Swiftlet Community Education Fund

Soon as I got back to Thailand, I were eager to set foot on my farm obviously. No dramas this time - a sigh of relief!

There is something else restless in mind, over a series of questions about the funds I raised & viability of the school project. Several "what if" questions and "If.. then... else" scenarios popped up. Am I really getting suck into this, I wondered?

Firstly I need to convince myself this is justifiable in terms of enrollments. Is there a sufficient population base of youths in the region?

What if the school project does not materialize? Then the part of fund I raised should be utilize as subsidy to selected few in higher learning.

Even if the school is built, is funding sufficient to be sustainable? A cash crunch over a few months can be disastrous, all efforts will go down the drain. I have some ideas they can generate an income stream. Is it feasible for them to undertake?

These are really not my problems but I still need a trip up Sangklaburi to clear my mind and touch base with Da Da in person and do some due diligence as well. I felt a sense of responsibility to those who make a contribution.

Sangklaburi is 500KM from where I am, almost a 7 hr drive to get there. Break for lunch at a floating restaurant on River Kwai, Kachanaburi. The infamous "Death Railway" bridge is in sight at the far end.













Speeding long tail boats skimmed over water surface with load of tourists.













It was evening by the time I arrived. Remote may be, this is a scenic town overlooking a huge lake created by Khao Laem Dam. Ha.. a cluster of weaver nests hanging down artificially at the lakeside resort.













Presenting the contributions from fellow swiftlet farmers - as the "Swiflet Community Education Fund" the following morning.













The school site (to the left) is along an isolated stretch of road about 16KM out of town. It is preferable to be at the edge of the main town, I mentioned to Da Da. Currently the nearest place to have such vocational training is Kachanaburi - 220KM away, he replied.













The land adjoins to Baan Da Da orphanage and owned by the foundation. Surprise to me is a fair size village community served by the road not far down. I've also surveyed other villages in the vicinity driving around and get a better perspective on Google Earth.

What if there is insufficient funds to start and no time line to begin?
His response was he has support from the principal of local high school to conduct classroom lessons there and would start building the workshops for practical sessions in October. Well, if he started off walking to Phuket with Bht 15 in his pocket, I can believe his determination to pull it off on a much reduced scale. Start with one course and grow from there, I advised.

I toured the grounds of the orphanage and was quite impressed with their achievements. The self built 3-storey children dormitory.








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A building constructed out of self-made mud bricks behind the basket ball court.













A weaving room to teach local women folks skill of the craft.













Girls having a break in the yard. Behind is a music hall where the children band practiced for the evening performance.













Beyond the core activity areas are well established fruit orchard & vegetable gardens, tended by residents. Evidence of their spirit of self sufficiency that become part of up bringing.

A fully grown avocado tree.



















Pineapples planted between rubber trees. A good number of rubber trees planted 3 years back, an investment to supplement operational expenses of the orphanage in future.



















A new plot of arable land being prepared alongside matured bananas trees.



















Maximizing land usage - vegetables plots between rubber trees.













A well tended vegetable garden and more are still developing.













I proposed they go organic and we visited a nearby NGO to obtain some worm culture. Once they get a hang of it, I'll sponsor their start-up of a commercial scale vermi-compost facility. Finally I see some parallel to my hobby farm activities.



















In the evening, the children performed at Songalia Resort. Performers keep 20% of receipt as pocket money and 80% goes toward paying school fees.













Da Da in animated gesture guiding the drummer from sideline.






















The group of visiting volunteers came by to lend their support too.













It is a good feeling if a little contribution do make a difference in others life. To me "Giving is not necessary helping", but "Helping people who help themselves" is more meaningful and worthwhile. My mind is cleared now.

What I like to do as a hobby farm is what they do to live!

A snapshot of visitors across the region

Sometimes I wonder who visit my blogs. Good that the statistic counter has a visitor map. There are many from other parts of the world too but I am more interested in people in our region.

This is the current snapshot.













Actually I am a little bored being away from my farm :0). Looking forward to get my feet on the ground again.

Better look where else I can update my blogs.. oh yes, the last visit to Pak Hen's seminar in Jakarta.

Lend a helping hand

An event in late 2010 that re-shapes my activities for 2011 was Da Da's passage through Petchaburi on 13th Nov.

This guy is a nut with a huge heart! Nut because he was inadequately prepared to undertake the 1,200Km walk to Phuket. He embarked on the "Walk for Education" mission without sufficient resources! Saw him on sandals with blistering toes as he reached Petchaburi, covered only 40% of the distance.

The first paragraph of his blog wrote: (22nd Oct 2010)
Quote
Made a phone call to Somchai at 8:00pm to tell him that I only have 15 baht (US$0.50 or RM 1.50) on my pocket and I will start the solo walk tomorrow. He told me that “this is not right and even dangerous”. He promised to arrange some money immediately as he has his bank passbook with Dada Prasanta. I told Somchai strongly that he should not tell Dada P my situation. He said he will call back later.
Unquote

I can't imagine myself doing that, not even contemplate to walk 1,200 KM in the first place. Yet he set off whatever the circumstance on 23rd Oct and reached Phuket on 6th Dec after 45 days! I take my hat off for his endeavor. This is one tough nut!

The last photo post of his blog towards Phanga, almost there to Phuket. I've passed this way several times before, only on 4 wheels at 120Km/Hr.










What really touched me when I first met him was this guy has a huge heart. What's the fundamental difference between us I asked myself? The goal he set out is selfless. While mine had always been self-centered.

As for his fund raising objective - he is far from it, still very far!
He met some journalists while passing through Bangkok hoping to get press publicity. It came to nothing. Huh - a Mr. Nobody doing a fund raising walk to build a technical school for minorities at the Thai-Myanmar border was not newsworthy of course.

All I can do at the time was to add a post to Bangkok Post forum captioned "Lend a helping hand". It invited 3,400 views but again it may not be of much help either.

During that time, a person I came to know through this blog called to consult on sound system for his new bird house. I proposed to review his design and he contributes to Da Da's school building project. He agreed without hesitation.

Since then another blog reader has also made a contribution. Thanks to their kindness and supports given. There are more helping hands out there I believe.

Going forward my intention is to help by do something concrete. I have several loose ideas floating in the head now and will crystallize them over the coming weeks.

2011 - What's in store?

Another year had passed! It's time for some reflections & look forward to a new year.

Ran through content of this blog is like walking down memory lane. It was back in June 2008! My journey into bird nest farming started a year and half earlier with frequent field trips to various countries to learn & find a suitable location.

It was like an adventure. There is always something to learn & discover along the way, decisions to make at every turn; a journey began with a goal but without a destination. This is how I see life since stepping out of school - I may have goals but unknown destiny.

So I am glad I got somewhere and what's next from here?












There is really nothing new to say here except to recap & remind myself the personal objectives to follow through with.

On the outset, my bird house is designed with room to experiment with bird sounds. Somehow I have special affection on this subject. That's why I placed my equipment room on top floor with roof access, so to conduct sound experiments - whether on bird sounds or comparative performance of tweeters.

There are many claims people made out there - true or half truths; there is no better way than let the birds give the verdict. Well, it is not easy to have the answers but the means is now available; only the efforts needed.

This is really what I look forward to in 2011.

A nest to remember

This is a special nest to me. Why?

I mentioned the use of fake nests & Styrofoam pads some time ago. The intent is to encourage young birds to populate new areas of the bird house. This is the first nest I decide to harvest finally after 2 rounds of fledgelings had grown from it.














That area is now been populated with some 40 nests. I am quite content with the results. I didn't use aroma. Just a combination of tweeters & fake nest/Styrofoam pads.

Growing the population is always a challenge. A friend posed a question to me before: "How would you keep your young birds from going away?"

I guess this is one good way.

Un-welcomed visitor - A predator bird

Recently there was a predator bird (hawk) came around the bird house during late afternoons when swiftlets return to play. Swiftlets don't seem to be perturbed by its presence, even with roving eagles at times!

The hawk stood on the roof's edge, changed a few spots while sizing up the situation and finally positioned itself over the entrance hole. That is a blind spot to swiftlets flying out. It leap and swoop down on them. Well so far, no birds were caught in my presence.

What is interesting was each time the hawk leap into flight, swiftlets in the air gang up and gave chase for 100 - 200m till it flew far enough away. Witnessed this behavior many times - seem they have a colonial spirit and are protective of its territory.

Predator bird (circled) flew with swiftlets (not quite visible) in hot pursuits..













Well, the long term solution is to electrify the roof's edge.