One Region, Many Voices

IMAGING OUR MEKONG is annual fellowship programme for journalists who work in print media, photojournalism and television and are nationals of the Mekong countries. The programme, which began in 2002, is jointly implemented by two Southern-based media organisations -- Probe Media Foundation Inc and IPS Asia-Pacific Center Foundation Inc. It is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, with partial support over the years from the Japan Foundation, Oxfam America (East Asia), the Open Society Institute (Zug) and UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific (Avian Flu Series of the Imaging Our Mekong programme, 2007-08 cycle).

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The Jade Rush

Phyusin Linn

Earth unloaded from trucks at mining sites is eagerly awaited so workers can search for remnants of jade that they can make some money from.

Phakant in Kachin state was a very quiet town among the forests in northern Myanmar, before someone centuries ago found the great treasure lying beneath it – jade.

Today, Phakant is one of the most important and dynamic cities in the country's economic landscape because it is one of a few major places on earth that produces the gem.  It has also become popular in the international gems market for its quality jades, and most of the jade ends up across the border in China.

Elephants at Work

Phongsavanh Khammavalong

Uncle Bounlay smiles while standing alongside his elephant, Chanmy, by a pond in Nahai village, Xayaboury province.Uncle Bounlay smiles while standing alongside his elephant, Chanmy, by a pond in Nahai village.When I was about seven or eight years old, my grandfather used to tell me that the villagers had to be very careful not to be trampled over by elephants when they headed for the forest or were walking about in their farms. Indeed, there were many more of the huge animals at the time. Elephants and humans, after all, have lived together for a very long time. The bonds between them are likely to have come from the animals’ use as a means of transportation, and not least due to the fact that the majestic beasts fought alongside various kings in the olden days.

In Thailand, Harvesting Knowledge

Sutthida Malikaew

Migrant workers in orange plantationsCHIANG MAI, Thailand (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Tun Yo may not have known much about the ways of the world when he first came to work in one of the orange groves here seven years ago. After all, he was just 14 at the time and one of the thousands of Burmese migrants who pour into Thailand every year.

From Controlling Pests to Discussing Condoms

Sutthida Malikaew

Yun Lungta with his advocacy materialsAt 45, Yun Lungta commands respect from the Burmese migrant workers at the Thanathorn Orange Plantation in Chiang Mai’s Fang district. As head of the workers, his tasks include helping the plantation manager in pest control, along with some administration duties.

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2008-2009 IMAGING OUR MEKONG DVD SET

The DVD you are holding contains 10 documentaries from Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, China, Vietnam and Myanmar.

A rich mix of video reports from film journalists from the Mekong Region is what audiences will find in the latest set of documentaries produced under the Imaging Our Mekong programme.

These documentaries from Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, China, Vietnam and Myanmar put a human face to cross-border issues that touch on Buddhism, the impact of large infrastructure projects, the rich mix of ethnicity and culture in border areas, and the movement of peoples across borders.

Opening Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong (2007, 237 pp)

 

Opening borders book cover'Opening Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong' (237 pp, 2008), the fifth book in the Imaging Our Mekong series, is now off the press.

The phrase ‘Opening Borders’, which appears in this book’s title, also describes what the 21 journalists whose work appear here were doing while reporting on issues that link at least two countries in the Mekong Region.

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