Thung Khanan: The Forgotten Village
Bombs, floods, and contaminated drinking water
The Thung Khanan Shelter cannot be found on any map or registry of it’s area. The village is small, located in eastern Thailand, just mere meters from the Cambodian border. Its people are humble and desperately poor. Everyday they fight to survive, forced to contend with unexploded land mines, famine, floods, contaminated drinking water and dangerous wildlife.
A Hard Life in the Jungle
This community has been on the brink for so long that a better future seems like a distant dream. Most of the villagers are farmers. They work every day on-top of and nearby active land-mine zones that have yet to be cleared. Most families cannot afford the basic costs to send their children to public school. In an emergency, a patient usually has to wait several hours (sometimes even days) until transport to a hospital to be arranged. Most serious, life altering conditions go completely untreated.
Fact Sheet
- 4 out of every 5 villagers drink contaminated rainwater collected and stored in massive concrete jars.
- 71% of families have been affected by land-mine explosions. Economic hardships force families to farm unsafe territory on the Thai-Cambodian border.
- 3 out of every 4 households live on less then $2 USD a day. This average daily income must often support up to 6 people.
- The village unemployment rate is 31%. This number is 500% greater than the current US unemployment rate, and is 300% greater than EU unemployment.
One thing is clear:
Thung Khanan needs our help.
The Questions is: How?
Most charities use their donations to provide much needed relief. They work hard to ship in food, medical supplies, materials and skilled professionals.
This aid is always cherished by locals in need, and it does so much good in “at risk” regions. But, if you watch what happens long enough, you start to see a cycle. Sadly, it’s a cycle of dependence, and these “at risk” communities risk perishing if the aid ever dries up.
The Answer is: Sustainability
Sustainable solutions create thriving communitiesW. Fantozzi, Project Director
A total solution cannot focus on aid alone. In his book “Building Social Business”, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus highlights that successful solutions must be sustainable. He argues for a model that creates lasting good and develops healthy communities through business. According to him, individuals and companies should help establish small businesses that both create significant social good and support themselves financially.
Sustainable solutions are generative. They break the cycle of dependence and grow stronger communities. And the best part? They work at all levels. Look, for example, at Grameen Danone: a corporate partnership that brings key nutrition to children of low income families in Bangladesh. Or, have a glance at Kiva.org: a website that helps people like you finance budding entrepreneurs in low income areas all over the world.
We need your help
You have the power to make a difference.W. Fantozzi, Project Director
We will build a sustainable future for Thung Khanan, but we need your help. Each of our projects are designed to fix critical issues, educate villagers, and develop a sustainable community. Each of these projects needs people like you who can bring them to life. With your help, we can provide clean water, medical care, and much needed transportation. From there we can start building sustainable businesses and education programs. By the time our work is done, Thung Khanan will stand on its own two feet.
Sustainable Development Projects
- Our Microfinance and Business Resources Project will give village entrepreneurs access to funding, support, and learning resources to help them start their own small businesses.
- The Microfarming Initiative will help the villagers establish environmentally friendly, high yield agriculture farms on “land-mine free” farm land.
- Our Aquaculture Development Project will create environmentally friendly ponds, which will fill out the village food supply.
- A Medical Facility will give visiting doctors a place to treat villagers, furnished with modern medical equipment.
