absolutelyBangkok archive · Culture & Arts
Originally published Sept. 17, 2009
You don’t have to be a stranger to face a culture shock. For most of you life is easy anyway. The color of your skin or depth of your pockets may buy you entry into any society.
Being strangers in their own country, that’s the reality for millions of Thai people. The exception of the paper plane boy Mong proves the rule. Bias, prejudices, ignorance, you name it.
The Asia Foundation attended to this issue with a project called Culture Shock. Explains the foundation: “Each year in Thailand, many graduates of the Pondok schools, private Islamic religious schools in the southern regions, have the opportunity to continue their studies at esteemed universities in Bangkok. But once they arrive, students often find adjusting to life in the big city confusing and challenging. As a result, many choose to withdraw from their schools.”
The foundation’s project helps high school students in southern Thailand prepare for this by giving them tools:
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