UPLIFT MONTHLY
OUTCOMES REPORT— JULY 2013 PROGRESS
General Update: Floods in late-July
affecting the areas in and around Mae Sot caused short-term delays to UPLift
project activities such as planting sweet potatoes, beginning TPC students trainings
on natural farming pig rearing, and the pig-slaughter test run. Beyond these
delays, UPLift staff was also limited by travel restrictions due to the floods,
which postponed visits to the TPC Land/coordination meetings with U Tin Yu for
some days. Despite these hurdles, the
UPLift team was able to achieve considerable strives in July and look forward
to continued progress in August.
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| Flooding in town. Mae Sot July 30, 2013 |
Project-Specific Updates
Teacher Preparation Center
(TPC) Projects
In January 2013, UPLift began planning for an
agricultural training program at TPC, a teacher training college for young
educators from Burma. This project is
being done in partnership with Global Neighbors (Canada), the Karen Teacher
Working Group, TPC and World Education Thailand.
After acquiring around 4 rai of land, we have been
developing this land to create a live farming site for Burmese teachers,
migrant schoolchildren, and other groups to attend trainings.
Trainings are to include: natural farming pig rearing
using sustainable low cost practices, school garden projects (maximizing
minimal amounts of land to produce optimal produce yield), and sustainable
household farming practices—to demonstrate the capability of a family to live
sufficiently from this amount of land using several different farming
techniques.
1. TPC Land:
·
Ajarn
Prasongs Visit & Recommendations: On August 18, we received a
visit from Thai-Karen Organic Farmer, Ajarn Prasong. This visit was highly important in making
educated and appropriate decisions about land planning at TPC. Ajarn Prasong’s visit resulted in several
recommendations and comments. A summary
of which are followed according to the subject area:
1. Pigs: The pigs should
be given two essential supplements/vaccines including Iron and a parasite
vaccine; we should add 1kg of salt to the pigpen to aid in composting; male
pigs should be castrated to ensure optimal growth; we might consider buying our
own purebred sow in the future and hire males to breed with.
2. IMO’s: We can reuse
the solid materials leftover from the previous IMO (Indigenous Micro-Organisms) batch mixed with sugar and
water to make new IMO’s. The process of
fermentation will take longer about 3-4 weeks instead of one.
3. TPC Land: Aj. Prasong's
recommended strongly not to rush making use of all the land. The soil needs
substantial remediation in order to be optimally fertile and this will take
time—he guessed 5-10 years. Given a 2-year time frame with a plan to use all
the land, he said it would be near impossible to improve the whole of 2.5
rai. If we try to plant or do too much, we would be wasting our resources
(his estimate for sufficient fertilization was 1 ton of fertilizer/year/rai!).
Instead he suggested to stick with our sweet potato/
3-sisters crops (and include crop rotation on these plots to keep the soil
healthy) and also cultivate several small plots of soil for
"everyday" crops such as chili, garlic, lemongrass, eggplant, basil
& tomatoes--the vegetables/plants eaten by villagers often.
Incorporating "everyday" crops on our training plot will easily
illustrate how a family can grow their own veggies & have a bit of surplus
to sell with limited space. In addition, he recommended an herb garden
&/or using herbs as border crops in between small plots. For
lowland, he suggested to keep it simple: plant plenty of Morning Glory and/or
leafy greens as cover crop, tend & till the soil with new fertilizer and
allow it improve in time. On remaining plots, he offered that we plant
robust bushes for pig food.
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| Aj. Prasong (far right) discusses land planning with the Uplift Team. |
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| Taking notes on Aj. Prasong's suggestions. |
·
16-month
plan for TPC Land
Upon deliberating and a lengthy planning process keeping in
mind our goals, Aj. Prasong’s recommendations, the seasons and other Uplift
projects, the team put together a cohesive 16-month (thru December 2014) plan
for the land at TPC. In addition, land
was sectioned into 10 plots to make planting organization easier. This plan
entails: Using plots 1-4 to plant “everyday” crops and use many
different methods of gardening to illustrate small-scale garden options such as
bamboo beds, raised mounds, rice sack/container gardening and vertical
gardening. Plot 5: Plant leafy
bushes for pig food; Plot 6-7: Low maintenance planting green cover
crops, tilling & aerating then repeating; Plot 8: Plant morning
glory; Plot 9: Plant 3 sisters; Plot 10: Plant sweet potatoes and
rotate with different varieties of beans.
This corresponds with the plot map seen below:
·
Biochar
Making Plans—Khom Loy has contracted
with a local carpenter, Mo Sas, to build two different types of biochar
implements. When we presented Mo Sas
with pictures of the prototypes we wished to have, he was very positive and
eager to help us. He continues to build
these implements at out Khom Loy Office during weekends. We anticipate completion in 1-2 weeks
depending on the weather.
 |
First Bio-Char Implement made to use the "rice husk hill" method--see below what it will look like... |
·
Sweet
potatoes: Along with the 16-month
plan, Uplift staff put together a more detailed action plan for growing sweet
potatoes. This
plan entails first cutting the grass, then tilling the soil, prepping the soil
with rice husk and IMO fertilizer, finally planting and maintaining the plants
by watering as needed, weeding, and controlling insects. As of now, we are still in the initial steps
of cutting the grass and tilling the soil.
Since it rained virtually non-stop during the last 7 days of July (we
anticipate more rain in early August), U Tin Yu has had no chance to till the
soil and prep it due to water saturation leading to the inability to aerate
properly. We continue to watch the
weather and with some certainty can predict that sweet potatoes will be in the
ground by end of August. However, if the rains continue as they have been, we may wait even longer for a drier period. We
already have a plant supplier through local Dominican Nuns.
·
Bananas: Of the 116 bananas planted with help from TPC
student in June, about 40 of these plants were uprooted due to miscommunication
with workers digging the drain ditch/ water pipeline for Global Neighbors. After 3 days of being out of the ground, Global
Neighbors workers replanted the plants.
This disruption in the growing process has caused evident delays in the
maturation of these 40 bananas. Some of
these plants are seemingly dead but we still have the majority of our plants in
tact and growing nicely.
·
Research
IMO’s—Gaining More Insight/Understanding: U Tin Yu--our Field Manager Ag. Officer, brought up a valid point
that we do not know enough about IMO’s in terms of what is in them exactly, why
they are particularly beneficial and how can we back these claims as we teach
students about IMO’s. From these
concerns stemmed a day devoted to researching scholarly articles and videos
about IMO’s and making documents that would supplement our own knowledge and
that of students in the future. From
this experience, we understand that we are still learners and there is far more
information we have yet to discover even about the topics we spend a lot of
time investing in.
Making
weekly/monthly work plan for U Tin Yu: With
the completion of a 16-month plan, we shared our map with U Tin Yu and discussed
how these plans would play out in the months to come in terms of his work
schedule. Furthermore, we incorporated
more detail by setting up weekly and monthly work goals and objectives for
U Tin Yu. Together with U Tin Yu we talked about
these plans in great detail to ensure optimal understanding of what is expected
of not only him but also every UPLift member.
To check the progress of weekly goals, we made plans to come to TPC
every Monday and Friday to meet with U Tin Yu with the exception of extenuating circumstances
like sickness or weather.
2. TPC Natural
Farming Pig Rearing Project:
·
Pigs Arrival: By the 3rd week of July 2013, our
long-awaited pig herd arrived at the TPC Land.
The 10 pigs, newly weaned from their mother, settled nicely into one of
our 3 pigpens, which had been pre-filled with manure, rice husk, and IMO
fertilizers. Since arrival, the pigs have
been under the care of U Tin Yu and his wife for regular feeding, watering and
spraying IMO’s. Feeding started out as
estimated 7-10 kg of store feed for the first week along with green snacks and
kitchen leftovers twice a day. The first
two weeks required a feeding adjustment, as the pigs did not eat as much as
expected. As of now, the pigs are
growing nicely and have increased appetites even despite the rains.
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| Pigs first arrival at TPC. |
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| Staying out of the rain. |
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| Refilling the pigpen after the rains. |
·
Pigpen Flooding: Fortunately, the pigpen
where the pigs are currently living was not affected by flooding—only minimally
which we remedied quickly with extra bedding.
However, the other two pens did not fare as well. The pen on the far end was affected the most
with a huge amount of water retention and deterioration of the concrete walls. To fix these issues, we require purchasing a water pump to drain the current
“flood” in the pens and ensure this will not happen again in the future.
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| The pigpen on the far right was most affected by flooding. |
· Pig
Feeding and Watering Systems: We are currently contracting the carpenter,
Mo Sas to build a pig feeding trough since the current feeder is only
temporary. As for watering, the local TPC carpenter offered his expertise to
make us a watering canteen with two drip spouts for pig drinking water.
· NF
Pig Training Planning: Beginning July 23, Uplift team members began
officially training new members (U Tin Yu, Sai Aung) in the Natural Farming Pig
Rearing Method. This aim of this
preparation training is to “train the trainer” and ensure everyone feels
comfortable with the material. With restraints of flooding, UPLift members were
only able to complete 4 days of training before delays set in. The training will reconvene again the first
week of August, weather permitting.
· NF
Pig Trainings with TPC Students: Once UPLift staff is completely confident
and competent in the training material, we will commence pig-rearing trainings
with TPC students. The first of 6
training rounds with TPC (students broken in to groups of 10-15 people) will
take place towards the end of August, weather permitting according to the schedule
agreed upon with UPLift Staff and TPC Headmaster, Sia Ehkhu. Other trainings
such as that with SAW (Social Action for Women) will take place on a TBD date.
·
Pig
Slaughter Test Run: Towards the end
of July, we found a viable seller of a market-ready pig in order to conduct our
slaughter test run and associated costs/profits. However, given that we could not confirm with
our potential meat buyer, we had to postpone the pig slaughter
test run until August. If we do not
receive confirmation from our buyer by the first week of August, we will seek
other potential buyers such as one of the many nearby migrant schools. Coolers still need to be purchased in order
to transport raw meat from the slaughterhouse to the buyers.
3. School Garden Projects:
Funded by Thai Children’s Trust (UK), the school garden
program provides schools with sound techniques and knowledge for setting up and
maintaining their own nutritious gardens, thus giving schools their own
valuables sources of nutrition.
· Garden Training with TPC students: On Friday, July 12 2013, team UPLift
delivered basic garden maintenance training to the 81 students currently
studying at Teacher Preparation Collage (TPC). Presentation sections were
allocated amongst member in such a way that each UPLift member was responsible
for delivering certain objectives. In
addition, U Tin Yu—our on-site Agriculture Officer—lent antidotes of his
experience as a farmer in Burma and candid answer to critical questions asked
by audience members—after each of his responses he received a round of applause
for his input. His contribution was
certainly appreciated during the training as it enriched the content of our
delivery.
The
training included basic knowledge of ecosystems and agriculture, soil
management, natural farming (use of IMO’s without chemical fertilizers) versus
chemical fertilizer farming and the bamboo/ mound method of small scale
optimized output gardening. Once the
theory part of training concluded, we proceeded to the TPC Garden plots and together
with the 81 students, set up 6 bamboo beds and filled them in using natural
materials such as rice husk, dry compost, green compost, and black top
soil. Many hands made for light work as
the process took barely an hour to complete start to finish. After this stage,
we left the responsibility of garden care to the TPC students—broken into 6
groups each responsible for 1 bed and 1 mound in the future.
Boots,
gloves, hoes and knives for TPC students to use are located in the shed where
we store IMO’s, the banana chopper and various materials. We developed a process of checking-in and
checking-out tools with U Tin Yu and Teacher A Bing in order to mitigate the
loss of tools. This also heightens the
sense of responsibility on the part of students. U Tin Yu keeps a sign-in log in the storage shed.
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| Garden theory training with UPLift Staff. |
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| U Tin Yu discussing the difference between organic and chemical fertilizer. |
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| Uplift staff helping out. |
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| TPC students putting theory into practice making new bamboo beds. |
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| TPC students working together to install new garden beds. |
·
New
Agriculture Officer: In July, we
welcome another new staff member, Sai Aung Tun. Sai Aung originally teamed with Khom Loy as a
translator for the Early Childhood research project (UBS) in May. He joins us after working as a translator for
the organization Migrant Education. He
will primarily assist with agriculture-related projects such as the school
garden projects, trainings at the TPC land/Natural Farming Pig Rearing,
agricultural skills development, and lastly, he will help our Montessori team
with additional translating when required. We welcome him to Khom Loy and look
forward to continuing to work with him!
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| Sai Aung on the left learning about school garden projects. |
·
Potential
Garden Project at Wide Horizons: One of the current community development
teachers at Wide Horizons vocational school contacted Khom Loy about
collaborating on the school garden project. This teacher and the students are very
keen on doing the garden project. We have not confirmed whether or not this is
possible because Wide Horizons students are ages 19-30 years old and these ages generally falls outside of the normal primary school criteria for garden projects.
4. Financial
Literacy Project Planning:
This
project, given seed funding by UN Women and Mastercard Foundation in 2011, aims
to develop core financial skills for Burmese migrant women in the Thai-Myanmar
border. After an initial round in 2012
at a landfill community, this year we have been working in a community living
and working on a cattle yard in Mae Sot, Thailand.
The
project has two phases: delivering financial literacy training for women,
followed by the research and development of small business opportunities. In 2013, we successfully delivered training
to 40 women and 4 men, mostly of Karen and Burmese Muslim ethnicities. After finishing the first part of the
program, we now continue to develop phase two of the project.
Cattle Yard: Due to weather and various project
situations, Financial Literacy Project was not able to move to the second phase
of the project at Cattle Yard this month. As we mentioned in earlier reporting,
we would like to help the women from Cattle Yard community by setting up Rotating
Savings and Credit Association (RSCA). We are researching the methods that are
best suited for the community and we still continuing to develop a plan for
implementing the second part of the project at the Cattle Yard.
 |
| UPLift team member, Ko Lynn following-up with a financial literacy trainee at the Cattle Yard. |
Community Assessments: Additionally, we plan to visit
different communities in Mae Sot for our 3rd round of Financial Literacy
training. Our project partner Wide Horizons school has done several community
needs assessments in the Mae Sot areas. We also have some community profiles
from last year, which we will revisit. Together with Wide Horizons, we will
compare data to assess the different communities in Mae Sot and determine the
best fit for the financial literacy project.
5. Early Childhood
Research Team (UBS) Conclusion:
Between May and June 2013, Khom Loy hired 3 researcher and 2 interpreters to conduct baseline early childhood research to develop understanding and be able to improve educational programs in the future. The results of which are as follow...
After concluding on July 5, data
for the comparative early childhood education was digitized and
coagulated. Researchers made extensive
concluding notes and inferences from the experiences of collecting data on over
60 students at Ta-ad and Hua Fai Primary Schools which amounted to over 900
pages of raw data. Planning for next
year’s follow-up research is already underway given what was learned from this
year’s pilot.
Stay tuned for more updates and a formal introduction to our newest staff, Sai Aung Tun!
