health and money

So week # 2 has now passed! Yikes...that's half way already! So far I've mostly been in one place, but that is okay..because its let me spend time with some incredible women and see the work that's going on in dealing with prostitution issues. The women who are working at NightLight are so dear and fabulous. It's exciting to see lives turning towards the upside.
The last few days I've been hard at work (mostly) doing stuff around NightLight. There was a grant due today which we got off just in time. And there was the health survey. It went through alot of processing and reminded me of all the nitty-gritty details that public health surveys scrutinize over. But we went out a number of times to the bar areas and met with girls. I got to sit around and observe mostly. I did finally get to have some conversations and try out my Thai while girls tried out their English on me. It was fun to interact with the women in bars in that way, it made them seem very normal to me. The picture I'm including is of an infamous little area called Nana Plaza which houses over 50 bars/strip clubs/prostitution venues. The front areas are more bars and then behind them sit go-go clubs and behind them sit show bars.

As we went there in the afternoon it was a pretty laid back atmosphere, but as the evening started we watched the girls coming into work and the crowds starting. It's interesting, this huge shrine sits in the front corner of the plaza and all the girls bring things to it and light incense and stuff as they come into work...and also when we were in an upstairs show bar, they had a little shrine and as the girls exited the dance floor they stopped and did a little bow towards the shrine.

The grant was frustrating to me because it really enmeshes you with the political process and how our world is organized...and its so annoying! The way you have to present and sell yourself to organizations that can fund you. How you have to put down on paper so committees can go over and scrutinize it, your document...instead of just interviewing the organization and really seeing what's going on. The way that people who make the major decisions of how this world runs are so removed from what's actually happening in the real world. Hmmm...reality of reality - rah!