乐播传媒

The organic rice farmer from Thailand wore a yellow polo shirt, a sign of respect for his country鈥檚 long-serving king. Underneath, the farmer wore a long-sleeve sweatshirt, a sign of respect for the Maine cold, to which he鈥檇 been introduced minutes before, after a car ride from Boston.

Sitting in Perry Atrium during his visit to 乐播传媒 last February, this farmer, named Man Samsee, looked out at frozen Lake Andrews as the afternoon light faded. Through a translator, he asked with a slight smile, 鈥淲hat can you farm here, ice?鈥�

In Perry Atrium, Samrat Thong-Iam (left) and Man Samsee (right) talk with Mallika Raghavan ’08. Working with ENGAGE director Chris Westcott ’03, she organized the Thai farmers’ visit to 乐播传媒 during their national tour. Photograph by Rene Minnis.

The wintry surroundings left the 59-year-old Samsee and his fellow farmer, Samrat Thong-iam, feeling a bit untethered. But as they explained their reasons for coming to America 鈥� for a speaking tour to promote their fair-trade rice 鈥� the farmers鈥� words expressed only optimism. This happy anticipation was due in large part to what had made their trek possible: a network of U.S. college students whose study-abroad experiences had given them first-hand insights into the life of an organic farmer like Samsee or Thong-iam. 鈥淲e know that these students already have a deep thought process about our organic agriculture,鈥� said Thong-iam. 鈥淎nd that makes us proud to share our life stories.鈥�

The student network that embraced Samsee and Thong-iam on their 10-city, seven-college tour last February exists thanks to Chris Westcott 鈥�03, himself a veteran of the study-abroad experience, in South Africa and Thailand during his junior year at 乐播传媒.

Westcott is managing director a San Francisco鈥揵ased program called , a nonprofit that鈥檚 like an alumni office for study-abroad returnees. It works with students emerging from transformative study-abroad experiences, harnessing students鈥� newfound talents and focusing them on various grassroots U.S. projects 鈥� like the Thai farmers tour last winter 鈥� that link back to their abroad experiences and to global issues. 鈥淥ur model is all about returned students,鈥� says Westcott.

Like thousands of returned students before him and since, Westcott gained confidence, self-knowledge, and practical skills while studying abroad. And like many others, he returned home a changed person, feeling out of step with family, friends, and College. Initially, 鈥渋t was hard to connect my experiences back to 乐播传媒,鈥� he says. Then Westcott discovered ENGAGE, founded a year prior by U.S. college students who鈥檇 also studied in Thailand.

ENGAGE achieved nonprofit status in 2003 and now has 400 members nationwide. While its $50,000 budget would barely send a kid to 乐播传媒 for a year, and while its director works a second job at the sustainably focused Samovar Tea Lounge in the evening, in terms of tapping into the energy around study-abroad experiences, ENGAGE 鈥渋s unique,鈥� says Steve Sawyer, associate dean of students at 乐播传媒 and director of the off-campus study program. 鈥淲e know study abroad has a great influence on students. Chris is taking that experience to the next level.鈥�

During last February鈥檚 speakers tour from San Francisco to Maine, Man Samsee and 39-year-old Samrat Thong-iam spoke to fair-trade groups and visited several colleges. At each stop, student members of ENGAGE handled everything from accommodations to publicity. 鈥淲e do the macro organization,鈥� Westcott says, 鈥渂ut the energy of our members makes it happen at the micro level.鈥� Indeed, spending time mostly with college-age activists gave the two farmers lasting impressions of American youth: 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 watch TV and they are vegetarians,鈥� laughed Kyra Busch, who traveled with Thong-iam and Samsee as translator.

Mallika Raghavan 鈥�08 of Chappaqua, N.Y., and Bowdoin junior Bennett Haynes coordinated the farmers鈥� travels in Maine. For Raghavan, who studied in Thailand in fall 2006, ENGAGE 鈥渕eans that my study-abroad experience never has to end. The transition back to 乐播传媒 was difficult, but what helped was identifying with a passionate group of people who were concerned with the same issues I was.鈥�

But more than just a support group, ENGAGE also addresses the perceived lack of equality in relationships between farmers like Samsee and Thong-iam and the advantaged students who breeze in and out of their villages each year. Westcott confronted that issue while studying the role of local communities in managing South Africa鈥檚 national parks. 鈥淪omeone said to me, 鈥榊ou get to use this research. You get to write a thesis. What do we gain?鈥欌�� Westcott recalls. 鈥淚 really struggled to answer that question.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy, really,鈥� he continues. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a student, you get to sit in the study-abroad office, look at a world map, and choose from all these amazing programs. That鈥檚 privilege, and we鈥檙e trying to change that imbalance by building longer-term relationships with communities, in order to give something back.鈥�

After graduation in 2003 as a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa environmental studies major, Westcott traveled back to Thailand with ENGAGE. There, he met and lived with Samrat Thong-iam, helping his co-op successfully establish a fair-trade market in the U.S. (also helping on this initiative have been 乐播传媒ies Kaia Peterson 鈥�01, Alexis Curry 鈥�03, Meredith Maller 鈥�05, and Gene Stewart 鈥�06).

鈥淚 remember telling Samrat we would help him sell his rice in the U.S., and maybe we鈥檇 bring farmers to the U.S. for a tour,鈥� recalls Westcott. 鈥淗e was, like, 鈥楽ure, whatever. We hear people talk like this all the time.鈥� We both had a laugh about that conversation when I picked them up at the airport this year.鈥�

As leaders of fair-trade rice cooperatives in their respective villages, Thong-iam and Samsee, whose rice is sold in Europe, have met many American students, most of whom, like the 乐播传媒ies, have been part of a program in northeastern Cambodia run by the Council on International Educational Exchange. When American students first visited years ago, Thong-iam says he was skeptical of their sincerity. Why were they interested? What were they were seeking? Now, he says, 鈥渨e know they have a real interest in our work in organic agriculture. We have formed real relationships.鈥�

The path from doubt to trust, he says, is like 鈥渟eeing the flip side of a hand.鈥�