The following reflections were inspired by the questions asked through an interview by Biliana Boneva, a journalist from Bulgarian National Television: Hooks Reflections: Introducing myself: My name is Hook I am Moken. My parents saw the changes coming for the Moken and they felt the need to teach us both cultures. So, I grew up attending Thai school on the mainland while also learning the way of life of the Moken, living on the Kabang. I have seen the differences in [...]
The Rains Have Come, The Park is Closed The National Park on Surin closed 5 days before the official end of the season due to bad weather. The Park is open for tourism from November to May, during the dry season. The tourism season is when Moken make most of their income, working 7 months of the year for the park, various speedboat companies, and jobs on the mainland. The monsoon is when the Moken come together, as the men returning from dry season employment [...]
All Moken have moved from their temporary shelters into new homes. In total there are 61 new identical houses, built of wooden beams and thatch walls. In addition to housing, the government has also provided bedding and basic kitchen items. As the hard-working soldiers have moved on, the villagers are finishing the last construction details by themselves such as the fence around the front porch and added a bamboo frame to stabilize the palm-leaf roofs. For the interior, Moken men are busy building racks and [...]
Although the houses are almost ready, they are still waiting for the third and final delivery of nipa palm leafs. The leafs are used to cover the roof and the sides of the houses. The authorities have been searching three different provinces for the leafs. There are many different types of nipa palm, but the ones they are searching for are of very good quality and harder to find in Thailand. When the second delivery of nipa palm leafs arrived in the National park boat [...]
An article published by the Guardian recounts the burning of the Moken village on Koh Surin and its aftermath. As amenities are still lacking and must be shared among the 273 people whose homes were destroyed, “daily life is challenging.” After the incident, the park authorities and the Thai navy quickly stepped in to provide financial, material, and organizational assistance to the Moken. However, the article criticizes their rushed initiative to restore the village to its previous state. For one, crowding the many small huts, [...]
We are grateful to Kristin Sherwood for the lovely blog describing her stay with the Moken of Surin: "Imagine waking up to the sound of water lapping along the shore, a picture-perfect beach outside your window. The shallow sea is a mesmerizing aquamarine. There are no cars, no commercial fisherman, no loggers to threaten this paradise. This was my reality for three days, as I visited the island national park of Ko Surin in southern Thailand. I was one of the lucky few, having come with Andaman Discoveries, [...]
