The art exhibition "Tor zu Thailand" (Gate to Thailand) has been opened at Kreishaus Paderborn on June 29th. Until July 16th, four Thai artists are displaying some of their works, in which they distinctly express their affection towards their native land. Along with our member Suchada Beyer, artists Aunchun Hirling (Stockach am Bodensee), Walawal Albrecht (Esslingen), and  Dangkorn Promjai (Munich) are participating in the exhibition.

The opening has been acoustically accompanied by Thai music performed by Chalat Worayanyong and Patima Saiswasd Beyer, suitably attuning the audience to the general theme of the exhibition.

Director of district Heinz Köhler in his opening speech expressed the city's concerns in promoting the integration of immigrant people in the Paderborn area. This has already been shown by allowing our club to use the kitchen of Helene-Weber-Berufskolleg to hold Thai cooking classes. As an aside, Mr. Köhler has elaborated that the symbol displaying three rabbits in our club's logo does not only express our bonds with the city of Paderborn; it also represents our connections with Asia, since the symbolism of the rabbit is supposed to have its origins there, while it has been adopted by European culture in the 6th century.

Subsequent to Mr. Köhler, Mr. Ulrich Schwenk from Royal Thai honorary consulate Northrhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony has explained the role of arts as a means to bridge the gap between different cultures:

"The importance of artistic exchange cannot be overemphasized, since it helps to overcome prejudices and barriers between people by means of meeting, discussing with and learning from each other, thus promoting cultural as well as political, social and scientific relations. Yet, this process does not take effect instantly, but has to be steadily growing within generations. Thus, bridges are built between our societies, by supporting cultural, intellectual and private exchanges, and by establishing a network of institutional and personal connections between Germany and Thailand.”

We as Freinds of Thailand Paderborn also have grasped the opportunity to present ourselves to the public. Monika Brand gave a short overview about the history of our recently founded club, by explaining the development from a Thai language course to a charitable club bound to help integrating Thai people living here as well as promoting Thai culture in the district. We hope to have raised interest in all those generally interested in Thailand and Thai culture and who wish to join a group of people for participating in common activities. To get to know us better, everyone is kindly encouraged to attend to our regular meetings or join one of our various activities, about which we will inform both in this web pages as well as in a circular e-mail that may be ordered in our “Newsletter” section.