Giving a hand up (not a handout) to the poorest families on the Thai/Burmese border
UPLift--Poverty Alleviation For The Ultra-Poor
UPLift is a program designed to empower communities on the Thai/Burmese border that lack food security, opportunities for income, and education. Through the use of small grants and skills trainings, these families receive the opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty without having to rely on external aid indefinitely.
Stopping for a pose after everything was wrapped up!
On Saturday, May 18th Khom Loy staff travelled to Holy Infant Orphanage, a Catholic-run boarding house and school in Mae Sot, Thailand. Together with several staff members and students we ran an indigenous microorganism (IMO) workshop that gave students the experience and skills to make cheap, effective and safe fertilizers for their new garden.
IMOs all involve the process of microbial fermentation using a number of agents, including sugar, salt and rice-rinsing water. They are made with materials that are usually cheap and easy to find in the local environment, which dramatically reduces the costs of gardening when compared to using chemical fertilizers.
When made successfully, these IMOs provide useful things like lactic acid bacteria, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and benefical spores to soil, so that vegetables can grow strong and provide great results. The overall philosophy behind using IMOs is that one should manage the soil first and foremost, not manage the plants themselves.
Check out our photo album with many pictures from the training, or see a few examples below!
Working on the ingredients for fermented plant juice (FPJ) and fermented fruit juice (FFJ)
Nothing says Christmas like organic fertilizer with tinsel used as rope!
A Dominican sister next to Holy Infant's newest patch of garden!
In January we met a group of four Burmese families in Mae Sot, Thailand. They live near a red dirt road winding through fields of sugarcane, just past the town landfill. A Thai farmer was kind enough to give them permission to live on one acre of his land without having to pay rent. They can also grow vegetables and use water from his pond to do so.
The youngest woman of the group recently had a stroke, leaving the right side of her body partially paralyzed. She no longer can collect recyclables or harvest sugarcane (two primary job opportunities for the Burmese in this part of Thailand), staying at home instead. When she expressed interest in growing vegetables both for personal use and for sale, we noticed that this project would not only allow these families to improve their food security and income, but also give her an opportunity to boost her livelihood.
Improved soil leads to improved crops
Our first few visits were spent speaking with them about the water supply, what the land is like, and what types of veggies they have experience growing. Given that they have a year-round source of water from their pond, we wanted to test a foot pump, a small plastic tank and normal 40-meter water hose. This will reduce labor by cutting down walking time and distance for using a bucket to water the plants, and benefits the paralyzed woman greatly.
A deep pond near their homes
Their first round of vegetables were planted without much planning on their part, and most of the crops died as a result of poor soil and handling the seeds improperly. However, by February they had learned much from their first month of practice and began managing their garden plots in a more serious fashion. By using subdivded square and rectangle plots instead of planting in and around existing bushes, they have more order and control of what they are growing. In addition, they are now using seeds bought on the Burmese side of the border, which they have more familiarity with.
We also tested our foot pump and explained the need for a tower of some kind to make all of this a "gravity system", which is fairly easy to understand--if the water is put in a high location, then gravity takes care of the rest by pushing the water back down inside a hose. Two days later when we came back to measure the land, the families had taken the initiative to build their own wooden tower! Together we gave the gravity system idea a shot, the results (see video above) were successful.
A half-day of work leads to a decent (and cheap!) gravity tank
See more photos of the families' garden, tower and great progress so far, and stay tuned for more updates on how they are doing!
On previous posts we have discussed the definition of the “ultra-poor” in Thailand to consist of those lacking food security, Thai nationality, land ownership, or social/physical capability. The following is a tangible example of such a community that we have met on the Thai/Myanmar border.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
On the outskirts of a Thai border town there is a landfill. It consists of a few old buildings, a water reservoir and a towering heap of trash, much as one would envision when thinking about a landfill. The heap is as wide as it is long, meaning it covers several dozen acres, and is easily 50 feet tall at its' highest. We had a chance to visit here for the first time in November.
Over eighty families live on this landfill. Living in handmade roofed structures (calling them “houses” would be quite the exaggeration) on and around the trash heap, these people make a living by sorting through waste from the nearby city for goods to resell—cardboard, plastic, glass, metal scraps, and other things with remaining market value.
Why would someone voluntarily choose to live on a landfill? I understand the idea of migrant workers, and I have seen the Thai side of the border. There are many short-term “jobs” that a Burmese illegal migrant could find—construction, factory work, street cleaning, and even begging. How could living in trash possibly be better than any of these?
The reasoning for this makes sense once you hear it. These families had come to Thailand looking for work and a future, ran into difficulties with those normal veins of work, and needed somewhere to go. Somewhere to hide. Somewhere to be left alone. If a family has been threatened or feel that they are in danger, do not have a security net of other Burmese people to live together with, or simply have disabilities and cannot have a physically taxing job, then places such as this provide some isolation from the outside world.
Upon our first visit there, I wasn’t sure how to act. The community members here do not like pictures being taken of them, especially by foreigners. Because of this, we refrained from taking pictures of their faces (only ours), and asked permission before taking any other types of photographs.
There were several fires burning along the main path where most of the huts were located. The smell that we all know from a wet trash can was strong, but not overbearing. Dogs barking, children running around, adults rummaging through smaller orderly piles of specific recyclables that they had already collected. I wonder who purchases the recyclables, and for what prices? Do they come here to purchase, or do the families travel somewhere else? How much income can a family of four that is good at collecting garbage make, on a good day? What about a bad day? And families with a single parent? How much food can these families afford, what kind of food, and where can they purchase it? Does the local government have an opinion on these families, and is it one of annoyance or tolerance? How long have the families been living here? There are many questions to ask when thinking about this area.
The funniest thing about our visits has been the attitudes of the children there. Most of them attend a nearby migrant school, but some are kept at home to help with work. Outgoing, happy, not shy to say hello or ask our names. One boy had a laugh so contagious, so happy, that I wanted to move in there as well just so that the pre-emptive Thumb War he declared on me could continue on a regular basis.
Being Creative To Survive
Having our Burmese field officer with us, we decided to speak with a few of the families about food sources and if they were interested in growing vegetables. The most vocal man in the group explained that he already grows some veggies and motioned for us to follow him. Upon following we found a secluded area behind his families' hut, where he had been growing chilies, rosella and also had long beans climbing up an electricity line. He had a small amount of space to use, but was using it in a very creative and effective way! He also had a patch of land behind his house in mind for expanding the garden. However, he lacked the tools to do so. The following is video of when we visited him:
We purchased four sets of gardening tools and seeds for him to use, some concrete rings for a well, and also asked him to encourage other families in the area to begin farming with him. Within a month he has cleared the small area behind his home, dug a ten foot-deep well, used old tattered netting from the landfill to construct a fence and has begun planting long beans, pumpkins, kale, mustard greens, more chilies, and morning glory. The more work he does, the more interest his neighbors are showing to begin growing as well!
