Roger’s Background

Raised in Kansas, I was trained as a secondary school teacher and first taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Africa. I then taught at the International School of Bangkok and then spent a year in Laos in which I directed a bi-national language learning center in Savannaket. I returned to the U.S. and completed a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at the University of Washington. My dissertation was based on field work in religion and social change in Thailand conducted from 1972-4. After fieldwork, I lived for 15 months in Odawara, Japan. I then worked for 15 years in the field of refugee resettlement in Washington State, Washington D.C. and in Southeast Asia refugee camps in Indonesia, the Phillipines and Thailand with U.S. State Department-funded education programs for refugees bound for the United States.

To help people connect, I use many activities and approaches, including those learned from 1995-1999 when I was the Training Director for 5 different Peace Corps Pre-service trainings, including in Thailand, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan. From 2000-2002, I was Director of the U.S. Peace Corps for Thailand. I speak Thai and Lao languages, and since 2004, have led 10 small groups of travelers to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma). I gain great happiness in assisting travelers see different worldviews, make contact with people of other cultures in a lighthearted, non-threatening way, and gain insights into how to sustain the world and deepen ourselves.

We welcome your call at (505) 254-4666 or e-mail: harmon_roger@yahoo.com