Children and their parents build a dormitory together
“I love the dry season”, says Aduun, a 27-year-old Thai teacher in Baan Mae Um Pok, “because it is easier to descend to visit my friends and relatives.
In the rainy season it is very dangerous or almost impossible to take the steep road down that is sometimes transformed into something that looks more like a wild-water current than a road. “In the rainy season I stay at the school during the weekend and I’ll tell you, that’s not always great fun.”
Aduun is one of the young students who graduated from one of Thailand's teachers colleges and thereafter sent into the mountains to teach in schools in mostly very primitive circumstances. Not that Aduun hates teaching, quite the contrary, he is full of ideas and energy and he is convinced of the necessity to educate the children of the hill people that live in Thailand's most remote Northern regions. “You know, they are also Thai citizens, but live in difficult circumstances. But these children are as motivated as their peers in the city. Or even more so!” he adds. “You really get something in return for your efforts.”
Aduun knows he does not need to stay in the mountains forever, but even a few years take a big toll. Like his colleagues, he sleeps in a dormitory in the same room with the other teachers, or even sometimes with the children and lacks privacy. It is not uncommon in dormitories made with bamboo and teak leaves for roofing to leak during heavy rains. In the winter it is fiercely cold and in the summer steaming hot. They need to grow food themselves. Every once in a while some skinny chicken is available. There are considerable risks as well, because the water is not always safe to drink, especially not in the dry season when the wells run dry. Unfortunately, they often drink unfiltered water and they often drink unfiltered water from the river. No wonder diarrhoea and infections are rampant.
For the children the situation is worse. Many of them live too far away to go back home and stay overnight for five days a week. They sleep back to back on the humid floor. The toilet is often just a hole in the ground. A ramshackle structure somewhere in the corner serves as the kitchen and has very limited equipment, probably not even a dish or spoon for each child.
Karen, Lahu or Hmong hill tribe people have lived in the mountainous region between Burma and Thailand for centuries. But birth-rates climbed and mortally rates went down.
The result is a significantly increasing population that puts severe pressure on the ecosystem. Trees are cut and fields levelled for growing beans or other vegetables. Landslides are common.
Recently a whole school was washed away. No one was hurt, fortunately, but because there was no money to rebuild the school, there was no education either.
Aduun had wanted to change the ramshackle place called “dormitory” at his school in Baan Mae Um Pok for a long time, but he had no money. The moment Samsara came into the picture he immediately presented his case in a well-written project proposal. Samsara donated 125,000 baht for the building and 50,000 baht for cupboards and bedding. Aduun called a meeting with the villagers and they promised to help with the construction of the new building by taking turns. Aduun also involved the pupils, who helped every week for a few hours with odd jobs. The children loved it and are very proud of their new accommodation, which they helped build themselves.
Aduun filed a new request for a kitchen, canteen, toilets and water purification. Because of the bad situation and the positive efforts put up by the whole community, Samsara granted this request and added furniture and kitchen equipment to it. This follow-up donation added up to 250,000 baht. Dynamic as he is, Aduun recorded everything on video with a camera he borrowed from a friend and edited it into a documentary. He could do that because in his college years he took lessons in video editing. The VCDs were distributed and drew attention from the Ministry of Education, which promised to change the wooden school building into a more durable concrete one.
A success story indeed!