Northern Thailand
Background The indigenous Lua hill people, located in one of Thailand’s extreme rural Northern provinces surrounded by the mountainous border of Laos and nestled near Doi Phu Kha National Park, are the focus for SDRF’s work based near the Bo Klua District. With subsistence farming of corn and rice as the norm, there is little infrastructure to support the oft-forgotten and marginalized population leaving it deprived of educational, nutritional, and medical resources as people live on less than $2.00 a day. There is also an element of spiritual impoverishment as the people have primarily an animistic heritage which is overlaid with Buddhism. The tropical rain forest environment has also suffered with Swidden
agriculture (slash and burn). Ineffective agricultural methods have negatively
impacted the environment with substantial soil erosion. With very few resources
and opportunities within the local context, families feel enormous pressures to
send their youth to large urban centers in the hope acquiring those resources.
However, with limited education, at risk youth languish in sweat shops and the
sex industry. |
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Agriculture
SDRF’s agricultural vision is to enable secure food resources for the remotest
of the remote hill people of the Nan province. SDRF has introduced experimental
rice crops with a higher yield than what is normally produced by local farmers.
In addition, rice banks have been established to help tide farmers over in times
of need. Programs such as Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) have been
introduced to address soil erosion problems and reforestation challenges.
A heartier breed of poultry, the Chinese black chicken, has been made available
to the local population. Also under experimentation is the breeding of wild
pigs, which are prevalent in the region, for the preservation of crops and
domestication purposes.
Education
The purpose of SDRF’s educational efforts in Nan Province is to provide children
paths to higher education, thus providing more life-changing choices. Prior to
2009 the local population did not have access to education beyond the 6th grade.
In conjunction with Nan’s Department of Education, SDRF established a middle
school equipped with a computer lab, library, and dormitories. The crown
princess, a dedicated enabler of at risk communities in Thailand, graciously
consented to dedicate the facility.
Global Development Network/Sustainable Development Research Foundation
partnership recently launched a new quality education initiative designed to
impact positively the marginalized youth of Baw Klua district in the Nan
province of Thailand. Youth in this mountainous remote area are deprived of good
educational resources and cannot compete with youth from other areas of the
country for the ongoing benefits of education beyond the 9th grade. The Tutorial
Learning Center (TLC) has been established on the site of SDRF’s Center for
Sustainable Development and is designed to provide the youth a tutorial learning
system that will enable them to compete successfully for ongoing study through
the end of high school within and beyond the Baw Klua district. TLC works with
existing educational structures in the district by augmenting course offerings
such as computer literacy and English acquisition. In addition, TLC will also
focus on helping the youth to make applications to and be accepted by
universities and technological schools beyond the Baw Klua area following their
completion of high school.
To overcome the impediments of distance and lack of adequate housing, TLC
provides dormitories and proper supervision of youth at the Center for
Sustainable Development. Applications have been pouring and 21 students have
enrolled and will occupy the first dorms. SDRF hopes that TLC will eventually
have the capacity to handle 100 students. Initially, TLC students will be
attending the local high school, Sawa Tai school.
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Working on CSD Farm project | Raising crickets | Food preparation |
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TLC Dorm out of indigenous materials | Girls Dormitory | After school classes |
TLC students will also have exposure to God’s Word. GDN and SDRF invite
individuals and church teams to come and hold English camps at the Center for
Sustainable Development. Inquiries for English camps may be addressed to David
Stockamp at
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Scholarships are needed for these students. $35.00 per month will ensure a student with housing, nutrition, and resources. To make a contribution toward scholarships please click on the Donate Tab
Public Health
SDRF, in partnership with the Thai Department of Public Health, is working to
address the acute medical needs of the people. The Health Department has given
three mandates to SDRF: 1) Research ways to improve the health of women and
children. 2) Evaluate the nutritional needs of the population and research
resources such as chickens, pigs, and cow’s milk. 3) Research parasitical
challenges such as round and tape worm and other forms of intestinal parasites.
With the help of the Public Health Department, SDRF appointed Dr. Bob Shim as
medical director for SDRF’s work in the Nan province. Dr. Shim, a Covenant
missionary, is conducting research and facilitates teams of medical
professionals coming from a number of church groups from the US. The teams’
interaction with local villagers has provided a wealth of research information
which is used to improve the general health of the area.
Leadership Formation
SDRF promotes contextualized leadership formation and church planting for local
churches in sub-ethnic communities through the Center for Applied Ministry (CAM)
by providing resources for spiritual growth in the form of fellowship and
training. CAM, a member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (EFT), serves
as an instrument by which core cultural values are transformed as people
experience the grace of God.
Under the auspices of SDRF, CAM is the glue that holds the area churches
together thus facilitating a consistent and dynamic message of God’s love to the
community at large. SDRF’s Center for Sustainable Development in the Bok Klua
District will eventually have meeting and dormitory facilities that will further
enhance strategic leadership formation.
Projects
SDRF-Nan is currently on Phase One of its development of the Bok Klua Center for
Sustainable Development. Staff housing has been built and an office with four
staff guest rooms has also been completed.
Future projects include:
- Prep School construction $87,000
- 20 Computers for the lab $11,000
- Air conditioning system $ 5,000
- Access road improvements $15,000
- Water system refinements $ 5,000
- SALT (sloping agriculture) $ 6,000
- Experimental Corn and Rice $ 3,600
- Livestock (wild pigs, Black chickens, goats) $ 4,500
- Rice bins $ 4,500
Grants and contributions projects may be forwarded on behalf of SDRF through Global Development Network (GDN):
Global Development Network Corporation
C/o Mr. Chuck Gietzel
360 W. Washington Ave. #402
Madison, WI 53703
Contributions are tax deductible. Please make a notation for which
project you wish to support in the memo section of your contribution. Thank you!