Project WIN: Grassroots Partnerships for Thailand

BCTFN (British Community in Thailand Foundation for the Needy) fully funded a complete Project Protein installation at Amphur Phrao.  That meant a fish pond, poultry operation, and village vegetable garden and orchard. Village elders decided not to include a mushroom hotel. There were also new sanitary toilets for several families. Seven hundred meters of blue PVC pipe was laid to bring fresh spring water to feed the fish pond, and to supply the entire village. (See previous website pages).  These three showed up early for class Recently, C ity Life sponsored a  training:  Villagers learned  skills in hydroponics, composting, and making organic fertilizers and non-toxic pesticides.  They even learned to make soaps for bathing and washing dishes.  

The forest supplies everything needed to repair the chicken coop roof .  As work ended at Chiang Dao, the team learned a nearby village needed a smaller  version of Project Protein. Volunteers quickly named it Chiang Dao 2.0, and realized that the generous City Life gift for the original Chiang Dao project could also cover their modest needs (plus a training program at Amphur Phrao).  Project WIN/Project Protein provided a flock of healthy chickens, feed, and supplies needed for a village-wide poultry operation.  They repaired the roof on the coop, brought  bagged medium and cultures for mushroom cultivation, and  some plants for the village vegetable gardens. Volunteers also offered advice and consultation on sustainable methods as requested by village elders.    Everything but the chickens Two hens (of thirty) watch the kids make their new home ready.  Eggs! New guests in the Mushroom Hotel.   Mushrooms...

The sixth full installation of Project Protein is at Amphur Phrao. It's an hour by car and another rugged hour and a half by four wheel drive.  Like the five previous villages, Amphur Phrao will  have a fish pond, a poultry operation, a communal vegetable garden, and a fully operational "mushroom hotel."  Villagers will learn to make organic fertilizers and pesticides, and school children will run everything, under supervision of their teachers and parents.   What's new is the toilets.  When the teams arrived, they saw that 6 homes lacked a working toilet and 5 had no toilet at all.  Fortunately, when there is adequate slope villagers can build a complete gravity flushing toilet facility including an area for bucket showers for less than 1000 Thai Baht (about $30 US  each), if the materials for all 11 toilets were hauled in at the same time, and experienced volunteers worked beside them.   All they needed was concrete, PVC pipe, som...

PROJECT WIN RECEIVES FAWCO GRANT Today the Project WIN Board learned that we will be the recipient of a 2018 FAWCO Foundation Development Grant to improve the quality of nutrition, to finance education in self-sufficient production and to increase dietary protein for local hill tribe populations.   The Project WIN Board and Project Director Thongin Nuntarat thank the FAWCO Foundation. We thank Suzanne Pitcher, who initiated contact with FAWCO, inspected our existing projects, and provided guidance throughout the application process. We also thank Mary Hanson, who wrote the application to FAWCO, and all the volunteers who make our projects possible.

Project Protein is in place and operational at Village Number Four, Chiang Dao.  Our focus now is Village Five but we'll stay in touch with Chiang Dao and all the other villages. Just last month we replenished the flock of laying hens at Village Three and stocked the pond with new fish, thanks to a private donation.  Still, it's time for an informal accounting.  Our formal financial report, coming soon, will have the details. Village Number Four, Chiang Dao In addition to hundreds of hours of donated labor, we received greatly  needed financial support: Australia New Zealand Women's Group  supported Village Number Three, and 10,000 baht was left over from their donation.  We used it toward the raised-bed vegetable gardens at Village Four.  The American International League of Florence donated 24,000 baht to implement the Five Step Cleanup Day including providing the recycle bins,  training in conservation and recyclin...

The village has its new concrete fish pond complete with a thousand baby fish, thanks to hard work by the villagers and  Project Protein volunteers.  Chiang Mai Expats Club paid for all the materials, which made the fish pond possible. They made this banner to celebrate

Dateline January 20, 2018 Khun Sab welcomed three distinguished visitors today: Project WIN Board President Yvonne Ziegler, Friend of Khun Sab Village Debbie Singh of Perth, donor of the new chicken flock, and Project WIN founder and director Thongin Nuntarat. Debbie shows two members of her flock with Project director Ajarn Thongin. These hens are top-quality, fully vaccinated stock ready to produce for up to three years. Debbie presents Teacher Aey with a surprise donation to restock the catfish pond. The tall boy in the center is 10, the student manager of the local Project Protein.      Thongin and President Ziegler share a moment. Some of the children gather around fresh supplies from Project WIN The visitors brought the kids' favorite orange treat