News from the Duang Prateep Foundation
Equipment for the disabled from Canada to Bangkok
A large donation of equipment for the disabled arrived at the Duang Prateep Foundation last month from British Columbia in Canada. The donation was coordinated by long time Duang Prateep Foundation benefactor Sue Holloway, with the assistance of other DPF supporters in the Vancouver area. Most of the equipment came from the Mount Newton Centre on Vancouver Island. Three airlines provided a free freight service for the equipment. Air BC flew the everything from Victoria to Vancouver, Air Canada flew the equipment on from Vancouver to Hong Kong and Thai Airways provided the last leg from Hong Kong to Bangkok. The Thai Consul in Vancouver was also involved, with a letter to aid customs clearance in Bangkok.
In total there were 118 items for the disabled in the container, including 15 wheelchairs, 34 walkers, 22 pairs of crutches and 27 wooden canes. Almost all items were distributed to disabled and elderly slum dwellers in a few days of the equipment reaching the Duang Prateep Foundation.
For many people with mobility problems, the provision of a wheelchair, a walker or a cane can transform their lives, giving a fresh freedom to move around independently. Coordinating the collection of the equipment and making arrangements with the three airlines was a time-consuming process for the support group in Vancouver but their efforts have proved well worthwhile.
The attached file <canada jpg> shows from the left at Vancouver airport: DPF benefactors John Thompson and Sue Holloway with Air Canada Cargo Operations staff Jim Baudru and Paul-Henry Naubert alongside the equipment for the disabled.
New school year has started
The new school year started in the middle of May, with a fresh batch of children now settling in to the eleven kindergartens affiliated to the Duang Prateep Foundation and the Special Education Project for Hearing-Impaired Children.
Prior to the opening of schools, universities and vocational colleges, the Duang Prateep Foundation's Sponsorship Section distributed educational sponsorship money to the approximately 2,300 children receiving educational sponsorship from the Duang Prateep Foundation. Five hundred of the children attended an educational sponsorship ceremony at the beginning of May. The event was presided over by Dr. Sumet Jumsai na Ayudhya, the Chairman of the Duang Prateep Foundation. The occasion was attended by sponsors, community leaders, DPF staff and parents as well as the sponsored children. It gave the foundation the opportunity to remind the children how important their education is, not just to them and their families, but also to their communities and the sponsors.
The attached file <sponsorship.jpg> shows the sponsorship ceremony. Sitting behind the children, fifth from the left is DPF Chairman Dr. Sumet Jumsai na Ayudhya and sixth from the left is DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, with trustees, sponsors, community representatives, DPF staff and some of the sponsored children.
The DPF sponsorship ceremony took place with the problem of planned budget cuts for students at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration schools in the news. There is information on the problem in the News from Thailand section of this newsletter.
Before the start of the school year, the foundation arranged a training seminar for all the teachers at kindergartens affiliated to the Duang Prateep Foundation.
Young artists visit Bangkok temples.
Members of the Duang Prateep Foundation’s Art and Development Project went to two of Bangkok’s best known temples last month for a day-long art field trip. The artists were accompanied by DPF art teacher Chatchada Kruakaew and well know Dutch artist Josh Welkamp, who has been helping the young artists at the DPF on several occasions in recent months. The temples visited were Wat Pkra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Wat Pho (Wat Phra Chetuphon), two temples close to each other in the oldest part of Bangkok. The two spectacular temples and the guidance of their teachers inspired the young artists to produce exciting works of art.
Sponsorship section staff visit Baan NongYai
Staff from the Duang Prateep Foundation's Sponsorship Section visited Baan Nong Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima Province last month, where a new school building is being constructed with financial support from UPS. The new building, which should be finished by July, will consist of two classrooms on the upper floor and an open plan meeting area on the ground floor. In addition to checking-up on progress on the new building, Sponsorship Section staff donated several boxes of books to the school. The school at Baan Nong Yai has received support from the Duang Prateep Foundation for some years. The school is presently educating 250 children at kindergarten and elementary levels.
Fire-fighter training
The volunteer fire fighters at the Duang Prateep Foundation organised a fire-fighter training programme on the 26th of May for foundation staff and community representatives. The fire-fighters regularly organise training programmes for different groups in Klong Toey slum. The emphasis is on fire prevention and how to tackle small fires. The prompt detection and dousing of fires is essential as once a fire gains a hold it can spread with great rapidity through congested slum communities.
The photo <fire.jpg> shows some of the action at the fire training programme.
Slum youngsters attend national youth camp
Last month two youths nominated by the Duang Prateep Foundation attended a youth camp organised by the National Youth Bureau and the Ship for Southeast. Asian Youth Association of Thailand. The week long camp in Surat Thani Province in the South of Thailand brought together over 200 young leaders from all over Thailand. The camp gave the youths the opportunity to discuss topics such as children’s rights and the role of youths. The camp also included study trips and performances by the young people.
Disabled Japanese group visits DPF
Last month a group of 20 people from the Japanese Abilities Association, a group for disabled Japanese, visited the Duang Prateep Foundation. The group saw dance and music performances from children at the Special Education Project for Hearing-Impaired Children, they heard about the work of the foundation and they met with members of the senior citizens group who gather at the DPF every Wednesday.
Secretary General to Germany
Duang Prateep Foundation Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata made a week long trip to Germany last month as a guest of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The trip was to learn about human rights protection in Germany. The programme took Prateep from Frankfurt, to North Rhine Westphalia and on to Berlin before returning to Thailand.
July newsletter
There will be a delay in dispatching the July issue of DPF Monthly News, as the editor will be on holiday for a few weeks.
News from Thailand
Bangkok parents demonstrate against school budget cuts.
Last month students and parents took part in several activities to demonstrate against planned budget cuts for students at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration schools. In the biggest gathering, about 500 people from 70 communities attended a public meeting under the expressway in Klong Toey to discuss the City Hall plans for cutting education support. The BMA will cut up to 70% of the funds for free lunches, uniforms, textbooks and writing materials from the start of the second half of the school year in October. The Bangkok Governor wants to save 600 million baht for investment in the development of schools and has agreed to continue subsidies only if the central government steps in with more assistance. Parents have complained that many families will suffer if the BMA goes through with the threatened budget cuts.
Pawnshop business booms at start of school year
In May, when students return to school, their parents return to the pawnshops to find enough money to pay for their children’s education. Last month pawnshop owners reported that many people were pawning gold ornaments and electronic appliances ahead of the new school year. A pawnshop owner reported that the number of people depositing items at his shop had increased since last year and that about five percent of customers never redeem their pawned goods. A housewife reported that money lenders, who charge an interest rate of 20% per month or more are an alternative source of credit for parents who had run short of money for their children’s schooling.
Drug gangs send pushers to schools
It was reported last month, that drug gangs are sending youngsters under their control to register as students and sell drugs to their school mates. The Education Ministry was asked to look into the problem by a committee working on solutions to drugs problems in schools. It was reported that drug-dealing students could easily be detected, as their academic performance was so poor because they were only in school to sell drugs.
The Education Ministry ordered schools throughout the country to set up anti-narcotics committees to fight drugs problems. The Ministry estimates that 80% of all 12 million primary and secondary school students are drug free, 14-15% of students are at risk of taking drugs or have experimented with drugs, 4-5% of students are regular drug users and about 0.6% of students are addicted.
8,000 school computers to be fixed
Centres will be opened at institutes of technology and vocational training centres to repair more than 8,000 computers which were bought or donated to schools in the past and are now out of order. The aim is to make all 2,600 state-run secondary schools and 30,000 elementary schools have computers which are linked to the internet in the next four years. Presently 80% of secondary schools and 10% of primary schools have working computers.
Jailed drug offenders to be transferred to rehab
This month the first batch of jailed drug offenders will be transferred from jail to a rehabilitation camp under a voluntary scheme to combat drug abuse. The scheme aims to move small time drug offenders away from prisons and into rehabilitation programmes. Prisoners with a bad record are not eligible for the scheme. The rehabilitation courses will last at least six months. Inmates requiring further rehabilitation would be granted an extension up to a period of three years. The programme will be run by the Ministry of Public Health but inmates will under the direct supervision of the Corrections Department. Army camps will be used to host the rehabilitation programmes and the army will assist in the rehabilitation process.
State prisons are overcrowded with 230,000 inmates of whom 65% are drug offenders. People caught with up to 25 pills would be deemed to be patients in need of treatment instead of criminals.
Six million live in chemical danger zones
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) reported last month that 6.2 million people in Bangkok live in danger of accidents at facilities where dangerous chemicals are used and stored. Klong Toey has been identified as one of the danger areas and the BMA is working with the Pollution Control Department to set up emergency units in Klong Toey and four other areas.
Wanlop Hirikoon, Chairman of the Klong Toey Environmental Group, called for chemical shipments to be handled at Laem Chabang on the Eastern seaboard, away from any large populations, and he questioned the authorities competence to deal with chemical related emergencies. The BMA has proposed zoning to move hazardous chemical factories away from residential areas, but budget constraints probably make this an unrealistic goal.
Labour Day rally
More than 30,000 labourers rallied on Labour Day to demand that the government fulfil its promise to provide social security for the unemployed, the number of which is expected to reach 1.4 million this year. Other measures sought by workers included setting up of a national institute for worker’s health and occupational safety as an independent entity outside the bureaucratic system and the establishment of day-care centres on industrial estates.
During the last election campaign the Thai Rak Thai party, which forms the core of the present government promised the introduction of an unemployment insurance fund. The previous government also drew-up a draft decree but workers have been told that economic difficulties make it difficult to set-up a scheme for unemployed workers at the present time.
The government is pushing for the speedy passage of new legislation to promote the health and safety of workers. Labour leaders and the Labour Ministry have worked together on a draft law which should be completed this month.
From July 1st the social security scheme for people in employment will be extended to apply to all workplaces with one employee or more. Presently companies with 20 employees or more have to provide social security to their staff. The change will increase the number of people under the scheme from 6 million to 10 million. However, the scheme only covers businesses registered with the Commerce Ministry and many workers in casual labour will still be without cover.
Drugs company slashes prices
Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) has dropped the price of its antiretroviral drugs, which are used to treat Aids patients, by a factor of five. The new deal reduces the cost of a month’s supply of Indinavir, which is considered essential in arresting the development of full blown Aids, from 10,300 baht to 2,200 baht. There is disappointment, however, that the cut price drugs offer is only being made available to the Ministry of Public Health and not to government or private hospitals.
The price reduction will enable the Ministry of Public Health to expand the programme of distributing free antiretroviral drugs from the present 3,000 recipients to 15,000 recipients. Although the price cut is welcome it falls far short of Thailand’s needs. The Ministry of Public Health would like to distribute antiretroviral drugs to 30,000 people. Research carried out by MSD shows that only 7,000 Aids patients can afford to purchase the medicines they need.
In recent years 29,000 new cases of Aids develop annually and 30,000 people a year die from full-blown Aids. It is believed that approximately one million from the sixty million Thais are HIV+.
11.2 million benefit from Social Investment Programme
Around 9.2 million baht has been distributed under the Social Investment Programme (SIP), which was started over two years ago to ease the social effects of the economic crisis. The amount accounts for 60% of the total loans distributed by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Japan’s Bank for International Cooperation. From a total of 12,685 submitted projects, 4,630 projects have been approved for funding. About 5,000 communities have benefited from the programme.
Street police teachers programme wins over street kids
The Street police teachers programme which was started earlier this year is proving successful in improving the relationship between street kids and police officers. The Royal Thai Police and the Centre for the Protection of Children, Youth and Women are working together to help street children. Police officers are working with volunteer teachers to befriend street children and help them by donating second hand clothing and by giving informal lessons. The programme has the objectives of protecting street kids from criminal and narcotics gangs, to encourage the children to be assisted from NGOs so that they can get a proper education and by helping the youngsters to return home if they would like to.
Senate panel to help Thais working abroad
The senate committee on labour and social welfare will start working on solutions to a variety of problems facing Thai workers in Taiwan. The secretary general of the committee is Duang Prateep Foundation Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata. Prateep has reported that the committee has received many letters of complaint from disgruntled Thai workers in Taiwan. Workers have complained that they are exploited, forced to live under unhealthy conditions and are cheated by employers and recruiting companies.
People still living under bridges
About 10% of the total population of people living under bridges have refused to meet the deadline for relocation. Of the 695 families living under 77 Bangkok bridges, 476 should have moved to three new locations, with the remaining families returning to home towns outside Bangkok. The Bangkok governor described those who have refused to move as stubborn but did not mention any plan to remove them by force.
Authority gives up on expressway construction
The expressway authority has finally given up on plans to build a controversial expressway ramp through the historic Ban Krua Muslim community. Two public hearings in the mid-nineties decided that the ramps were not worthwhile. The expressway authority chose to ignore the results of the hearings but met with strong opposition from the Ban Krua community, which faced eviction if the ramps were constructed. The authority was required to hand over land for construction in 1996 but has been unable to reach agreement with the community.
Green economy buoyant
Despite continuing slow economic growth in the Thai economy, environmentally linked businesses have shown a spectacular increase during the last two years. It is estimated that the environmental sector has grown by as much as 12 to 15 percent. Two main factors behind the boom are stricter environmental law enforcement and a growing demand for green products.
Grameen trust to open in Thailand
The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is to open its much-hailed micro-credit programme in Thailand through its Grameen Trust. The trust hopes to loan Thai NGOs up to US$50,000 to start the scheme. The Grameen Trust has already supported 45 new micro-finance institutions in Asia. Since 1991 the Grameen Trust has distributed US$2.67 which has resulted in a collective disbursement of $83.41 million.