Some of you may actually be familiar with these projects. Although the King and Queen strive to help their people any way they can, they are not rich. They have done much of this work by leveraging the donations of others. It all started in 1971 when Herbert Armstrong, on behalf of the Worldwide Church of God, donated a small amount of seed money to get things going. Much has been accomplished since then.
As you can see from these 2 pictures, the King and Queen have been invloved with helping their people for many years- since they were much younger.
The original idea was to get the country folk (especially the hill tribes) to stop growing opium and make a living growning fruits and vegetables, and learning other skills that would help them to earn decent livings.
At the Feast in 2007, we visited a Project just like this one on the left, maybe this actual one. There was a large farm, and also a pottery factory and hand weaving, as I recall. The products are sold all over Thailand, and at fairs like this as well. Some goods, like the flowers in the dispay, are grown for export. Since poppy growers are at the bottom of the drug chain, they do not make a great living. I have been told that they do better with fruits and vegetables. In a discussion I had with Chalermsak, one of our first-year students, I found that not everyone agrees with this assessment. FWIW, Chalermsak is not a shrinking violet, speaking of flowers.
High-end coffee is one of the products that comes from the Royal projects. According to Ben (pictured below on the left, with Nathan), our resident coffee expert, it was good.
Ben and Nathan, who don't seem to go anywhere without some sort of appendage to the shoulder.
Ben is working at both the farm and the school. He is trained as an engineer, but is taking some time off to help at Legacy. Besides that, he seems to have a bit of a travel bug.
The flower display included strategically placed chairs and benches that were perfect for taking pictures.
Left- Beka, Lal Lian, Seng Mai and Fon.
Erika and Elainea, teachers, flanking Nora, who is both a student and a worker, and mother of 2 wonderful daughters who were in school while we took our trip.
Chalermsak, Atiwat and Japur, 3 of our Thai first year students. Japur stays down at the farm, and I often enjoy his singing and guitar playing.
Lal Lian, Beka, Hkawn Din and Seng Mai
Fon with Dora and Nora, who are sisters
Products literally ranged from soup to nuts. One booth featured herbal products and essential oils.
I always wondered about those little ears of corn...
I sampled some Feta cheese-made from some kind of Buffalo milk- pretty good
Then there was the vermicompsting exhibit. Short story- composting with an abundance of WORMS. When it is done, you have both potting soil and a liquid (pictured) you can use as fertilizer. Yuck.
One of the most interesting things about this exhibit was the video they had playing in an endless loop on a laptop. All in Thai, but I watched anyway.
2 very intersting things. First, the video was produced by the Narcotics people in Thailand. Seems odd that Narcs would care about compost, but it is all about getting people to do something other than grow opium.
Second, the video opened with a version of Dueling Banjos. Must elicit the farm motif? But even more interesting was the closing music while the credits rolled. It was played in the same bluegrassy-folk style on acoustic instuments. The tune? The Star Spangled Banner. I don't get it.
Potpourri- quite a large bag (100g) for 70 Baht- that's about $2
Those plants on the right look familiar?
Below, some hill tribe women demonstrate that hemp can be spun and woven.
Before we left for school, Dora decided to make "flowers" from palm leaves.
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