Mae Nam Khun, Thailand Project
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Project Completed 2006 Project Accomplishments
Faculty Advisor - Dave Bothman |
Project Summary
The Hill Tribe population of Thailand is distributed across the entire portion of northern Thailand. Much of this area is mountainous and rugged. Although the Thai government has done a magnificent job of criss-crossing these mountain ranges with a network of roads, there remain hundreds of villages that are still located in remote areas off the beaten track. Wherever clusters of villages can be found, the government has made the effort to establish schools, agricultural extension centers, and health clinics designed to help meet the needs of the people. In spite of these laudable efforts, there still remain many village clusters that do not have access to any of these benefits.
A significant percentage of hill tribe children living in the northern mountains of Thailand have poor access to government education. Remote hill tribe communities have little or no means of transportation to reach regional schools, and are without relatives with whom their children may stay during the school year.
The hill tribes of northern Thailand have traditionally been very resistant to the idea of sending their children to schools. The age-old problem of seeing one’s children go off, never to return home was one of the main reasons for this negative perception of education. Village elders needed their young folk around them for support and security. How could one claim to be a strong bow without a quiver full of arrows? It wasn’t until quite recently that village elders began to appreciate the need for preparing their children for interacting with the outside world. In spite of this change in attitude on the part of the elders, the path to school was still an uphill climb for the majority of hill tribe children.