December 15, 1998
WE CARE Out in the cold The current drop in temperature might be a pleasant break for urban dwellers, but for people in the high lands, especially the very old and young, winter with not enough blankets and warm clothes means sleepless nights, aching bones, flu and other illnesses. Atiya Achakulwisut As soon as the temperature drops, the shops in the northern town of Chiang Mai get out their winter collections. Warm outfits in every colour - thick sweaters, soft scarfs and fluffy anoraks - go on display in almost every street, even though the weather is brisk, not really cold. Up in the highlands in the nearby province of Nan, an old man in a well-worn shirt sits by a small bonfire, warming his cold stiff hands. Glancing towards the house where his young grandson is sound asleep, he throws a few bananas onto the fire so the child will have something warm to eat before he leaves for school. Dawn has not broken yet. The cruel coldness will stay with him for several hours, until the sun drives it away. "My body aches when it gets cold," Dee Thepkorn, a native of Ban Pangkom in Nan province, said. Winter is especially harsh for the 68-year-old man who suffers from asthma. "We don't have enough blankets. If the night is too cold, we have to come down, make a fire and sit by it to get some warmth. I can hardly sleep when it's like that. The cold makes my body ache. I feel chilled to the bone." Warm clothing and new blankets are simply an unaffordable luxury for the old man's family who are farmers. "I don't remember the last time we bought a new blanket. It must have been a long, long time ago. We don't earn much money from farming, sometimes not even enough to buy food." A new blanket costs about 200 or 300 baht. Because of this year's prolonged drought and poor harvest, Mr Dee's family do not have that much money to spare. It is likely the old man will have to brave the long, wintry nights with only an old, thin shirt on his back. In the cold north of the Kingdom, less than 40 percent of the poor and those living in remote mountain communities have enough blankets and warm clothes to cope with winter. "The temperature can go down to zero here in December," said Prawit Suriyamonthon, a teacher at Nong Jed Nuay village, Mae Chaem district, Chiang Mai. It is so cold there in winter that villagers said banana trees wilt and mae kha ning or frozen dew drops can be seen everywhere in the morning. "When I was young, my siblings and I would sleep inside a rice sack. It was a cheap, warm blanket for us," Mr Prawit recalled. And even today rough rice sacks are a comfort for many poorer villagers. Phaklae and Tepho Phuthipraiwal, a pakayor couple in Baan Jaem Noi, also in Mae Jaem district, said their 10-year-old blankets scarcely gave them any warmth. To pass the cold nights, the family of 10, including two babies, sleep outside around a fire. The district authority does donate blankets to poor villages, but precious few reached such remote communities, many of which are five-hour away by car from Chiang Mai. Rit Phuteng, the Poh Luang or village headman of Baan Jaem Noi, said about half of the households in this village have enough blankets. He goes to the district office every year to ask for blankets. Though he gets some donations, they are never enough. "There are a lot of poor people here. None of them have ever frozen to death, but life can be extremely difficult for them in winter," Poh Luang Rit said, adding his village has not received any blankets in the last couple of years. The young are also vulnerable in the cold season. Somdej Sisaeng, director of Phrae province's primary education, said many students stay out of school in winter because they don't have enough clothes to keep themselves warm. "There are many students who live in remote, mountainous areas, where it gets very cold, and many of those are from families who are too poor to afford warm clothes. Actually, some of the students here don't even have a shirt to put on to go to school," Mr Somdej said. According to a provincial survey, of some 49,000 students in the province, 15,685 of them lack adequate winter clothing. Many students stay home close to a fire and others fall sick. Based on the province's statistics, Mr Somdej predicted between December and January, hundreds of students will catch cold or the flu. Children in the Northeast face similar problems. In Loei province, for example, nearly 50,000 children and old people need warm clothes and blankets. Although about 15,000 blankets have been donated to the provincial authorities, it is far short of the number needed to ensure people across the province are protected against the cold. In Buri Ram, the number of young and elderly people suffering from the common cold and pneumonia has also reportedly risen sharply with the arrival of the cold season. "I wish I had a blanket of my own," said Klaepho Chareonwongkiat, 67, of Baan Jaem Noi. "I can't afford to buy one. So I just have to find some dead boughs to make a fire when it gets too cold. I can't sleep during these cold nights, so I just lie awake wishing the season will end soon," she said. nfo for donations A number of organisations receive donations of blankets and warm clothes for people who are poor or who live in remote areas. If you want to make a donation you can contact any of the following groups: *Name of organisation: The Forest Conservation Community Fund *Address: 77/1 Moo 5, Tambon Suthep, Muang district, Chiang Mai province *Tel: (053) 810623-4 *E-mail: ndf13@chmai.loxinfo.co.th *Name of organisation: Relieving the Cold for the Young Project *Address: Public Relations Office, Phrae province's Primary Education office, Muang district, Phrae province, 54000. *Contact person: Ms Manee Muangthong *Tel: (054) 511605 If you live in the north, northeast or any cold area, you can make donations at any provincial primary education office since most of them run similar blanket and warm clothing campaigns in a bid to help poor students. *Name of organisation: The Thai Red Cross Society (Cold Weather Relief for Children in Remote Areas Project) *Address: The Relief and Public Health Bureau, 1871 Henri Dunant Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330 *Tel: 251-7853-5, 251-7614-5, and 256-4391, Fax: 252-7976 *Account number: 045-2-00423-6 Bank: Siam Commercial Bank, Saphakachat Thai branch If you cannot contact these organisations directly, you can send a cheque payable to Post Publishing Public Company Limited (For Blanket and Warm Clothing Campaigns), to Mrs Kusuma Mintakhin, Editorial Manager, 136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110. 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