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Published on March 4, 2008

With light brown hair and green eyes, Hanna "Hansa" Pick delivers a shock when she begins speaking fluent Thai - in the northern dialect at that. But the 32-year-old German was born in Chiang Mai and grew up in a small village in Payao, the daughter of missionaries.

She has fond memories of her childhood in Thailand, fishing and catching shrimp and being able to play outdoors year-round, a far cry from the German winter.

Even with perfect Thai, though, she always knew she was a farang, and recalls being relentlessly kidded by the market vendors. And then, when her parents took her back to Europe at age 14, she didn't feel she belonged there either.

"I was very confused as to who I actually was. I looked like any other German, but deep down inside I felt I was a foreigner."

It was the beginning of Pick's interest in multiculturalism. She graduated from Freiburg University with a master's degree in cultural anthropology, having spent a year as an exchange student at Chiang Mai University and another six months as a volunteer with a Bangkok-based group that helps victims of sexual assault.

Pick says she returned to Thailand not just for the new experiences but to revisit her roots.

"I'm always excited about going back  - it's like going home!"

In Germany she found a way to help Thai immigrants. Frauenrecht ist Menschenrecht (FIM) - the name means Women's Rights are Human Rights - is a non-governmental organisation that since 1980 has been assisting migrant women, particularly Thais.

By phone and in person, Pick counsels Thai women who need advice and help with problems at home, including spousal violence. In the rare emergency cases, she's by their side when they meet the police and lawyers and face the court, and she can find them places in shelters.

"FIM's goal is to empower women so they can decide what to do by themselves," Pick says. "We don't see them as victims but as people who need information. We make sure it's they who make the decisions - we don't try to push ideas on them."

Pick says she's moved when she sees Thai women working hard to earn money for their families back home. There are so many of them, in fact, that she wonders where the Thai men are. "Why aren't they in the pictures at all?" she laughs.

She finds that Thai women coming to Germany are increasingly knowledgeable, and she's seen fewer instances of them being "lured" to Europe by human traffickers.

"They tend to know what they're getting into. Their level of education also seems to be higher."

But generally, their command of English remains low, Pick says, "and that makes it very difficult for them to pick up German". The language barrier often leads to problems they didn't expect.

"Most Thai women think their lives will be better in Germany, that it will be easy to find work and send money back home. But the reality is that if you don't speak the language, you'll end up being a maid in a hotel or a worker in a factory, which won't earn you much.

"Worse, if your husband happens to get sick and can't work, you have to use your earnings to support him too! And this is before you even consider possible problems with your children.

"I've found that many Thai women here are very stressed, depressed and lonely. They have neither friends nor relatives who they can turn to. Some don't dare share their problems with their families back home because they might worry too much.

"Some are also afraid of losing face because everyone at home has high expectations for them. They think that if you're living abroad it automatically means you have money."

Pick's job can be exhausting, but she's had her success stories. "Many people have called back and told us how the information they got from us helped them begin their new lives. That's really encouraging."

Her advice for anyone planning to emigrate to Europe: "Living in a new country where the language is not your mother tongue and the culture is totally different often makes you feel inferior and frustrated. To avoid this, please be prepared and informed!"

Sopaporn Kurz

Special to The Nation

Frankfurt, Germany