Farmers  

Most farmers, or the people that actually work on farms near Mae Sot, are Burmese laborers. They wade across the river each morning during dry season or cross in a boat during the summer and are picked up in villages along the Moei River. Local farm owners in their pickup trucks drive up and hire these laborers for the day or the week. They spend the day, week, or month working on a farm – planting seeds, weeding, spraying pesticides, or harvesting the crop when it’s ready. Our children have bicycled all around the surrounding countryside, through the fields of local farms, plantations, and orchards. They have rarely met an actual Thai farmer on his own land. Many of the Burmese migrant farm laborers are sharecroppers. They pay their Thai landlord a nominal rent and put up a shack on his land, farming a small patch of his land as their own, and tending the rest of the farm for the owner. They may receive no pay at all or are allowed to keep some of the harvest for their own use. Many of these Burmese farmers have children who work on the farm alongside their parents. We have visited farms on the Burmese side of the border and the situation there is not much different. Most of these farm laborers have the skills and experience to own and manage their own farms. They simply lack the capital investment to do so. A local three-acre farm in Myanmar can be purchased cheaply – as low as 15,000 baht. Unfortunately, what is a small sum for most of us is a small fortune for the local Burmese. HTF Home School may never be able to change this situation but at least we can equip our children with basic farming skills.  There may come a day when these skills sustain them and their children.  That's enough of a reward for now.

Friends

HTF Home School cannot help Burmese farmers without the help of friends. Instead of the typical 'sponsor a child' program, HTF intends to 'sponsor a farm plot'. This can be accomplished by providing a donation of funds to lease a plot of farm land for a year -- in many cases, as low as $200 a year.  Other people may help by participating in work projects to prepare land for farming. Many local farms raise livestock – pigs, chickens, goats, or cattle. Funds to purchase livestock and build animal pens could be provided by visiting volunteers who want to make a meaningful donation when they leave Thailand. Visiting volunteers, especially, will be encouraged to collect small donations from their friends and family to help realize these goals.  It is in just such a way that volunteers have started programs on their own initiative -- such as the shelter building project begun by Pat and Monique (teachers in China) but completed by Dave and Mary (experienced volunteers who have spent a couple of months helping us during the monsoon season of 2008).  Please take a look at the 'Friends' page in this section.  

Teachers

By 'teachers', HTF means 'other farmers' -- the people best situated to pass on their skills and knowledge of farming. Think of it as vocational education. HTF will involve farm laborers as teachers  in our home-schooling program -- both to teach others their skills and to learn 'alternative' farming techniques. These techniques include: no-till farming, green mulching, organic farming, soil fertilization with minerals, mixed cropping, apiculture, ‘sonic bloom’, fruit horticulture, herb gardening for profit, etc. Many of the Burmese farmers we will invite to our programs will already have some knowledge of these techniques. HTF is also a research program to find out what these farmers do know. The fruit of our efforts will be shared with the children both hosted in our shelter and those who join us in our efforts to become self-sufficient. Volunteers who visit our farm will be invited to participate in these programs – teaching what they know. This teaching includes: soil conservation and work projects to eradicate soil erosion, raising domestic animals, alternative construction methods, production of herbal products, etc. 

Students  

Most students who learn from this approach will be the children of Burmese broken families.  They have the most intimate connection to the program and will gain the most from their future involvement in it.  They have a double chore -- learning all that HTF has to teach them about self-livelihood but also learning how to fit into Thai culture.  Of course, this includes learning how to speak Thai and attending local schools.  Many of these schools have little or no education related to agriculture and improved techniques of farming.  It is no wonder that few Thai children contemplate a future job as a farmer -- their dream is to go to Bangkok.  The children hosted by the shelter at present attend a local government Thai school near the Moei River in our little village.  They walk 100 meters to school daily and join the many other Burmese children studying at this school.  Free of charge, they are provided a daily lunch and must only provide their own books and uniforms.  One day, they will become educated students and will acquire skills also imparted by many other local NGOs.  Many such students only use their new skills and knowledge to leave their community and travel to other countries.  HTF hopes that our students will realize we are all ‘family’ and remain rooted in farms that contribute to the local community and agricultural economy.

Volunteers

Volunteers, local Thai community leaders, teachers and others who visit HTF Home School all bring their worlds with them. They must remember that the goal of their visit is to help Burmese children learn self-livelihood instead of dependency upon an NGO program. There will come a day when these children are adults and they are faced with the responsibility of sharing what they know with others. By the time that day arrives, HTF hopes to offer them the viable alternative of starting their own farm communities – think about the ‘Amish’ lifestyle, if you will. The ‘Amish’ lifestyle is strongly centered in family values and when one community spawns another, it only grows into a larger network of friendship. HTF can do no better than respect the success of this time-proven method for raising children and building community. HTF is registered with the Fellowship of Intentional Community and especially welcomes visitors from sister and brother communities around the world. Together, we are all building the future of society from grassroots organizations such as ours.