Jariya’s Determination: Through Good Times and Bad

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Heifer Thailand

It is now school vacation, so Jariya Saerum’s children are staying home and helping her and her husband do some chores. The children also helped their grandparents with cassava harvesting. After harvesting cassava, her family is now planting corn, local vegetables and coffee. They are also preparing the ground for upland rice, which they are planning to grow during the May–June season.

The family’s recent farming production was good, so Jariya’s family made some profit, and they have enough to buy a new motorcycle. The new vehicle will make their lives easier when they travel. Rice production was also good, which should be enough for their family for the whole year. the banana crop is also yielding well, so they have enough to eat and share with others families (they sometimes trade their farming products with other families). Recently, they traded bananas for fermented fish — a Northeastern Thai food cooking ingredient.

The ducks received from the project are laying three to four eggs a day, so Jariya’s family has enough protein everyday. Their poultry is not yet hatched because the rainy season is approaching. But , they are expecting to have more ducklings after the rainy season.

During the past six months, Jariya has received various trainings both from Heifer and other organizations. Recently, she received climate adaptation training by Heifer Thailand, as well as training in disaster risk deduction, homestay management, handicraft from coconuts and being a local tourist guide.

From learning to be local tour guide as their village is located near a prominent cave, Jariya learned basic English to communicate with foreign visitors. One of the foreign tourist visited the cave led by her and visited her family. This visitor was impressed with Jariya’s determination to improve her family’s living condition, so he provided some amount of scholarship for her children. Jariya was so impressed with his kindness, and she shared this story with project staff with a trembling voice.

Being a good role model for her children and always supportive, her children are studying hard. The recent school exam resulted in Sunisa Buajarn, her oldest daughter who is studying in grade 8, getting a 3.92 GPA. Her second-oldest son, Thanapon Buajarn ( studying in grade 2) got a 3.94 GPA (out of 4.00). Moreover, Thanapon participated in a pétanque competition (a game similar to bocce) at district level, winning the runner-up prize.

Unfortunately Satian Buajarn, Jariya’s husband, has been having health problems lately. This is because he previously used chemicals when farming his own farm and working day labor on other farms. Jariya and Satian discussed his health issues with Heifer project staff, who talked to the family about substituting organics for the chemicals. Satian has agreed to make the change.

There was also a sad story that happened to Jariya’s family when she lost her youngest brother a few months ago from an accident. Her brother helped temple construction, and while he was working a log fell on his head, causing him to lose consciousness. He was admitted at the local hospital for many nights, but he was not getting any better. He died peacefully about a week later. Jariya as well as her parents and other relatives were so sad for their great loss.

As time goes by, the family is getting better. Jariya’s children are growing up too, so the children are helping their grandparents sometimes to lessen their burden and to encourage them during their time of great loss.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Today’s post is the second in a series of quarterly updates on the progress of Jariya Saerum and her family. You can read the first post about this family here.

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Tiwah’s Hope for a Better Future

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Heifer Thailand

Thai New Year (Songkran) has just ended, and after Thai and other ethnic groups living in Thailand celebrated the long holiday, life is now back to normal. Like other families, Tiwah Subsawanya’s family celebrated Thai New Year (or water festival); however, one of their sons had an accident during Songkran.

The day Heifer Thailand staff visited the family, they were organizing a blessing ceremony for their last child Nithipat Subsawanya, who is 7 years old. Nithipat fell off the car during the water festival, but he is still a cheerful boy. His wound is getting much better day after day, and the doctor’s appointment to take out the stitches is within a few days. “We consulted with the village’s spiritual leader, he suggested we organize the blessing ceremony for our son,” says the family’s father of four children, Korla Subsawanya.

Amidst the bad luck, Tiwah’s family got a new family member. Her first daughter gave birth to a new baby boy, who is now three months old. They named the boy Tokipo, which means “little parrot” in the Karen ethnic language.

Also, the sow they received from Heifer gave birth to 10 piglets, but due to the sow’s health she cannot produce enough milk to feed her ten babies, resulting in one piglet’s death. For this, Tiwah and her husband Korla decided to move their sow and piglets to raise at Korla’s younger brother’s pen. They hope that by changing to a new environment and bigger pen their pigs will be healthier.

Now is summer so Tiwah’s family is preparing the ground for the upcoming cultivation season. Tiwah and Korla are clearing cabbages from the previous cultivation and will grow peanuts soon. They also prepare the rice fields for approaching rainy season. The rice crop is for their family’s consumption while cabbages and peanuts are for sale. Even though their cabbages are yielding a crop now, they decided to clear up the land because it is not worth hiring the truck to carry the cabbages to the market since their village is located on the mountain about two hours from the city. “Hiring a truck will cost about 2,000 Baht a day including gasoline, so it’s not worth selling the crop since cabbage price is very low now,” says Tiwah Subsawanya.

In terms of project activity, recently Tiwah attended an organic farming exposure trip where she learned to make organic pesticides from local herbs. After the trip she shared this knowledge with her husband. “We haven’t started to apply the knowledge yet because it is off farming season, but we are planning to use it during the upcoming farming season. I’m sure it will help reduce cost of farming if we use herbs as the substitute of chemicals.” Korla says.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Today’s post is the second in a series of quarterly updates on the progress of Tiwah Subsawanya and her family. You can read the first post about this family here.

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Tiwah Subsawanya’s New Hope

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Heifer Thailand

A small bamboo hut in the valley of Hin Lek Fai village is Tiwah Subsawanya’s house. Tiwah is 54 years old. She is married to Korla Subsawanya (49), and they have four children: two daughters and two sons. Her family lives at Hin Lek Fai Karen ethnic village, Doi Kaew sub-district, Jomthong district, Chiang Mai province.

Their house is made from bamboo and grass thatch with a simple cooking stove in the middle of the house. This is not for only cooking but also keeping them warm during the cold nights. Their house is not like the typical Karen families whose kitchen is built separately from the house. But for them, this is home.

Currently, there are three people living in the family home: Tiwah, her husband and her son. Their two daughters are married and moved out, and the youngest son is studying in Chomthong city. Their third son quit studying to support his family with farming and day laborer jobs.

The family’s diet is mostly wild and garden vegetables. They grow some vegetables and rarely eat meat because it is expensive. They earn their living from farming and daily labor. But, there is no daily job offered often, so each month they can generate about 500 Baht ($16.60) which is considered to be very low income.

“If there is a job available at a cabbage farm, we will go, but there are few jobs available lately,” Korla Subsawanya says.

In 2011, Tiwah joined the Capacity Building of Women and Youth to Develop Holistic and Sustainable Highland Agriculture System project. She received one sow and three piglets as well as a series of trainings. This project has assisted 76 Karen ethnic women and their families in rural areas of Doi Kaew Sub-district with livestock and kitchen gardens. The project has been implemented in two communities, namely Baan Huay Kanoon and Baan Hin Lek Fai. The project is focused on capacity building of women and youth, natural resources preservation, food security and organic farming.

Tiwah’s family is considered the poorest of these poor families, but with livestock, a kitchen garden and capacity enhancement activities she hopes that her family’s living condition will be improved in the near future.

Editor’s note: This post is the first from India in a new series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Initially, this series will focus on our programs in Asia/South Pacific, where our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates.