communities Consulting." 

By Silvia Lawrence

When I tell friends at home that I’m working in human rights for Myanmar, most of their reactions include something along the lines of “Oh Myanmar, that’s awesome! Haven’t there been all sorts of great improvements there? Maybe I should make a trip soon…” And they aren’t wrong. Numerous international sanctions have been lifted, President Obama made a highly publicized visit to the country, President Thein Sein enjoyed heavy rumors of a Nobel Peace Prize nod and was recently awarded the International Crisis Group’s prestigious “In Pursuit of Peace” award, and Myanmar topped several lists for best travel destinations  in 2012 and 2013. Myanmar seems to be rocking its international media presence these days.

          

Kandawgyi Lake Photo by Jonathan Rhodes

            Well, sort of. As encouraging as all the optimism surrounding Myanmar is, news reports haven’t ignored continuing humanitarian crises such as the forced displacement of the Rohingya and other violence against Muslims, and continued difficulties in resolving conflicts in the Kachin State. Moreover, human rights violations persist on a wider scale than often makes international news, particularly in discrimination against minority populations such as LGBT people in Myanmar.

            A former British colony, Myanmar continues to use many of the laws and penalties outlined in the Penal Code imposed by the British on its colonies. One of these, Section 377, implicitly prohibits homosexual behaviour, stating:

            “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals shall be punished with transportation for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall be liable to fine.”

            While LGBT people in Myanmar are rarely formally charged under Section 377, the mere existence of the law undermines their legal status and has been used by police as an excuse to detain and harass people displaying what are perceived to be physical or behavioural markers of being transgender or homosexual. Indeed, cases of police picking up transgender people under the threat of charging them with 377 or similar laws and then sexually abusing them before releasing them are not uncommon.  Section 377 also carries wider implications such as inhibiting social and healthcare development, including HIV/AIDS prevention. (Read more about Section 377 here)

             While many other former British colonies left with Section 377 of the Penal Code have raised advocacy against the law, with current cases being heard in Indian and Singaporean courts, Myanmar has shown little interest in addressing it. Moreover, Section 377 of the Penal Code is merely one example of discriminatory laws in Myanmar. And while many may look to international pressure for a more thorough reform of Myanmar’s legislation, the State has yet to sign or ratify key UN treaties protecting human rights such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention Against Torture. Such steps of course take time, but they point to the long road Myanmar has yet to travel toward development and reform.

When Beauty is Only Skin Deep

"The following content was contributed by a guest blogger. The opinions expressed or implied herein may not be the opinions of Green Communities Consulting."      

By: Danielle Hyams

image from http://beaut.ie/blog/

Last week as I was teaching English in one of the Shan migrant camps, a student approached me.  “Teacher,” she said, her face wrinkling in dismay as she pointed at my arm.  “WHY?”  Her reaction wasn’t in response to some outlandish tattoo, rather my freshly tanned skin, a result of the previous weekend spent celebrating Songkran under the blazing sun.  Her confusion was over the fact that I was actively defying a beauty norm, and one that I was naturally blessed with at that.

The notion that light skin is beautiful spans across Asia.  In Thailand, a country that experiences more than 300 days of sunshine a year, people go to great lengths to avoid its effects.  In fact, it seems to dictate daily activities to some degree.  It’s not uncommon for people here to wear long sleeves and gloves on 100-degree days, especially when riding their motorbikes.  Hats and umbrellas are practically requirements.   Asian residents of my apartment building won’t go swimming until the sun is safely behind the mountains.  And finding a local skin product that doesn’t contain a whitening agent is challenging, if not impossible.  Before and after advertisements boasting their results are unavoidable.  Here, the desire for whiter skin borders on obsession.

Light skin is prized and sought after because it represents affluence and modernity.  Here, and throughout most of Asia, dark skin is associated with poor economic standing.  Low skilled and low paying jobs, such as farming and construction often require long, skin darkening hours spent toiling under the sun.

In a way I feel lucky.  It’s only takes me about five seconds to smear some SPF across my face, and throw on a pair of sunglasses.  It’s a lot easier to accept the sun than avoid it, especially in a place like Thailand.  But I’m also from a country where being tan is considered beautiful.  People worship the sun in America -- regardless of the obvious health problems it might cause.

But it’s important to remember that in America, there was a time before cancer causing tanning beds and expensive skin darkening lotions became the norm.  To be clear, a couple centuries ago, nobody chose to look like a Jersey Shore cast member.  Pale skin was a sign of wealth, while dark skin implied the opposite.  It was only when farming gave way to industry did sun-darkened skin begin to go from stigmatized to prized.  Present day, tan skin is indicative of something quite opposite.  Being able to spend long hours relaxing outdoors is a luxury – and one that requires time and money. 

Similar to America centuries ago, Thailand is a largely agricultural society.  Though in recent years there has been a major shift, as young people trade in farm tools for the latest technology and migrate to cities.  As Industrialization and Westernization continue to transform Thailand’s economy, it will be interesting to see beauty norms shift accordingly, or light skin continues to reign supreme.

GCC's first project

By: Jonathan Rhodes
Co-contributor: Green Communities Consulting

GCC spent a month in Hmawbi Myanmar. The living was rough but there was a charm and beauty to the village and the NEED-Myanmar Eco-Village Foundation(EVF) farm. We arrived at a farm that was completely underdeveloped. It was hard to imagine that in three months time EVF will have running water, an irrigation system, staff and student housing, a class room, and working electricity complete with internet. The vision for EVF is bold, and their director is nothing short of amazing. By the beginning of March, this empty four acres had 21 temporary residents working to build the foundations of EVF and in less than 90 days the first crop of students will arrive.

The land itself is situated in an ideal location. The western boarder of the land pushes up against a 20 foot deep creek that fills to the banks during rainy season -though that was hard to imagine in the 100 degree dry heat and with only a shallow 1 foot trickle of water to show. The surrounding lands were dry and dusty with nearly all vegetation dead or wilting but EVF was close enough to the creek that the river grasses and trees maintained a lush healthy green.

A dusty dirt road boarders the eastern edge of the property. The only vehicles that pass here are ox pulled carts, motorbikes, and the occasional supply truck to our farm to drop off bamboo and wood and other construction materials. There are several villages beyond our farm that follow along this road, but the access is so poor that villagers prefer to walk the road. However, this is expected to change in a few years with a promise of a paved road from here all the way to township market nearly 5 miles away.

GCC was brought into the country on a small grant to give NEED-Myanmar assistance. Our project involved a number of activities including helping with mud-brick making, building design, and land use planning. The first order of business when we arrived was to build a water tower for irrigation and toilets for the buildings. This project was where communication, especially with non-native English speakers, became incredibly important. NEED’s site manager and resource officer both had different ideas for the water tower and the final product was a combination of the two’s ideas with on the fly modification to the storage design.  

Once built, we attached a pump to the 70foot deep well to draw water into the storage containers. Then, gravity would do the rest. Irrigation and building water will be supplied by this tank, but drinking water will still be an issue (and a project for the future I’m sure).

Once water access was secured, we focused our attention on building temporary housing and toilets for the 17 NEED alumni and temporary laborers. We also built an additional water access point for bucket showers and cooking, and then begin laying the foundation for the first permanent dorm. We partitioned the property into sections. The northern most point of the property will eventually house small bamboo homes for guests and overnight tourists with a beautiful view of the creek, farmlands and distant mountains beyond. The location where the current temporary housing is located (just south of the future guest houses and the existing small garden) will eventually become the permanent staff housing area. Continuing south, the property will be sectioned off into farming land for various types of agricultural experiments and trainings followed by the education compound. This section hosts the women’s and men’s dormitories, EVF school and offices, and eventually guest offices for NGO’s.  The eastern and southern boarders that follow the dusty road will eventually have a wall. But, at the moment, banana trees line the edges.

We built temporary bathrooms out of bamboo poles, bamboo woven walls, and a thatched roof. The same system was used to build the temporary housing as well.

Finally, we begin the mud-brick project. Due to the dry conditions we had to fill the mud pits with water and allow it to soak into the dry clay for nearly 12 hours before we could begin the mud-brick process. We could add sand and rice husk once the water soaked in. The unanticipated delay meant we only made 1000 mud-brick in the first few days. We would need well over 30,000 by June, the time the new students arrived.   

The end of March arrived fairly quickly and at the moment, GCC can only be in the country for 28 days at a time. As the country changes, we hope this will too. We will continue our work with 6 NEED alumni projects. Three projects have already been chosen: Thuzar Win & San Myint's joint project, San Htay, and Chan Nu Nu. Help us choose the rest. Visit our current projects