The summer issue of World Ark is in the mail. If you’re not subscriber, you can read it all online. The project story this issue is from Thailand, a testimonial to how Heifer’s work transformed one man’s life and his village.

“Thirty years ago, Theerawat Pitakpraisri was a young boy in a remote village of northern Thailand in a desperate situation. His father was a drug addict and his mother an alcoholic.

“Theerawat’s village, Baan Saen Suk, lies just south of the border with Myanmar and west of Cambodia, in an area known as the Golden Triangle, infamous for its drug trade. The isolated area near the Mekong River became a conduit for drug trafficking, especially for opium. Easy access to drugs devastated many villages in the area.

“When Heifer International first came to his village in 1974, Theerawat asked for a water buffalo, but he was too young, and his parents were deemed unfit to be entrusted with an animal. Theerawat made a promise to himself that one day he would be a part of a Heifer project and have his own buffalo.”

Read the rest of Theerwat’s story online.