re-digging company to spend on cluster development projects No one questioned the

leader in village A, where the clustering has not yet been launched, as to how the same amount - a total of

30,000 baht

- had been spent.

At the outset, I thought it would be easier to get information about health problems from the cluster level than collecting it from a household level. I was optimistic because in January

1 996,

there were two forms of surveys which each village had to complete: the Basic Minimum Needs Survey and a Social Welfare Survey. These two surveys were somewhat overlapping in terms of demographic information, family problems related to health and social conditions, and the process of identifying problems from household level to village level and then to subdistrict level. I had a high expectation that via these surveys I could have an opportunity to get through the process of problem identification. I even offered the village committee, with the agreement of the health workers, that we, the health team, would help them to complete these jobs. Eventually, none of these surveys were completed.

Later on, I tried to approach each cluster chair individually to identify the problems within each cluster. Almost all of them could be described by a Thai term

chaei,

which meant aloof or indifferent. A person who is

chaei

is part of the general Thai value of a kind of person who possesses equanimity or

chai yen

(cool heart). The Thai consider it highly desirable to avoid direct expressions of aggression, anger or hatred. A person who is

chaei

is never caught unaware and never permits himself to be found in an embarrassing situation. I found almost all of the cluster chairs fell into this category. In responding to my question as to how the cluster development fund was spent, four out of six clusters stated that they had spent the money putting fluorescent lamps along the road in their neighbourhoods to make enough light for those who went to work on a night shift. In one cluster, the members contributed another

2,000 baht

to set up a cluster reserve fund (Fieldnotes, January

8, 1 995).

I came to the conclusion that the cluster chairs could not be the research participants

after I approached the chair of a cluster which was situated near the market place, a man

in his late forties who was friendly and helpful. I was impressed by the recognition he received from the cluster members. After the market hours there was lots of garbage in this area especially plastic bags which was really nasty on a windy day. I discussed with

him

how he managed this problem He himself admitted this was really the problem for this cluster. The only thing he could do was to sweep the road in front of his house and his backyard then burn the garbage collected. He asked the others to do the same. In response to my question about alternative ways to manage with this problem he mentioned a village where villagers managed to have a rubbish bin for each house and hired a pick-up truck driver to dump it in the municipality dumping area. I asked whether such a situation could occur in his cluster as I was sure there was enough input

to supply rubbish bins. I asked

_him

whether it was possible to bring this topic for

discussion at the next cluster meeting and stated that I would like to attend. He himself felt this problem was not his responsibility, it should be the formal village leaders. I

shared with

_him

my opinion that each cluster should be independent in solving its own

problems by using available resources which was the reason of clustering. Two months

later he informed me that his cluster had raised

17,700 baht (NZ $ 1 ,039)

to buy musical

instruments to form a band. The

_main

part of the fund,

8,500 baht,

came from a family

who earned a big income from a land sale;

3,500 baht

was donated by the cluster

members; and

5,800 baht

was the contribution of the musicians in the band. They

expected to earn some money from performing apart from entertaining themselves at

social gatherings (Fie1dnotes, February

5, 1 995).

The abbot was another informal leader that I approached, but this too had some limitations. Firstly, was the limitation in his ability to reach people. Though he was a significant spiritual leader of the village he could reach only certain groups of people, particularly those who came to the monastery or those who were included within this specific communication network, usually the elderly. Besides, the monastery broadcast

could not reach even half of village B. Secondly, some villagers criticised

_him

for

spending the money which was raised on each holy day in that he has never made it clear how the money was spent. Some comments were made about his decision to have his place of residence rebuilt despite the fact that the old one was still in good condition.

Another important set of community leaders were school teachers, but the problems were similar to those of the abbot. In traditional rural villages, school teachers were the real community leaders because they were the only educated people in a village and they usually resided in the village and that made them become part of a community. This was

In document Community participation in health development in Thailand : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing at Massey University (Page 102-105)