News from the Duang Prateep Foundation
Toxic gas cloud hits Klong Toey
Last month, emergency medical teams were rushed to the Rim Tang Rotfai slum community in Klong Toey after the area was inundated with toxic fumes following a five-hour blaze. About 40 houses and an illegal chemical storage area were damaged by the fire Residents, living in temporary shelters provided by rescue organisations, were forced to wear face-masks to prevent inhalation of the hazardous fumes. Many fell ill and were suffering from nausea, headaches, and eye and skin irritations. Some suffered burns to the mouth and throat. Eighty-eight residents of the community were treated in hospital for the effects of inhaling fumes of xylene - a chemical solvent. Ten of them were children under 12 years. Most suffered respiratory problems.
Fire-fighters from the DPF were amongst those trying to contain the blaze. The DPF assisted with emergency assistance in the aftermath of the fire. The Sponsorship Section arranged urgent educational sponsorship for 25 children who were made homeless in fire. The children were each given two thousand baht for the purchase of school uniforms and school supplies, so that they could resume their education as quickly as possible. Residents of the community are planing to rebuild where their homes were previously standing.
Visitors to the site of the fire included the Minster for Public Health who was met at the community by DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata. A group from the British Women's Group also visited the blaze to donate essential supplies to the fire victims.
The Duang Prateep Foundation is aware of 12 toxic incidents in the Klong Toey area since 1989. These are incidents when there were toxic fires or leaks of toxic gases. The most serious incident was in March 1991, when the whole toxic storage facility at the Bangkok Port was destroyed in a blaze. The Duang Prateep Foundation believes that 34 people have died because of the 1991 fire. In recent months the Port Authority of Thailand has finally paid compensation to the victims of the 1991 fire.
The Duang Prateep Foundation has recently been joined by Bjoern Tegtmeyer, a 25-year-old from Germany, who will be at the DPF for a year to do an academic study on the use and handling of chemicals in Thailand. By chance, Bjorn started work at the DPF just a few days before the recent blaze in the Rim Tang Rot Fay Community.
There is more about the aftermath of the fire in the News from Thailand section of this newsletter, see 'Plans for pollution control in Klong Toey'.
Forced evictions in Locks 7-9 community
There has been uproar recently with the forced eviction of the Locks 7 to 9 area of Klong Toey Slum by officials of the Port Authority of Thailand backed up by police and soldiers. The area has long been slated for eviction, but the manner of the eviction, without adequate warning and arrangements for people to move elsewhere raised the ire of the local community.
DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and Locks 7-9 community leaders are trying to negotiate a more reasonable compromise with Port Authority of Thailand officials. At the present time, 114 families are to be resettled in the Rong Muu community of Klong Toey Slum. For a further 258 families discussions are still taking place and a solution will not be reached before the new year.
Special lunch for kindergarten children
The 8th of November was a special day at the Duang Prateep Kindergarten with the visit of a group of DPF sponsors from Singapore. The annual trip is organised by long term sponsors Ms. Leona Wong and Mr. Charles Loh. The group sponsored a lunch for the children at the kindergarten and the 16 children sponsored by the Singapore group. The children were also given sports clothes and school equipment. In return the children provided entertainment for the visitors from Singapore with a dance performance. The group from Singapore also went to the Locks 1 2 3 Children's Centre, where they also hosted lunch and distributed gifts of uniforms for the two hundred children present.
The photo shows kindergarten children dancing for Ms. Leona Wong and Mr. Charles Loh.
Another important visitor to the Duang Prateep Kindergarten in November was Geoffrey Strage, who was accompanied by his fiancee on a visit to check on the computers at the kindergarten. The twenty computers at the kindergarten were donated by Geoffrey’s father Dr. Henry Strage and installed by students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Massachusetts. The students also trained teachers in the use of the computers in two project visits in 2000 and 2001.
Also in November, Juha Laukkanen from the Finnish puppet troupe 'Sytkyt' gave a much enjoyed performance of 'Beauty and the Beast' at the Duang Prateep Kindergarten.
Nithan Caravan performs for 600 disabled
Last month Nithan Caravan gave two shows to a total of 600 children at the Pakkret Home for the Physically and Mentally Handicapped. The shows were funded by donations raised by Anycie Berkmann, Julie Hood and others who volunteer at the Pakkret home under the auspices of the Pakkret Dental Clinic Play Group led by Dr. Amphut Intaraprasong. The organisers at the Pakkret home were so impressed by the previous Nithan Caravan performance at the home last February that they decided to raise funds for a return visit.
The photo shows a few of the children at the Pakkret home with some of the Nithan Caravan crew.
Nithan Caravan also recently gave two open air performances at Santi Chaiparakarn Park as part of the Bangkok Theatre Season. The shows by Nithan were part of a UNICEF sponsored series of performances for children on the topic of children’s rights.
Also in November Nithan Caravan took part in a puppet festival at the National Science Centre. Nithan Caravan joined with several other puppet troupes from all over the country to give a day of special puppet performances for the many children present.
Outing for sponsored children
Last month fifty children aged mostly about 12 and 13 were taken on an outing to Suan Siam, where they were able to swim in the giant-sized pool, play and enjoy food and drink. The trip was sponsored by long time donor Mrs. Chander Sivasriamphai. Mrs. Chander's sponsored children and those sponsored by the Rembrandt Hotel were among those on the outing.
The photo shows some of the children having fun in the pool at Suan Siam
Last month a representative of the Chamlong Srimuang Foundation came to the Duang Prateep Foundation to lead a one-day training course on various cooking techniques. Chinese doughnuts, soya milk and pandanus juice were among the featured activities taught to the ten participants, who were women from Klong Toey communities. The intention is that the skills taught will be useful in income generation activities for the participants and their families.
Last month 20 children from the Duang Prateep Foundation who are studying at the lower secondary level joined with approximately 500 other children at a seminar organised by the 'Task Force for Children in Thailand'. The task force is a combined effort from several Thai non-government organisations working to help children in Thailand. The participants in the day long seminar were mostly children with some staff from the various NGOs. In the morning keynote speakers talked to all participants, while in the afternoon the children were split into smaller discussion groups to talk about a wide range of issues of concern to children.
There is more about the seminar in the News from Thailand section of the newsletter, see 'Voice of the children'.
World Aids Day parade
Near the end of November, Aids Control Project staff joined with the Klong Toey District Office and other local groups in organising a parade for World Aids Day. Some 500 participants from twenty communities and three schools participated in the parade, which went from the Klong Toey District Office to a local hypermarket. After the parade, the Duang Prateep Foundation had Aids education activities taking place at the hypermarket for the following week. The art department at the DPF also organised a children's art competition on the topic of Aids. The paintings were exhibited at the hypermarket for the period of the Aids education programme.
The photo shows DPF art teacher Chatchada Kruakaew with the winning artists and some of the artworks about Aids in the background.
Aids Control Project staff have also been busy helping to set up groups affiliated to the Fathers and Mothers School, in various communities. At the present time seven community groups have been formed and there has been discussion as to how the school and the network can be developed.
In November Aids Control Project staff coordinated the visit of an Assistant Commissioner General of Police to the Klong Toey communities. DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and the head of the Aids Control Project, Nittaya Prompochuenboon, and. accompanied the senior police officer on his visits to the Wat Klong Toey Nai and the Locks 1-3 communities of Klong Toey Slum, where he toured the areas and discussed problems with community representatives.
Seminar for former New Life Project students
At the beginning of November, the New Life Project organised a second 'ties of friendship' seminar for young people who had previously attended the New Life Project at Chumphon. As at the previous meeting in March, some sixty former addicts attended the event, which was sponsored by the British Embassy. In the morning there were speeches by DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and the head of the port police station. Subsequently the participants split into small groups for discussions, before they reported their conclusions to the whole meeting. Dr. Vithavas Khongkhakul summarised the viewpoints of the participants and closed the meeting. Two network groups have been formed, one for people from Bangkok and one for those outside Bangkok. The networks can act as support and advice centres for the former addicts.
Last month Ms. Katie Walker a United Nations Drugs Control Programme / World Health Organisation Coordinator visited the Duang Prateep Foundation's New Life Project at Chumphon. Ms. Walker was escorted on the one-day trip by DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and a consultant from the Thai Red Cross.
Prateep opens Coins on Silom event
DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata was guest of honour at the opening ceremony for the 5th annual Coins on Silom fundraising event organised by the Rotary Club of Bangkok South. Prateep was joined at the opening ceremony by some children from the Duang Prateep Kindergarten. The event takes place on one of the main business and shopping roads in Bangkok, with the objective of raising funds to support the education of poor children.
The photo shows Prateep, third from the left with rotary club members and children from the Duang Prateep Kindergarten.
Last month Prateep welcomed Ms. Patricia Maguire and other representatives of CRC Ahold Co., Ltd. who came to donate money to the DPF. CRC Ahold manage the Tops supermarket chain in Thailand
Also last month, Prateep had lunch with some UK parliamentarians and a representative from the UK National Committee for UNICEF who were in Thailand for a study tour on trafficking and sexual exploitation of children.
News from Thailand
Plans for pollution control in Klong Toey
In the aftermath of the recent chemical blaze in a Klong Toey community, see Duang Prateep Foundation News, The Natural Resources and Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa said that the whole Klong Toei district will be declared a Pollution Control Zone under the Environmental Protection Act of 1992 to prevent a reoccurrence. This designation would enable officials to conduct inspections to identify chemical stockpiles, both legal and illegal, in the area as well as limit and ban certain types of chemicals. Small bootleg factories and stores, such as the insecticide factory in the fire have evaded control in the past.
The Ministry asked the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to inspect all neighbourhoods in the Klong Toey area for illegal factories and chemical-storage facilities. It was reported that residents had previously asked authorities to look into the legality of the plant's operation. However, officials failed to take action because they could not obtain a warrant authorising them to carry out an inspection.
Dr Orapan Methadilokkul of Rajaviti Hospital called on the government to provide provision for the care and medical support of people affected by the fumes, saying that their health needed regular checks over five years, because the toxic chemicals would have long-term effects on them. Breathing the hazardous gases could cause an accumulation of fluid in the lungs and even death
It was reported that community residents would sue the owner of the illegal chemical-storage facility, seeking compensation for damage.
Voice of the children
An "absolutely'' free education for 12 years, native English teachers and computers topped students' wish list at a seminar involving 500 children from around the country last month. The students voiced their demands at a seminar organised by the government and non-government organisations for children. Although the government has implemented the 12-year free education initiative, children said they still had to pay for some tuition fees, textbooks, school uniforms and some fees for school activities. The seminar revealed there had been a Bt3.3 billion drop in funds allocated for education in the 2003 fiscal budget compared to the previous budget. Eighty per cent of education funding was spent on teachers' salaries and management costs.
Children also said they wanted positive role models in the government and at home. A representative from Rayong, said that if adults overlooked the significance of instilling high values in children, the country would lose in the long term. The youngsters called for more social investment in education, welfare and drug suppression.
The children also wanted a parliament for children so they can air their opinions. Sex education was also called for, with children calling on society to be more open-minded on the subject. Thai nationality for hill tribes children born in Thailand and providing buses that announce numbers for blind children were also discussed.
Call for residents to run slum communities
Last month slum leaders urged the government to let slum dwellers manage their own communities with state subsidies. The request was made during a meeting of about 40 slum leaders held by the Institute for Community Development, to draw up a proposal for the government to tackle slum-related problems in cities.
The proposal suggests allocating a 20,000-baht subsidy to each family to improve their homes, and 100,000-baht subsidies for families who need to build new homes. A national committee should be established to find land for new homes for the poor and to monitor budgeting.
It is estimated that currently, about 8.25 million low-income earners live in cities nationwide. Of these, six million cannot afford homes, forcing them to live in one of 5,500 slums. The remainder had to stay in rented rooms or temples, or live on the streets.
UN Aids warning
UNAIDS warned last month that Thailand must repeat the intensive anti-HIV/Aids campaigns of a decade ago or the epidemic could spread drastically, particularly among the young.
The director of UNAIDS' Programme Development & Coordination Group said that a new generation has grown up, too young to receive the impact of the previous mass campaign. A campaign was necessary now or the situation will get out of hand and bigger budgets over a longer period would be needed to subdue the epidemic again.
The UN also said that Thailand needed to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/Aids by 2004, when the next World Aids Conference is scheduled to be held here.
Stigma and discrimination against HIV-infected people still existed and must be eradicated. Better access and a greater range of medical resources is needed for infected groups, especially those on the move and hard to reach.
As at the end of October, Thailand had an estimated 1.3 million people living with HIV/Aids, around 70,000 of whom are showing Aids symptoms. An estimated 20,000-30,000 die of Aids in the Kingdom each year. These figures are from UNAIDS, the Public Health Ministry and non-governmental organisations.
The UN also called for Thailand and other Asian countries to consider giving clean needles to intravenous drug users to combat the HIV/Aids epidemic. The warning was given that the number of Aids victims in Asia would outstrip that of Africa if policies on HIV prevention among intravenous drug users remained unchanged.
The Aids Access Foundation, said efforts to introduce harm reduction programmes had been strongly opposed by the Narcotics Control Board of Thailand. The opposition came despite successful control of HIV and drug use among residents of several districts in northern provinces.
HIV test kit to be sold cheap
The Royal Free Hospital in London has recently agreed to grant a huge discount on the sales of CD4 test kits for Thailand in recognition of the country's outstanding efforts to fight the virus through such things as the ability to produce low-priced anti-retroviral drugs.
The discount will bring down the cost of the CD4 test from about Bt500, to only about Bt100 a time, he said. The CD4 count, he said, is very important to the treatment and the lives of the HIV-positive population as it is a tool for them as well as doctors to tell accurately how strong the immune system is and when and what treatment should be administered or replaced to save lives.
Especially for those being treated with anti-retroviral drugs, the CD4 test needs to be conducted every three to four months, but due to the high cost of the test, doctors usually order it only twice a year. As a consequence, much treatment has failed however well trained the doctors are and however good the drug. Also, many patients who could not afford the cost of the CD4 test have died before they realised it was time to see the doctor.
The chairman of the Thai Network for People Living with HIV/Aids praised the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation for providing those who are HIV-positive with better access to life-saving medical resources.
Aids cocktails dropped due to bad reactions
The Ministry of Public Health is pressing ahead with plans to expand its anti-retroviral drugs programme for HIV/Aids patients, despite a 50% drop in demand. The permanent secretary of the ministry said patients had stopped coming to pick up the cocktail of Aids drugs prescribed under the scheme, because some drugs gave them allergic reactions. The network of people with HIV/Aids said more flexibility was needed. The ministry should stop fixing the combination of drugs, as some patients were unable to take them.
About 10,000 people joined the scheme at the start of the year but since then the number has halved. The ministry still hopes to involve up to 23,000 patients next year, 20,000 adults and 3,000 children. By 2004, the programme is intended to cover at least 50,000-60,000 people.
Plan to make cheaper drugs
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation is drafting a plan to apply for a licence to produce cheaper versions of expensive anti-HIV medicines, even though these are still under patent.
Under a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement made at a meeting in Sydney last month, developing countries in the WTO will be granted waivers to produce cheaper versions of the patented drugs and permission to distribute these versions to poorer nations in need on a case-by-case basis. As a member of the WTO with a need for anti-HIV medicine, Thailand is eligible to apply for such a waiver if it can finalise the agreement's details as scheduled by next month.
Pledge to revamp juvenile centres
Last month the Justice Ministry pledged to turn its juvenile observation and protection centres into second homes and schools for wayward youths instead of jails. The ministry chose Child Rights Day to announce the implementation of United Nations measures for the running of juvenile centres.
Volunteer families for youths in detention
The Justice Ministry has started a "volunteer family" project for youths and street children in detention centres countrywide. About 30 volunteer families had been selected in a pilot project involving regular daylong activities with 35 boys and girls from four juvenile detention centres in Bangkok. The project is part of the Juvenile Observation and Protection Department programme, designed to help about 40 per cent of the 16,000 detainees in juvenile centres who are not receiving visits from family members.
Thailand moves up global-competitiveness table
Thailand has moved up slightly in this year's global-competitiveness report, released by the World Economic Forum last month. Of 80 countries included in the 2002 ranking, Thailand is in 31st place for growth competitiveness and 35th place on the microeconomic competitiveness index rankings, up from 33rd and 38th respectively in 2001.
The report employs two approaches to the analysis of |competitiveness. The Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI) is based on three board categories of variables that are said to drive economic growth in the medium and long term: technology, public institutions, and the macroeconomic environment. The Microeconomic Competitiveness Index, meanwhile, examines the underlining conditions defining the sustainable level of productivity in each country surveyed.