Thai Mueang Volunteers at Tomorrow People Conference 2007

Education is a key empowerment tool for those less fortunate, but it is also beneficial for everyone else to take part in every learning experience that is available to them. That is why when Thai Mueang Volunteers was offered a place at this years “Tomorrow People Conference on Social Protection and Poverty Reduction” we jumped at the chance. Being a relatively new NGO, we felt that we could learn from others past experience and more extensive education on poverty and NGO’s roles in relieving it. We were not disappointed.
We traveled to Bangkok and spent three days listening to presentations on various subjects; ranging from the role gender plays on poverty in Limpopo, Africa, to the pioneer fighters of poverty in Egypt to an economic look at how democratic governments affect poverty levels. The variety of these presentations was extensive, but the common goal in each was the same, to fight poverty. In each presentation we found many aspects of the information that we could learn from and use to better our volunteer organization here in Thai Mueang. We were also given the opportunity to present our information to the rest of the Conference and it was very rewarding, in that we were able to receive comments and advice specific to our organization.
We took a lot away from this experience, but the truly important fact is that there are conferences like this out there, for people to go and broaden their understanding of what is going on in the world. The first step in solving the issues in our world today is awareness. We can not truly help those in need, if we do not understand what the underlying issues are.