Thai Health Promotion Foundation visit

Happy New Year 2552/2009! SFS is now back to work after a little break for the holiday. This post features the visit from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation on December 19th. The Foundation - referred to as ส.ส.ส. in Thai - is one of our biggest supporters, and this was their board of director's first visit to our organization. After a morning meeting that introduced some of our programs in more detail and invited feedback from our visitors, we took our 30 visitors out to Tamor subdistrict to meet with some of our members. The morning also featured our "Farm to Market" video, which got everyone excited about visiting the farms.

The afternoon trip to meet with farmers answered a lot of their questions and was a great opportunity for the farmers themselves to express their ideas and experiences in sustainable agriculture. Lunch in Tabthai featured Kanya Ongsri's organic pork and Tilapia, which everyone enjoyed especially after getting to see her fish ponds and pig pens.

The Foundation's support for the work of NGOs like SFS represents a truly progressive approach to public health. They view sustainable agriculture - which includes organic farming practices, rice seed saving and programs like our "Smiley Garbage" - as deeply connected to the health of Thai citizens. While the Foundation is probably best known for it's anti-smoking campaigns, their support for sustainable agriculture, especially in this part of Thailand, is an important part of their vision. They understand that a small-scale farmers' ability to provide safe, healthy food for his family as well as the local community is an essential part of Thailand's public health infrastructure.

The value of SFS' work is something best understood when you can exchange about it directly with a farmer. Coming to their fields and learning about their techniques, seeing that no chemicals are used and the local ecology is conserved, is an important educational experience, even for the most experienced public health workers or doctors. I think the photos below do justice to everyone's feelings when getting to step into Samrat Thong-iam's fields a few weeks ago.

There is something really beautiful about people coming together around safe, healthy food. Maybe this time has to do with everyone coming together in the fields in which it is grown, or that some of those people are instrumental in generously supporting small organizations to enable more farmers like Samrat Thong-iam to pursue a sustainable livelihood. SFS looks forward to a new year of working together with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Together, we'll continue building alternatives for small-scale farmers and urban consumers.