Pre-trip by Joel

For this trip to Chiang Mai, our group’s aim is to spread awareness about elephant sustainability. In particular, our sub-group’s goal is to determine the sustainability and effects of elephant poaching and spread awareness or figure out solutions if there is a problem. This trip is my first study trip and will be my first experience with interviewing people about a controversial topic, ivory poaching. This is definitely going to be a unique experience for sure, going with my USP batch mates. We come from such diverse courses which will make learning each other’s perspectives really interesting As a student from Accountancy, hearing other people’s perspectives from other courses will definitely bring more viewpoints into the picture.. I have been to Phuket before which provided me with lots of fun experiences such as bungee jumping, scuba diving and the tiger kingdom. Although the tiger’s in the tiger kingdom are quite pitiful, being kept awake by their trainers using bamboo sticks. Phuket was still a fun, enjoyable experience. Now, going to Chiang Mai to see elephants and covertly uncover the ivory poaching trade is definitely going to be a stressful yet thrilling mission. Chiang Mai’s cooling weather is another plus point to this trip which I am grateful being in USP has given us. Let’s make sure we look out for each other’s safety all the time during the trip though.

Before and during the trip, we would have to figure out the reasons that caused Chiang Mai’s usage of elephants to be unsustainable. We just learnt from Professor Natalie that writing in giving a question in a third-person format would allow us to bring up a sensitive question more easily.. Besides the people we interact with, the topic we are researching for this trip will bring us closer towards understanding the treatment of elephants as well as how they impact the livelihood of the locals. This promotes our interest in the well-being of other people or animals which changes our perspectives and strengthens or improves our principles towards life. For instance, having more compassion and tolerance towards others. Secondly, our communication skills would be needed to hold a conversation with the locals with just our tone as some of them may not know English. Hence moderating our tone and putting on an earnest front even when tired is important to maintain an interview.  Our interpersonal and social skills are practiced on during the trip by interacting with both locals and fellow USPians. Our creativity is also engaged in putting together the videos and pictures to come up with a coherent picture. It will be a fresh experience where the pressure of being overseas, dealing with random strangers and having to come up with a coherent message may give a bit of stress. However this will likely bond us USPians closer, while letting us develop teamwork and leadership where each person’s strong points will have the chance to shine.

 

This overseas trip to a less developed country would open up our worldview and give me a wider perspective on how people can adapt to any situation. Being out of your comfort zone would likely put you in many unfamiliar situations. It is in these situations that you’ll know what you can be capable of and maybe gain confidence in the process. In this globalised world, we are likely to head abroad to work, hence being prepared to adapt to other cultures is relevant to our education. Through my contact with the USPians and professors, I hope to learn more about their perspectives on the various situations that is happening. For instance, what they think about the elephant’s treatment in Chiang Mai, or even daily news. This would allow me to understand more clearly about the different perspectives people hold in life. My contact with the rangers, locals and tourists would likewise give me a limited take on what they think about the elephant poaching situation. Learning to hold conversations with people not of your own ethnicity or race would also be a skill that is distinct from having a college education. Most importantly, you would get to learn how people from different parts of the globe can interact with each other even with their differences which will lessen any existing biases you may have against them.

Personally, I really hope to be able to go in-depth into how the elephant poaching and trading of parts works. I hope to see how the common men whose business involves the above can ignore the fact that elephants may become an endangered species because of their indirect or direct actions towards African elephants. For the poachers, I hope to learn their circumstances that force them to turn to poaching. In the end I hope we can inform the locals and foreign tourists more about how promoting ivory trading harms the elephants they hold dear. Another goal for this trip is of course to make more friends. Being in USP, where everyone is really friendly, I hope I can at least recognise everyone from my batch. Even after going through the USP camp, I’m still unfamiliar to many people and it’s really interesting to get to meet new friends and learn about them. Lastly, I hope my sub-group will have a memorable, enjoyable and meaningful trip producing the deliverables. The idea we have for the video portion at the moment on copying some television show’s manner of speech is going to be a blast emulating in Chiang Mai. Hopefully our skills with our borrowed DSLR will be up to the task.