Natalie Cataldo
Natalie Cataldo
Thailand 2018 - 2019
VIEW FINAL REPORT
Sawadee Ka! My name is Natalie Cataldo, and I am in Thailand serving as a grant writer for the Wildflower Home in Chiang Mai and the Good Shepherd Youth Center in Chiang Rai. The sister organizations provide free long-term housing, education, recovery programs, and legal assistance for young women and single mothers who have sought help from dishonorable treatment (i.e. racial discrimination, domestic violence, etc.). I am truly honored to be given the opportunity to work with these organizations! Read More About Natalie →

Being proactive! in a ~reactive~ environment.

Hello again! 

So I am a volunteer for the Wildflower Home, yet the tradeoff of work that I am completing for the foundation fits more of the description of a full-time employee. I knew this would be the case before arriving in Thailand, and I think the ability to provide this free service to the home while not having to worry about my financial capability is one of the greatest things about the Lumos Award. 

I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work needed to be done at the home. Within the last two weeks, the overwhelming feeling has only increased as I have seen more and more potential issues/needs/expenses/lost opportunities/etc. Before I go on, let me again say how much I respect and commend the leadership of the Wildflower Home. With few resources, low-end budgets, and barely any recognition or help from the government, they have been able to do so much for many, many women and children that are from all over Southeast Asia. They have kept long, fruitful partnerships and friendships with people that support the home in many ways. I receive requests to volunteer from a least one person a day, and the strong desire of so many to help the home is due to the good nature behind it. And they have never turned away any woman that is seeking help. 

There are many elements to Thai culture that have created it to be a very reactive culture, in my opinion. The hierarchy that exists among the people; the disapproval of questioning your elder; the collectivist pride that looks at Western culture as too individualistic (they’re not wrong). In the short time span that I have lived and worked here, I have begun to notice how the culture does not prioritize structure, time, or conducting work in a proactive mindset. I have been affirmed by many people that this theory is not wrong. And as someone who’s usually in a proactive mindset (I would say to most facets of my life), this is where I am having trouble. During a check up meeting today where I asked the director if there were any ways I could improve, I was told that I have been too critical of the home and need to focus more on being with the mothers and the children. Before today, I would spend time with them at different points of the day or go hang out with the children in the daycare to take a break from the office.  But now I have been asked to dedicate more time of my day out of the office and away from grant writing. I accepted the critique and asked if there were specific things that would be beneficial for me to do. “There are many things. But know that you will learn more from being with them than they will with you.”

I wouldn’t fight that notion. After being a Young Life leader for 3 1/2 years in college, I can confidently say that pursuing relationships with those that live a different lifestyle from me (and come from a different background) has proven to be more eye-opening and beneficial to me than I could have ever imagined. On one hand, I am thankful that time with the women and children is now fixed larger into my schedule. On the other, I am nervous about the long list of things that are asked of me to get done. If I am being 100% honest, I feel that I am in a tough position because I have been brought in to help with planning/producing of funds for a large year of growth for the home. Yet, my questions, concerns, and work pace has created an underlying tension that will only be permanent if I do not change. If the cultural norm is working reactively, then I must dial it back a bit while also getting stuff done that will bring in more money and more staff for the home. No pressure!

I have been reminded of some advice that I would tell my Young Life team back in Nashville. “Remember that you are not here because you have something to prove; you are here because you have something to give.” We recently had some volunteers who’s expectations were not met after the month that they spent helping the home. After signing up for a women’s empowerment program, they felt that helping in the daycare, cleaning dishes, and teaching English for an hour a day was not parallel to the job-description they signed onto. In all honesty, seeing their frustrations both frustrated and humbled me. Seeing them come into the role with expectations and maybe a desire to receive that feel-good “I made an impact!” glory did not allow them to see that by helping the mission of the Wildflower Home in the small (yet mighty!) ways they were empowering women. And by recognizing that in conversations with them, I understood and was humbled by my own expectations that I brought. As the grant writer and administrative volunteer for the home, I want to get. stuff. done! I want to make. moves! My fear right now is that this slight change in my work priorities is going to change the whole route for the rest of my time here. But, I have to keep swallowing my own advice and remember I will help the Wildflower Home improve if I give my all to whatever task they ask of me, not just the ones that I have set out here to do. When talking about the negative traits a volunteer can bring into an organization, my friend Alyson said something that I hope will stick with all of us. What is your heart posture? Are you closed off to some things because they do not match your expectations, or are you open to helping in the smallest of ways because you know no matter what you are helping the organization move towards it’s mission to create an impact?

Before we move on, I just want to clarify that I am not saying my worst trait in the workplace is that “I care too much.” No, no…no. What seems to be happening here is that I am caring too much about things that my organization would rather not focus on, at least for now. I also want to note that the other volunteers that I have come across while working together at the Wildflower Home have been helpful, kind people. I mention their time with the Wildflower home only to point out the way I began to understand my own expectations.

On a different note.....!

  • Random tidbit: a lime to Thai people is like Windex to Mr. “Gus” Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. They are the favored natural remedy to most things, and since my health has been a rollercoaster of ups/downs since arriving the fruit has never been so prominent in my life.
  • October is a month full of donor visits and communications assignments. I have loved the amount of contact I am getting with people as a representative of the Wildflower Home. It has improved my public speaking skills and made me feel like a solid member of WFH team, even though I am just a volunteer.
  • I got locked out of my apartment and was stranded on my balcony for a solid 20ish minutes, alrightttt!

And photos!

 

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Sometimes I will be working and someone will just come and place a baby on my lap. And then sometimes I’ll steal one away and pretend to be working.

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All of my friends!

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Another friend!

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Caught practicing my Thai skills with this man. Was I doing well? Hard to say..

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Some more friends!!

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Lunch at Huay Tung Tao Lake

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Thailand’s okay!

 

Thank you for reading and thank you for caring! Hope you’re doing well.

Natalie

 

9 to 5 – Dolly Parton

Hello fam and friends!

I can’t believe that I have been in Thailand for almost 6 weeks. The time has flown by, and if it is any indication of how fast the rest of my time here will go then I better book my plane tickets for home sooner than later. I haven’t been doing a good job on following schedule with my blog posts and I promise to get better on that. I have really enjoyed my time here in Chiang Mai; however, not everything has been easy, breezy, and beautiful (Covergirl). Since I last wrote many changes and transitions have come into play, and I feel a little all over the place thinking of things I could write about in this post. It’ll probably be best for you and I both if I categorize my writing into three main point: the good, the hard, and the laugh-worthy. 

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The view on my commute to work!

Things that have been hard…

  • I am thankful to be working with the Wildflower Home. The foundation is doing and has been doing wonderful things for women and children that are from all over Thailand. My volunteering placement has also happened at a really cool time where I am able to see a lot of growth happening with the foundation. What has been hard is that there is a lot to do. I didn’t expect to be as overwhelmed with my work as I have been these past few weeks, and I don’t expect to completely lose that overwhelmed feeling. Navigating communication barriers and showing loyalty to those I work under has been a constant hardship. Thailand is a free country yet cultural hierarchy and the disapproval of asking “why” create paralyzation in a workplace . Because I have newer eyes in the work place, I am seeing things and procedures that I question or suggest could be done in a different way. I’ve learned that more time is needed before I can ask questions without being seen as offensive to the traditional procedures. As for my grant-writing, I have about four different project proposals for the WFH that I am working on.
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Some of the children all sitting around a mothers cell phone and watching a video on the ABC’s.

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The mothers got each others backs.

 

  • The amount of waste that is everywhere and the large plastic consumption is hard to see. In the last few years I have become more interested in living a more conscious and considerate lifestyle when it comes to my money (the way you use your money is a vote towards the world you want to create!) and the way I treat the earth. Plastic is used excessively in Thailand. For example, if you order a piece of cake there is a large chance that they will have put a layer of plastic around the outside before you eat it. **Do they know that no amount of plastic will stop me from absolutely demolishing that piece of cake?** Plastic bottles can be seen everywhere as the natural drinking water in the country is not deemed as useable. If you are interested in learning more about the plastic consumption (dare I say critically) used in the country, I would recommend the article connected to the link below that has some good information on it .
  • I was able to get my Thai license! This is good for a number of reasons, yet the process to get the license was unnecessarily difficult. Before coming to Thailand, I had expressed to a few close friends that I was interested to gain a little perspective on how it was to feel as a part of a minority in a country. I am not ignorant of the big factors that are still present with me; I continue to have stronger privilege here than most. Yet during the process to receive my license I was openly discriminated against and understood several attempts to either turn me away or bribe money out of me. And surprisingly, it was all from women! Multiple women made up lies and told me over and over “I don’t speak English. You cannot have license.” That statement was not fully true, as it is legal for people with the Visa I hold to receive a license after going through the right procedure. It took four days to complete the process, and I left the department of transportation pretty upset because of how exhausted and frustrated I felt. I also left feeling pretty convicted of how self-righteous my mindset was throughout the whole process. I remember reading the Lumos blog of my friend Madison Barefield who went through the something similar regarding her VISA. I was also humbled by the situation, and understood her when she wrote:

    As an American, a white, middle class, educated, straight, able bodied American, I have not been denied much in my life, especially when I have followed all the rules and done everything “right”.  This is one of the most poignant moments for me realizing that this happens to so many individuals.  People wanting to immigrate here to the states, or even simply visit their loved ones.  Arbitrary reasoning and unnecessarily difficult procedures are routine in the visa process to enter the United States as well.  And in that moment, I realized this is how most individuals feel: hopeless, powerless, frustrated, defeated.  It was quite a sobering moment.  South Africa owes me nothing, though I went in with the mindset of an easy visa process because why wouldn’t they give me visa? I followed the directions, I think I am pretty nice, I had good reason to to go, I have good intentions, I am not a criminal (the FBI even said so).”

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    One of the roads I practiced driving on. You can’t really tell, but there was a large drop on both sides of the pavement. Rice would be everywhere if I fell!

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    I eat rice usually twice a day. Probably not from this field but I’d like to think so.

    Things that have been good!

  • I moved into an apartment in the city! Although I enjoyed living on the WFH property, it was hard for me to leave the property for security reasons. This made me feel a little too secluded at times, and I was not able to see or do much in Chiang Mai apart from working. Living on the property also created an unhealthy work-life balance. The move into an apartment was easy and I was lucky to have my friends help me with the whole process. I didn’t expect to move out here and live on my own, but I am loving it!
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My new apartment!

  • I’m learning more about politics. Listening to NPR podcast updates and The Daily podcast has been a great way for me to prioritize following along with the news from the United States. One of my goals when I came to Thailand was to really implement time towards learning about politics and our country’s current situation. I’ve always had a strong interest in learning about the social issues that dwell in our country (and in others), but I have not pushed myself to go further in understanding the political system we live under.
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One of the mothers learning English.

  • I bought a motorbike!!  I look like a fallen member of the blue man group riding around on my blue bike with a blue helmet, but it’s super fun and I have been able to see much more of the city because of it.IMG_9122
  • The Wildflower Home is in the process of building a new home for the mothers and children on the property! It’s been fun having the property be so busy and full of kind people, and I feel lucky to be here in such a time of growth for the home. By next summer, the Wildflower Home will be able to take care twice as many women and children as they can now.
  • I love learning Thai. The language is difficult and I mess up a lot, but my teacher is extremely kind, encouraging, and patient with me. The language has 5 tones, and if you pronounce a word incorrectly it can give your sentence a whole different meaning. My teacher thinks I am doing well enough to start reading and writing Thai, but I’m not sure I have the mental capacity to include that during the 9 months  here I have left. So I will continue to practice speaking and writing Thai phonetically, Here is a chart to show you how complex the vocality of the language is.
  • Screen Shot 2018-09-19 at 1.54.28 PMLastly, I am excited to say that we have received a small grant recently that will go towards a solar panel unit to heat water in the new home for the mothers! Yahoo!!

Things that have made me laugh.

  • On her last day, a volunteer who helped at the Wildflower Home for three weeks asked Sister Anurak if she was religious. Sister then proceeded to say “Oh yes, I am Catholic………(minutes later)……Did you not know that I am a nun?” The Sisters here wear a mixture of formal and informal clothing so I could understand how you wouldn’t predict each Sister was a nun upon viewing them........ But... they are referred to as Sisters? 
  • The women in charge here remind me to appreciate the smallest things that bring joy. If we split a packet of Oreos, there is a 100% chance that I will be asked/reminded “Wow, this is nice. It’s nice, right?........... Wow, so good!” They squeal when I make them coffee and say “Oh thank you! SO gooood!” It’s the best thing to watch them get so excited. One of these days I’ll have to find a non-creepy way to get a recording of it . 
  • The women love to see how much spice I like in my food. Sometimes they try to protect me from food that they have made that is too spicy for me (but their babies eat it just fine). There have been a few instances where I’ve tried to prove them wrong and have ended up looking like a tomato with sweat dripping down my face.

Here are some more photos of my time here in Thailand:

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We celebrated Mother’s Day by having a Thai-style barbecue! Raw meats and vegetables on the blue plate are cooked in the broth and heated surface on the round silver plate. The food was amazing, but so spicy! This was one of the nights that ended with me laying on the ground in complete disbelief of how hot my mouth was.

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Some of the women here are wonderful seamstresses and sewers. They make bags that are shipped all over the world.

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One of my favorite meals, noodle soup!

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Another favorite, Tom Som soup!

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For about 30 minutes I became the owner of a stray puppy. I named him Somtum, which is papaya salad in Thailand that is SO good, and I loved him very much. Turns out he has an owner but I pray and pray that I will see Somtum again!!!

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Love of my life.

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Making soap with the women.

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We hiked up a monk’s trail named Wat Pha Lat. Many monks hike up the trail everyday starting at 5am.  It  would not have been polite for me to take a picture of them, but the monks almost look stoic when they are praying and meditating.

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Wat Pha Lat

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Wat Pha Lat

Stage SIX A

The new home being built for the mothers and children should be completed by May, 2019.

 

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One of my favorite spots on the Wildflower Home property – in the garden.

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Eating ice cream with two other volunteers, April and Celine, and Sister Anurak and Sister Lena. Here we are all smiling, but in reality we were all so hot and tired on this particular Monday that we all just sat in silence eating our ice cream. It was awesome. And well-needed.

 

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Eating hard boiled quail eggs. Geng mahk (very good)!

That’s all I’ve got for this update. Thank you for reading, and I hope you are doing well wherever you are! More photos and updates to come.

xoxo, Natalie

Update: I’m doing just fine!

 Friends and family! I am alive and well!! 

I have officially been in Chiang Mai for 13 days, and it has been a complete rollercoaster of emotions. The first two days of my transition were incredibly difficult. I arrived to the Wildflower Home with a heavy heart as I began to feel the shock of understanding how far away from home I was. This was expected, yet it was hard for me to receive the warm welcome from the residents of the Wildflower Home. I arrived around noon last Thursday to the home and spent the day at the compound settling in to my room and napping. With the help of a nap and a good nights rest I, thankfully, have not suffered from any jet lag. Khop khun pra jaaw (thank God!!).  Here are some pictures of the Wildflower Home!

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Here is the home where the office, kitchen, children’s play area and sewing room are all located! It is a beautiful building and creates a serene environment for all that takes place within in it!

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This is the path that leads to the volunteer home where I am staying. It is a beautiful walk but at night it can be truly terrifying. The women that live at the Wildflower Home are spread out in many different small buildings across the property. Two mothers and six children live in the house with me!

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This is the home where I live. It is located next to the farm on the property, so I usually wake up between 5:30-6:30am when the animals start crowing/screaming/singing/mooing/yodeling/ cackling/whatever they do. 

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The staircase up to my room. You can’t really tell from this photo, but the width of the staircase is quite small! 

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My room! Behind the curtain is a small bathroom. 

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The other side of my room!

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The homes that the Sisters live in. Surprise! I live in a convent! The Wildflower Home is a continuation of The Sisters of the Good Shepherd founded by Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Angers, France in 1835. Although I am not Catholic and I am not here to further their religious mission, I am excited to learn more about Catholicism and Buddhism (over 90% of the country claim to have Buddhist faith)!

The first week of being here has been predominately focused around getting me settled, mentally and legally. I have been to the malls around Chiang Mai almost every day because the immigration offices or important resources are located within them. I have seen and done a lot throughout my nine days here, and I am grateful to say I have found friends to do things with on the weekends! Here are some pictures of them!

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Since being here, I have written and organized documents for the future WFH volunteers, including “letters of invitation” so they can be granted a VISA to enter into Thailand. For this week, I will begin my position as the grant writer for the Wildflower Home!  I am excited to really apply the knowledge I acquired from learning about grant writing (and social entrepreneurship in general) during my time at Belmont. I think the beginning process will be tricky because there are financial documents that I will need to locate around the office and in the computers. I also will be creating a timeline of grant deadlines so I can be on track with applying or reapplying to the foundations and/or sole funders.

I am really, really excited that I get to be here for 10 months. The transition part isn’t over – I am still homesick at times and I am constantly wishing that the ones that I love could be here experiencing this with me. But I feel grateful to say that this time away from my community and away from the culture I know/love enables me to see how much of my life is truly meaningful. That may be an unexpected ending to the sentence you just read, but I mean it! Life, in all facets, is meaningful and purposeful. And although it does not take opportunities like the one I am on to recognize this, I am thankful that this opportunity is constantly reminding me of this belief. 

I will write soon! Kob kun ka (thank you)!! Thai language tutoring starts this week.

 

 

See you soon, Thailand!

Hello all!

Hope you are doing well. I am back in Georgia helping my parents  move out of their home and settle into a place in Atlanta (little guys just graduated from college and are going out into the big world!).  I moved back home from Nashville a week ago today, and I leave for Thailand in exactly two weeks from today. It’s a wild time of change for us all, and I have only been able to grasp this transition in small moments every so often.  Being home and visiting all of the places/people that shaped me as a young girl has been encouraging and motivating in the days leading up to my departure. I keep seeing flashes of my younger self (as corny as that sounds) and the dreams that I had heading into college. My time at Belmont was much more formative than I ever could have envisioned; all aspects of life were heightened in the past four years. Or maybe I became more capable of recognizing them (I should do a quick lil shoutout to the Enneagram, Cristi Williams, Hillsboro Young Life and Midtown Fellowship Church – 12 South location). Regardless, I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last four years, especially in the last two.

I came to Belmont knowing about the Lumos Travel Award, and to this day I cannot get over how wonderful of an opportunity it is for Belmont students. Throughout college, unexpected things happened – good and bad – that made the direction towards this trip sort of fuzzy, and at times I wondered if applying for the Lumos Award was something I should move towards. In the end, I am thankful for how things played out.  It’s cool to see that the “big-girl dream” of mine to live in another country for a longer period of time has come true, despite obstacles or times of uncertainty. To have the time to serve the organizations and help them with their mission makes my heart feel full. I cannot wait to be a friend to these girls at both organizations!

I want to say a quick thank you to some of the people who may be reading this, because they helped in some way during the application process for the Lumos Award:

– Iris Chiang, Lauren Deklava, Ishpreet Batra, and Madison Barefield: For the meetings, random questions texted to you, and wisdom you granted me.. THANK YOU! Your patience and time devoted to helping me was an incredible and undeserved gift! 

– Thandi and the Lumos Committee:  Thank you for believing in my project proposal and taking a chance on me! You have given me a great example of giving others kindness and love through assistance. 

– My family:  Thank you, thank you for reading over my application constantly for about two months last year. I don’t think I’ve seen a google doc filled with more highlights, questions, and corrections. You guys keep me humble. And you are my biggest blessing.

– Big Red and my friends: I love you! Thank you for encouraging and celebrating me!!

I’m pretty much ready to leave for Thailand except for wanting to be with my friends and family for a little longer. I’ve bought everything I need, may need, and just don’t need at all for this trip. This Thursday I’ll have my last vaccine done and my sweet mom is coming in case I need a good slap in the face to prevent me from passing out (shoutout to  Maty for coming with me last time and standing ready). We are going to get ice cream afterwards. These days are bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter.

I’ll be settled in Thailand the next time I write a post. Bye y’all! See y’all! Love y’all!