Those of us that are in the Hash love it and we are pleased when we travel to other places in the world and they have an active Hash. To those of us that are involved, it is a big part of our lives and we can't imagine living without it. However, not just everyone knows what HHH even is and doesn't share our enthusiasm for it, so it can be tough even when you already know that it would be awesome if people would just get involved.
Recently, we had a long-term member of our Chiang Mai group that had to move back to her home country for various personal reasons. She lives in Kinaliada Mahallesi, Turkey and sent us a few pictures of the wonderful potential that this place has for a potential Hash chapter.
It appears to be a really large city but a lot like Chiang Mai, it is also quite near nature that is relatively unspoiled as well as unused.
There are loads of nature trails just outside of the city but it would be too far for the inhabitants of the city to walk there. A bus would need to be organized because one thing the Hash never does, is drink and drive.
There is also plenty of hills that are not too difficult, just like Chiang Mai and the people who own the land, or the government that maintains it, doesn't seem to be all that concerned about people using it. I presume this would change if people were wrecking stuff, but that is the opposite of what we do. We are likely some of the most environmentally conscientious people on the planet.
Despite this wonderful surrounding and close proximity to where around a million people live, our compatriot from Chiang Mai who returned to Turkey is experiencing great difficulty in getting people involved and a large part of the problem is that if you are starting a new Hash chapter somewhere, it can be very difficult to convince people that the HHH is something that can be a really wonderful part of your life. Most people don't even know what it is or that it exists all around the world. It has been many people's experience that they go through the trouble of setting up a trail and getting people invited only to have most or all of them bail out at the last minute. This can be very frustrating because someone has to put up the "seed" money to get it started in the first place.
This is one aspect of including a bunch of borderline alcoholics into a running club: They have a tendency to make promises while they are drinking that they will bail on later. This is exactly what she has been experiencing when she is trying to get her chapter started up and she is not alone.
There are thousands of Hash chapters around the world but there are tens of thousands of 'inactive" or "dead" chapters that shut down because 1 or 2 people were doing all of the work and no one else chipped in to help. It is actually quite a lot of work for no money so if the participation doesn't happen, the admins, so to speak, will eventually give up.
I suppose we are lucky or we just stuck at it long enough in Chiang Mai that this is not an issue for us. We have so many people interested that there are some events that we have to "cap" the amount of people that are allowed to attend.
I wish her luck in getting her Hash chapter off the ground but there really isn't much that we can do to help here thousands of miles away from Turkey.
If you are in the Chiang Mai area and would like to join us please do so! I promise it will change your life for the better. Full details about our thrice weekly meetups can be found at our official website
I can see that being a big problem with only 1 or 2 people organising the events. You are definitely lucky having a busy well run chapter and can see how hard it would be to get going.
I ask the guys about how things were here before it really started moving and they told me that it was very touch and go and that there were several times that the chapter was shut down only to be revived again later. A lot of work goes into a Hash and if only a couple people are going to do all of that (for free) it wont last long.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ