A NEW KIND OF SITE FOR PROJECT PROTEIN

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The convoy was a silver van followed by two motorbikes that would be needed later. They took the good highway two hours north of Chiang Mai to the Chiang Dao district, home of the world famous caves.  They turned off the main road and headed up to a village of Baan Maekang Sai -- the Village on the Left Bank of the Maekang  (not the mighty Maekong, far to the North). They stopped three kilometers short of the village and parked the van.  The motorbikes make several slow trips up the muddy, too-steep road, and when they arrived they saw this glorious view


Project Vin coordinator and his student volunteers were there to survey the village as a possible site for Project Protein #4.

This village represents a fresh frontier for the Project. It's the first village with a significantly cooler microclimate than usual (2-7 degrees in the cold season. It's remote, and it's very small.


In Maekang Sai there are only 24 families, all indigenous Karen people who wore their tribal dress for the Project Protein visit.  There are 17 children in the school and two teachers.  Project leaders think it's time to do a demonstration project in a setting like this to prove that even remote villages can develop sustainability agriculture and dramatically increase protein the the diet of their families. Teachers and parents will help the next generation learn to care for the fish, the frogs, the chickens, the mushrooms and the organic vegetables. 

Villagers made lunch for Project Protein staff, and all clearly enjoyed getting to know each other.  There will be more meetings, and consultation with village elders, but the enthusiastic welcome from the families and the teachers suggests the village really hopes to be chosen. If they are, they're be a series of meeting and planning sessions back in Chiang Mai, will begin. 


 For more information, please contact project coordinator Thongin Nuntarat at projectwinthailand@gmail.com.  He's the one with the hat, second from the left.

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