The
Border Hill tribe Group [1986] was the first name of the Maehongson Hill tribe
Extension & Improvement Program [NGO], founded in 1994 by:
1. Ph.D Sabin Family Owner of Hospital in Netherlands
2.Ph.D Willium American
3.Ph.D Tatsuhiko Kawashima Japan [ Gakushuin University ]
4.Mr.Parinya Kannika Maehongson Travel Agency & Hill
Guest house in the Northern region.
5.Madam Napaporn Muangkam Owner of Maehongson Guest House.
6.Mr.John Fettes Technologies
LTD in New Zealand.
7.Mr.Kevin Teacher in England
8.Miss
Vicky Business person in England
9.Mr.Robert Petrusich Peace corps Volunteer United
state/Thailand
10.Mr.Natan Nat
Duff Peace corps Volunteer
United state/Thailand
11.Mr.Chris Cox Peace corps Volunteer United state/Thailand
12.Mr.Steven Schipanti Peace corps Volunteer United
state/Thailand
13 .Mr.Anton Meier Writer/Editorial Consultant in Belgium
14.MadamNicole Pollet Teacher in England.
15.Miss.Maria
Jesus Ladero Lorente Spain
16.Miss.Milageros Laderos
Lorente Spain
17.Mr.Pedro j.perez Lani Travel in Madrid, Spain.
18.Miss
sara Ponce Lani Travel in Madrid, Spain.
While working as a guide for Maehongson Tours, Mr.Parinya Kannika observed many
problems in the hill tribe villages of Maehongson Province. The NGO group was
formed to create an organization that would work to assist these people. The organization’s
methodology would be to help the people to solve their own problems,
offering permanent and self-generating solutions.
Some
contributions to the NGO came from donations by foreign tourists that trekked or went sightseeing
with his agency. Items such as warm clothes, towels and blankets were donated
and distributed to the remote Thai people and Thai hill tribe villagers in the
provinces of Maehongson and Tak, as well as in the nearby provinces of Chiangmai
and Chiangrai.
Until now, the organization has been funded by limited foreign donations from business people from Japan, Spain, the Netherlands and another countries, and
supplemented with Mr.Parinya Kannika’s personal income, from his work as a guide.
Mr.Parinya Kannika’s approach to the villagers’ problems has been to help
them build infrastructure and educate the people so that they can become self-sufficient.
The Thai hill tribes have begun to work with Mr.Kannika in finding solutions to their fundamental problems in the villages.These include the issues of basic human rights, health, clean water supply, sanitation, kindergarten, grade school, community food bank, fecal disposal, and the protection of the enviroment
and their culture. Until now, operations have been funded through non-profit sources and the Non
governmental Organization [NGO].
Because the organization’s support comes from different countries, we changed
the name from ‘Maehongson Hill tribe Extension & Improvement Programm’ to the ‘International Cooperation for Thai Hill
tribe Development Foundation [ ICTDF ]’ in order to commemorate all of the support
from past to present.
The vision and mission of the International Cooperation for Thai-Hill Tribe
Development Foundation is to assist the Thai, local, Hill tribe and Burmese
people along the border of Northern Thailand in Tak, Maehongson,
Chiangmai,Chiangrai, Lampang, Lampoon, Phrae, Nan and Payao Province to
preserve their traditional customs while minimizing damaging effects on the environment. This will
help prevent further deforestation of the jungle of northern Thailand. To
achieve this mission, ICTDF focuses on the following issues for each of the
villages being assisted.
1.
Preservation of the traditional culture.
1.1.
Encourage local people to work in their immediate area.
1.2.
Encourage the conservation of local culture by themselves.
1.3.
Promote the conservation of artifacts and places.
2.
Agricultural advice, including advice on irrigation. Development and installation of
drinking-water systems for the villages. Provision of guidance in the
identification of permanent farming sites in order to limit the impact on the
environment.
2.1.
Promote organic farming. Do not use chemicals.
2.2.
Promote farming at a fixed place. No shifting of cultivation.
2.3.
Encourage the people to maintain clean water for their use.
2.4.
Encourage people to have a sanitary latrine. Do not use the forest as a toilet.
1.5.
Encourage villagers to have a career to increase their revenue.
3.
Kindergarten, Children Dormitory and school-Building. Scholarships, supplies,
provision of guidance in the identification of problems in AIDS Prevention and
women’s rights to education.
3.1.
Foster children to have the opportunity to attend school
3.2.
Promotion of rural children in child care centers when parents go to work in
their field.
3.3.
AIDS education in the rural villagers
4.
Protection of the Human rights.
4.1.
Study of Basic Human rights for people in rural areas
4.2.
Helping disadvantaged children along the border so that their basic human
rights are protected
“You
are important to our success, we can’t do anything without your help "
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