How good is it !!

 The "Water tanks for vulnerable households at Wiang Khamfa, Chiang Rai, Thailand" was completed well by September 2020.

 Not the achievement make us feel good but also what we learn and share along the way.  We have students from Chinag Rai Rajabhat University(CRRU) the Hmong CRRU club, soldiers, village's leaders and family male members from the vulnerable households work together at the sites while the women cook for us. 

Glad to see friendship building among the team of multi-cultures. No gaps of age, ethnic group,social status,  gender, disability, language( the disable couple cannot speak & have listening problem) and education levels. We all learn and hand on  the value of HOPE: Humility,Opportunity, Participation and Equity together.

How good is it! I keep telling myself.

 

Along the way of creating positive changes

In order to get sustainable development, besides getting the people engaged to the projects, we need to have young people learn and share together. This would be a hand over the spirit of "Civil Mind" from generations to generations.

We got students from local university working together to build a proper place called home for a vulnerable family which I posted earlier.

The building is in progressed  and we hope the house will be ready for  the eight family members to live in together soon.

How great to see young people lend their hands for the in-needed people unconditionally. Smiling faces, and laughter along our working days are going to be another wonderful memory for all of us. We all learn together the Sustainable Community Foundation(SCF)four key values of  HOPE: Humility, Opportunity, Participation and Equity. 

Hopefully  what we learn and share together will be one of the beauty in their characters and  pass on to the next generation...

(some photos credit to Suchanya Seansawang and Montree Sirisuksakul)

It is going to be a home one day...hopefully

Working at a water project in Wiang Khamfa, Village, Chiang Rai, we met a stateless young guy. His parents have eight kids and he is the youngest. He got married and has a daughter. He and  his wife made a loan to build their house.The house was expected to be a place where all family's members live together  like a primitive Hmong extended family.

Unfortunately, he lost his wife some two years ago and after that he lost his mother. He was very sad, lost hope and depressed.  He tried to commit suicide  many times but the love of his father, brother, sisters keep him alive.

In order to earn, he left his daughter with his father and  went to another province of some 650 kilometres to sell street grilled chicken to get money for building the house. It was very challenging  to travel across provinces of this stateless young guy, that he had to spend some more extra money for those trips. Then the COVID19 was another challenging and made things more worse. He could not earn from  his grilled chicken for many months 

And  at the end of September while we were completing our water tanks project, he came to see us. He traveled back home to meet us and  requested  us to help  building his house. 

After talking together, it is likely that SCF may take care of building concrete walls for the house while he and his family will take care of other parts.

 During our conversation, we feel his pain and need ,it was sad and emotional.We did not committed  to help building his house by words, but by hearts we will try our best to make this done.

Please feel free and let us know if you would like to be a part of this mission....building a house to be a home of  stateless and in need family. 

an unfinished house

we build a water tank for the house

inside the house

inside the house

sleep in a tent

bamboo wall 

a house !

We feel hope and need when we look at this house

Water for Life at Wiang Khamfa !

It is now rainy season in Thailand. So many places facing flood, stating from the northern part then goes to the central parts of the country. At the same time many villages facing drought and lack of water. What a contrast circumstance !

 The Sustainable Community Foundation(SCF.) team and I got contacts from some villages for working together on water. After a number of site racces and discussions, we prioritize the project and then we agreed to start an emergency one. 

It is a new village entitled "Wing Khamfa Village", located  to the East of Chiang Rai city. The population composed of nine ethnic groups relocated from many places 12 years ago. Villagers here earn their livings by being construction labors in town, in rubber plantations, and making embroideries for selling.

Unfortunately, there is no water supply in the village. They rely on rain water, but some of them cannot afford water tanks. They are so called "vulnerable households" of single mothers, elderly, sick elderly, disable couples and disable child in the family.

We hope to work on water tanks for them within this rainy season. However, fund raising is a big challenge for the team. How to make this project happened while not yet enough fund. We will try our best to make it possible, and if more helping hands, we believe  it is coming true.

                             

   Here are the existing water containers of the vulnerable households

Let's be a part of supporting rain water tanks to these vulnerable households. Our helping hand can make positive changes and prove "water for life" 

"Faith" and "Humanity"

People globally are now in the midst of COVID  19. My  country and my local community also dealing with it.

Besides the support of our government through many policies and measurements, the civil society organizations also work out actively. In this challenge, each of us must  take good care of personal hygiene and  keep healthy  so we can help the othes. The measurements of personal hygiene, stay home, social distancing, home quarantine, local quarantine and state quarantine  enforced quite well so the numbers of positive confirmed cases are reducing.

What impressed me was the supporting to each other both at local and national level. It was amazing to see people voluntary go out and provide support to the vulnerable ones start from our front-line officers, unemployed, stateless, homeless and marginal ones.

 Many temples and people share and donate whatever they can to the people of all races, religions, and social status;

Some provide food in front of their homes, shops.
Some produce cloth masks and face shield to give to the others.
Food exchanging happnening in many places; farmers in the North and Nort-East send rice and other farm products to the Soth and the fishermen  in the South send dried fishes  back to them.
Some local communities, people put their farm products at the centre to share and exchange with the others.
Some people give their own saving to villagers by walking around and  visit each household.
Some business owners change their factory to be produce surgical, clothe mask to provide to all. Many invention  also were done to make it easier to cope up with the virus. And.... they give for free of charge !
Even the lock down policy affected to our economic, money is not much power during this crisis. People help each other by heart every where.

I personally trust that "Faith" and "Humanity" are behind these kindness and blessing events.

Together, we all shall pass the challenge well !

A sharing from Chiang Rai

My foundation, Sustainable Community Foundation (SCF)  internship by Hong Kong Baptist  University during May-June 2019.

The two interns Anchan and Krajeab (their Thai names) worked closedly together side by side with the team. We did have a very great time learning and sharing with them along the journey.

The VDO is from a project at a Mien village named Baan Mae Mong Yao.

A journey to learn about contentment !

A memorable journey with friends to a small Karen village of  18 household and some 90 people. A very little corner of the world hiden in a hillside.

Not many people come here as the transportation is very challenge. It took almost four hours
driving along a dusty, small and winding road  up and down the hills, passing two streams where bridges were broken.

Most of their houses made of bamboos.  People keep themselves in the houses after going to the rice farm as the very cold and windy weather. Most of them do not  have winter jackets. The girls usually get married after they finish the primary school. We saw a few young  mothers of 12-13 years old at the village. The young boys go to work in town after finish primary school. They will come back to the village to help parents during the times of growing and harvesting highland rice.

People  rotate their farm land  for seven years  around the hills. So the forests here still fertile. We hear the calls of gibbons every moring.

Our main task here is to install solar cells to generate 12 voltage electric light for each household. After having dark nights for some 90 years, they can have light  in their homes and we belief this could help their livings easier. We also provide hot milo with cookies and lunch for the kids and villagers.

 All of us were suffered with the very cold and windy weather.We usually sit around the campfires at nights and early mornings while some kids and villagers bring firewood and join us.

It was very peaceful being with them under limited resources. Nobody mentioned about the hardship but we keep smiling and helping each other.

Siliently I sit and look at  the kids, villagers and the team.... my heart feel something... the contentment.

hot milo and cookies for all

school kids 

the village look from a school building

water from the hill for drinking and utilization

local life style

firewood 

for lunch together

light for life

sandles just somthing to wear... !

rotation farming for every seven years

a school building

a villager learn how to install light for the village road

under the same moon 

a kid bring firewood to the campfire