Exercises

Working Queen

Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post

On August 12, Thais celebrate Her Majesty the Queen�s 76th birthday. As a tribute to Her Majesty�s hard work, Student Weekly takes a look at a few of the many special projects that she has initiated over the years.

It is still a common sight to see Her Majesty visiting remote villages to review and give new advice on projects that she started years ago.

Since the days when His Majesty the King and the Queen visited remote areas to learn first-hand about villagers� troubles, Her Majesty has develop programmes to help the public, especially the poor.

HELP AND SUPPORT

While the King created work for the men, Her Majesty provided jobs linked to local crafts for women, providing them with income through the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques, or the SUPPORT Foundation.

SUPPORT was established in 1976. The local crafts and artworks that the programme has produced are renowned throughout the country for their outstanding quality.

HANDS-ON LEARNING

In recent years, Her Majesty also started model farms for villagers in poor areas to teach them how to be self-sufficient with their food supply. The model farms also teach weaving, woodcarving and knife-making skills.

Chiang Mai�s Mae Tung Ting, set up in 1997, is part of this programme. According to project supervisor Nirut Duangpanya, Mae Tung Ting teaches villagers about farming so that they can develop their own food sources. The project also provides income and helps to preserve forest areas.

�Villagers learn by doing, and they receive 80 baht per day during training,� Nirut said. �They learn about organic farming, preparing manure, running a nursery, feeding animals and farming fish.�

GREEN PROJECT

Another of Her Majesty�s successful programmes is the Ban Mae Tam Development Project. During a trip to Lampang 20 years ago, Her Majesty learned from a senior monk that the villagers in Mae Tam Village were living in poverty. She paid an unexpected visit to the village.

Since then, greenery has gradually returned to the area, along with other improvements in living conditions that have resulted from the project.

Project supervisor Withaya Chaisomporn said that the Ban Mae Tam Development Project includes forest and wildlife conservation as well as model farming.

�With a more secure income, we hope that the destruction of forests will stop,� he said.

Exercises

Read the story. Then, answer the following reading comprehension questions.

1. When was the SUPPORT Foundation established?

2. How did Her Majesty find out about the living conditions of the villagers in Mae Tam?

3. Why did Her Majesty create model farms for villagers in poor areas?

4. What does Withaya Chaisomporn hope will happen?

	initiate (v): to make something begin renowned (adj): famous and respected self-sufficient (adj): able to do or produce everything that you need without the help of other people preserve (v): to make sure that a particular quality, feature, etc. is kept manure (n): the waste matter from animals that is spread over or mixed with the soil to help plants and crops grow nursery (n): a place where young plants and trees are grown for sale or for planting somewhere else poverty (n): the state of being very poor secure (adj): likely to continue or be successful for a long time