MOOKDA INTASAN
The Teacher who Lives to Give

Story : Tasanee Yawaprapas
Photos : Dusadee Hemsirirat

Her happy smiling face reflects both an inner peace and steadfast determination. Such is the first impression of Mookda Intasan, the only Thai woman to achieve the "Race against Poverty Award" from the United Nations Development Program.

As a little girl in Dok Kam Tai District of Phayao Province, some 600 kilometers north of Bangkok, Mookda had the opportunity to study; she considered herself luckier than her peers.

She reflected on her hometown, which people ridiculed for practicing the oldest profession in the world - prostitution. Mookda drew courage and strength from her classmates and the compassionate teachers who showered their students with equal affection. With an education, young Mookda was determined to help develop her hometown to save the young folk from suffering the undesirable experiences she had encountered.

"The humiliation was one thing," says Mookda, "but the eyes of those who chastised me said much more.

"I vividly remember the time we were handed dessert. We were rural kids and uneducated in etiquette. I was just a grade student when I was given this pudding to eat and, to express my thanks; I said khop Chai kha.*(khop chai kha (thank you) is normally reserved for older people to give thanks to younger people.

The reaction was stupid rascal, how can you be so crudel which hurt me deeply such that I cried the whole night. I immediately resolved to help my students avoid such mistakes, once I became a teacher, and planned to get the community to respond in a more understanding manner.

To help and develop the community where she lived, Mookda's first dream was to become a nurse. The closest hospital to her village was miles away and sick villagers never received timely treatment.

Unfortunately, her dream never transpired because she failed to be accepted at the Nursing School. Instead, she joined Payap University and majored in social and human sciences. She took an internship, researched and joined students in rural development projects, gaining experience that increased her determination to take an active part in the development of her hometown.

However, she never became a developer. After graduation, Mookda started teaching at Phu Chang Witthayakom School, in Chiang Kham District of Phayao. As it turned out, this role gave her an opportunity to realize her dream of helping underprivileged people, partly due to one of the school's executives, herself an avid developer, committed to community development.

Mookda was now able to help rural folk to the best of her ability, while becoming more knowledgeable about development projects through contact with people, which also helped expand her network of contacts with development organizations.

She also assumed the role of consultant teacher, counseling students with problems. After school, Mookda visited students' families to gain a better understanding of their hardship and problems. She also volunteered to follow-up with students granted scholarships from the Life and Social Education Foundation, a role that gave her more opportunities to exchange experiences with other community workers.

"Pursuing my desire to help develop my hometown, I requested a transfer in 1986 to Tham Pin Witthayakom School in Dok Kham Tai District. At the same time, land I inherited from my father was developed into a residential area for deprived children or those who could not find proper housing. Here, on my own property, they could learn together how to improve their quality of life.

"School children in the Phayao vicinity also benefited from this initiative and, through co-ordination with a French foundation, students were sponsored from grade levels until graduation from university," said Mookda.

Returning to Dok Kham Tai was truly Mookda's destiny. There, she met Sangvorn Intasan, her partner for life, and someone who shared her passion. With him by her side, her development work progressed satisfactorily. The couple has no children of their own, but the children who receive their dedication have, in a sense, become their adopted family.

"At home, we help each other. If I am engaged in a meeting or counseling session with community members, my husband will take care of the house chores. That does not imply that he assumes the role of a housewife all the time. Once I get home, I give him a hand. We have no children of our own so we can afford to dedicate ourselves to the other children. To them, I am like a second mother," said Mookda.

There is no doubt that Mookda dedicates herself to strengthening the community. After making the voluntary transfer from Phu Chang Witthayakom School to Tham Pin Witthayakom School, she kept up her quest for additional educational grants from different organizations for her students and her mission. To date, she has been able to help more than sixty-percent of her students to access educational grants.

Moreover, she encourages her students to engage in extra-curriculum activities, such as the "Rice Bank," or rice barns, built by groups of farmers to protect them from the exploitation of middlemen. Or, the sewing group she helped set up with the support of the Rural Revival Foundation making it possible for housewives to participate. At graduation time, they join together, as a group, taking work orders from the World Vision Foundation that provides them with a source of income.

The Friends Help Friends Club is a peer group that enables students to know and help one another more. It allows members to analyze a situation and look for solutions. When it comes to learning and teaching activities, Mookda emphasizes practicality. For example, when she teaches about goiters, her students coordinate with the Health Care Center for the procurement of iodine doses for goiter prevention.

The Teachers' Friends Development Club is an initiative started by Mookda and her husband along with teachers from twelve other schools in Dok Kham Tai District. They joined forces in an effort to expand the concept of educational and community development. Members meet regularly to exchange ideas, experiences, to offer help, address immediate problems, stimulate and support one another in development pursuits.

With the cooperation of fellow teachers from different districts, Mookda used the Social Science Teachers Group to promote her concept of development work.

The Artificial Flowers Group represents a source of income for housewives during the dry season or after the harvest.

The Pre-School Day-Care Center Project is staffed by volunteers who tend to the needs of children with physical or mental illnesses because their parents have not time to take care of them. Supported by the World Vision Foundation Thailand, the center is situation at Wat Ngieu Mok and caters for children aged four to seven. The temple funds volunteer workers' salaries.

The Sa Paper Group began in 1989 when Mookda took a group of housewives to visit the sa paper production workshop at Ban Krua Krae in Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of Thailand. Trainers were invited to provide additional training at the village that eventually resulted in mass production of sa paper for sale in the district market. The group was so successful that it won an award for Housewives' Group Activities at the provincial level. In addition, the group was able to pay dividends of seventeen baht per share to its members. The Canned Bamboo Shoots Group is an offshoot of the Sa Paper Group. The cash award they won became the seed money for the start-up of a project to produce canned bamboo shoots for sale. Income from this has been satisfactory.

The Village Bank Project is a project inspired by His Majesty the King.

"His Majesty stated that if surplus cash was allowed to circulate outside our own community it would not help the community to be self-sufficient. People did not know how to save. If we could prevent the outflow of cash from the villages, we could accomplish many things within the community.

"The concept of a cooperative venture became rooted in the villagers and it lasts today. They have learned from experience. Altogether, thirty-four villages are involved. Reserves from the past were pooled; each village saving 10,000 baht as an investment in a business that gives them bargaining power to benefit community activities.

"Their investment money set up the Kaset Ruam Namchai Cooperative (High-Spirit Farmers) to avoid any exploitation from outside. Coincidentally, in 1994, the Khon Di Si Sangkhom Award program, chaired by senior citizen Dr. Prawate Wasi gave us an expanded network with other villages. Villagers from around the country can exchange ideas or jointly address a range of common issues.

"In my opinion, His Majesty's advice, given in 1992, was extremely valuable. If there were any gift I could offer His Majesty as he celebrates his 72nd birthday, it would be to present all the good work I have managed to achieve so far. I would offer it to His Majesty so that he continues to be a source of inspiration for the Thai people to overcome any difficulties they encounter, continued Mookda, with tears welling in her eyes.

"What I really want to do, in future, is to establish a Welfare Fund. This is something I have started but has not been as much help to the villagers as I would have liked. I want to tap the potential in people. Those who fight for their rights should be equipped with an education to seize upon opportunities to improve their lot, when they arise. They must be encouraged to join in debates - robust debates. Unfortunately, they do not have the opportunities I was fortunate to experience.

"Because my horizons widened when I was very young, I had access to opportunities given to me by other organizations. I believe there are more people doing what I am doing. They are all over. The only difference, though, is they lack the opportunities I had. The Fund will give them the opportunities they need. I am more than prepared to help coordinate with anyone wishing to provide communities with opportunities, or give welfare to those suffering hardship, if donors do not have the time to do so," she volunteered.

Mookda is not discouraged by the fact that the work she does eats into her private life. She simply makes it her life.

"We have to place our hearts at the center of a mission to strengthen communities. We must believe in the potential of people with our hearts and with the understanding people are capable of managing their lives and their problems. We need to be able to assess the potential in people but, at the same time, we need a forum where they can exchange ideas allowing them to think and learn together."

Asked if her work would survive without her, Mookda said that having conceptualized with the people involved she feels confident they would draw on their direct experience should they have to start anew with someone else.

"I have worked hard my whole life, sometimes getting only a few hours sleep at night. Though my work drains me physically, I still consider it worth my devotion. It is already a great blessing for me to have learned something here. If what I have done, and preached about, helps the villagers, it is good enough for me. I get a deep feeling of bliss though Imay be physically tired. See, I find it difficult to find words to express my thoughts," concluded Mookda.

Her final statement came with a smile characterizing profound pride at being able to give so much to those in need.