Hereditary Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is something that many women fear, especially if it runs in their family. This is because the kids who born from mothers with breast cancer inherit a mutant gene from their mother or father, referred to as “hereditary cancer”.  This group has higher risk for breast cancer than most people because the mutation genes are passed down from generation to generation.  Basically, most people are born with two normal copies of each gene, one from each parent. But, hereditary cancer happens when a child is born with mutations in a gene that gets damaged and isn’t able to protect against cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the main cause of cancer deaths among women ages 15-54 and estimates around 450,000 deaths annually worldwide, although it is very rare for women under age 40 to develop it.

Each year in Thailand the number of women who have contracted breast cancer has risen rapidly, caused from the expansion of a mutant gene passed from parents to their children, family and relatives.  About 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, caused by a combination of factors. It may include lifestyle, environmental factors, hormonal factors as mentioned already, hereditary factor is one of the main reasons as well as unknown factors sometimes. The Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer has opened in 2005 by Her Majesty the Queen, aiming to spread awareness and educate women about breast cancer along with treatments. The center is the base of teaching hospital and giving lecture on breast examination and breast health to community, universities, slums and outreach provinces. “An increasing number of women are getting breast cancer each year. Statistics taken in 2008 showed that there were 500 new breast cancer patients at the center. The center was established in 2005 with a current number of 1,200 breast cancer patients. This disease might not be preventable but it is better to discover it early on in the stage,” said Dr. Kris Chatamr,  the Director of the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer.

There are two types of mutations. First one is called oncogenes, or gene that causes a cell to become cancer. These genes produce a protein that can stimulate cells to grow out of control and develop into a cancer. The second is the most common inherited breast cancer genes called BRCA1 (Breast Cancer gene one) and BRCA2 (Breast Cancer gene two). BRCA1 and BRCA2 are tumor suppressor genes because they build proteins that help prevent the cells from multiplying out of control, slow down cell division and repair DNA mistakes. It contains high densities of repetitive elements. The cancer starts when one of these genes has changed during a mutation when the proteins are not built, making a tumor to develop easier. Even though everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes but, when these genes contain abnormalities, it provides the wrong set of instructions and leads to faulty cell growth. Women with a mutation in BRCA1 have a 50% risk of developing breast cancer while the risk of BRCA2 is 60%. Not only women are affected by BRCA mutations. Men also have breast tissues and can receive mutations causing breast cancer too but it rarely happens.

Other than this, there are many other genes that can cause breast cancer. For example, CHEK2 gene provides instructions for making a protein called checkpoint kinase 2. When mutated CHEK2 genes fail to do their job, the scientists confirmed it as a risk factor for breast cancer. The researchers found that if normal women have 14% of getting breast cancer, women who carried the CHEK2 mutation are at double the risk to 28% suddenly. p53, also known as TP53 or tumor protein, is a gene responding to DNA damage and preventing cancer.  It is the most common mutation found in cancer cells, shown in over 50% of cancers. If the gene is not working due to a mutation, damaged cells are unchecked which can cause the spread of cancer.

Generally, the risk of getting hereditary breast cancer may come from closely-related family members in one family from different generations who have developed cancer such as first-degree relatives like mothers and sisters or many close relatives like grandmothers, aunts, nieces and granddaughters have been diagnosed with breast cancer, especially before age 50. In this case, DNA tests for hereditary breast cancer is recommended when there is a strong family history of breast cancer; to see if you carry one or more of the faulty genes from the first degree relatives like mother or father or not. For women who don’t have family history of breast cancer, the possibilities of carrying a BRCA mutation are very low.

Genetic testing is able to see if you carry one or more of the faulty genes, while some women are required to do regular mammography screening from an early age. The test result cannot tell when cancer might develop, but it provides the risk of one will develop breast cancer or not.

When women with breast cancer are pregnant, unusual cancer can happened to their children and is believed that it comes from hereditary condition A child with family history of cancer genes may carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutated genes. When a girl under 20 years old has a breast cancer, the doctor found it very difficult because the breast tissue in young girl is generally denser than the breast tissue in adults. So when younger woman can feel a lump in their breast, the cancer usually become advanced. Many young women assumed they are too young to get breast cancer and rarely respond to treatment concerning to their beauty. Dr. Chatamra said, “The treatment process at our center does not always mean removing your breast because our center uses a new treatment procedure called ‘Tomosynthesis’ that uses a special pin injected into the breast and sucks the tumor out but a tumor has to be smaller than one centimeter. There are only five ‘Tomosynthesis’ machine in the world and we are lucky to have one at our center.”

Hereditary is the major concern among scientist and doctors because it is an abnormal gene that is being passed along family tree and hardly prevented. Even though it occurs in only 5% of breast cancer patient but doctors believe that hereditary cause a long term effect and could become harmful factor of breast cancer widespread in the future.  However, there are many other factors that can increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer such as age at time of reproductive events, pregnancy, alcohol and etc.

By : Saruta Chaochavanil
Chutimon Skulthai
Khanatsawan Phoowattanadilokkoon

Ruamkatanyu Foundation

Ruamkatanyu Foundation

According to the Royal Thai police, 14,000 people die every year on the streets of Bangkok, others, who work on the scenes of these accidents, suggest that the number is even higher and it can go up to 30,000 deaths. All of these deaths can be prevented, but that is another issue. In order to help get the victims get to the hospital in time, the Ruamkatanyu Foundation was created to provide extra help to the inefficient ambulance system. In these particular situations, time is of the essence.

The organization was created in 1959 by a then young man named Somkiat Somsakunrungruang, who had a passion for helping people after he started waiting tables at the age 13 during the Second World War. He would serve coffee around the Tha Tian area and he would see a lot of civilians that would get injured and die because of B29 wings that dropped bombs on innocent people. He would see corpses on a daily basis, they were just laying there, out in the open, and this is what inspired him to help people, then he had the idea of creating his charity.

He just felt as if his purpose in life is to impact the world anyway he could. He is a devout Buddhist who strongly believes in karma, and he knows if he gives back to society he will then be prosperous in his next life.

The lifeline of the foundation is good hearted citizens who either provide their time, money or both. It is through generous donations that the foundation is able to keep afloat, but there is also a fee that they receive from the hospitals. The figure is around 500 baht for every person they bring and the money the foundation makes is directly used to keep itself going. It helps elebviate pressure from the oversaturated public ambulance system: there are too many people and not enough ambulances to help to everyone in time. Anyone can join and there are approximately 20 to 30 people on duty every day. The organization has benefited from 2 billion bath worth of donations since its creation, and it has been growing ever since.

What makes this organization so much more efficient than the traditional ambulance service is the response system they set up. Bangkok is divided into two parts: north and south; in each part there a number of police station and for every police station there is a fixed number of volunteers that have one goal: get to the accident scene as quickly as possible. Most of the volunteers are working during daytime in their regular 9 to 5 jobs, but at night they put on their green suit, and armed with a flashlight, a walkie-talkie, and their trusted vehicle, they set off to save people.

They estimate that approximately 20 people benefit from the foundations’ services each day and most accidents occur during holidays especially at night time, which is why most volunteers work at night; they wait by their walkie-talkie, which intercepts the police radio so they know whether there has been an accident or not. They do not all have first aid training but they all want to give back to their community, literarily anyone can join . There are always on standby and it never takes long before they have to put their sirens on and rush to an accident. They are racing against time and knowing this, they may have to exceed 100 miles per hour while they are driving, which in a strange way, is very ironic, considering that they are trying to save people who have been in accidents on the road.

Bangkok is notorious for its traffic jams and high number of accidents, but Ruamkatanyu foundation is present in a crucial moment: getting the victim to the hospital in time can mean life or death for the victim. When you are in that situation, every second counts and even if these volunteers do not personally know you, you can rest assured that they will do everything they can to get you help.

By :

Bouchra Makhtoum

Ponlapat Nanthamanop

Tanayut Yuengsrigul

Final Project

Basic News Reporting or JM211 allows students to interview non-profit organization and create print piece about the organization they have interview. Students are required to make a short movie about the campaign of the non-profit organization. Here are the link of students work.

Unicef

Ruamkatanyu Foundation

Home For Handicapped Animals Foundation

Ronald McDonald House Charity

The Rainbow Room

Books for a better future, Sikkha Asia foundation

A Place for Dogs to Live

Women Trafficking and Prostitution

Duang Jai nursing home

Poh Teck Tung Foundation 

Hereditary Breast Cancer

Unicef

Some children face real social problems. Thailand has more than five million underprivileged children who are facing severe problems and a lack of opportunity to self-develop. Many of them are suffering from violence and unhealthy surroundings.  Some of them must do everything in order to survive, even though it is against morality. For example, being prostitute and stealing. The bad examples in the environment lead to child crime. Children imitated the bad behavior and some were forced to rob and beg for m

oney.

Unicef (United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund) is one of the organizations that is attempting to aid millions of underprivileged and uneducated children. It was created in December 1946 by the United Nations to improve children lives after World War II. They work and do everything they can for children around the world without considering gender, nationality, or religion. It is worldwide organization as there are offices based in more than 200 countries and 191 countries through programme and National Committees around the world. It has earned the global authority to promote the well being of children. After they established for two years, Unicef set up an office in Thailand. They first start focusing on children’s health, promoting sanitation. They tried to help children to survive and avoid diseases. Since then, the status of Thai children has changed a lot. There is more work that Unicef that needs to do. They also cover other important issues like education, children’s rights, survival, and protection from violence and child abuse.

Thailand has changed a lot over the years; economics, education, technology, and healthcare developed. So Unicef had to develop its mission to be updated. They are working hard to make sure that the children have the standard of living by providing primary needs. Everyone should have food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, and protection and young children deserve to grow up in a good environment and have a normal life, which is why Unicef is so important. According to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, children have the rights to think, believe, develop, and enjoy their lives in order to grow up as a potential person. And obviously they represent future of the nation. Unicef gives these children an opportunity to access to a good environment.

Unicef gives children around the world an opportunity to access a better environment by providing impoverished children with education for a brighter future. Unicef finds a foundation for these children that acts like their parents, take care, and cherish them with love. The organization will build a fundamental skill for children, such as reading skill, writing skill, and basic mathematics by supporting and building schools for the hill tribe children in the faraway areas. They considered that education is an important aspect that plays a crucial role in self-development. Educated people will use their knowledge to create a better world for the next generations. Education will help them prevent conflicts and provide a long-term peace.

Unicef raises funds from government, activities, and through private donations. Unicef’s total income in 2008 was $3,372,540,239. They are responsible for fundraising to gain money for a campaign support. Many celebrities participate in the fund raising activities to promote Unicef. For example, Jackie Chan, world-famous actor, is also known for using his status as a vehicle for humanitarian and public service work. He went to Cambodia in April 2004 as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef, which really does help since the more people know about Unicef, the more income they get.

Unicef uses its funds to help children. Helping children is like fieldwork because the staff has to get into the problem areas and help children. They can’t just sit in the office. Unicef will have a data collection about the children they are helping and analyze before get in and help. They have to be prepared to make sure they reach the children and that the children get help. Some may leave their home to a new better place.

Unicef supports many programs in Thailand such as The Youth Career Development Program, Fight Against Child Exploitation (FACE) and Trafficking of Women and Children in the Mekong Sub-region. In addition, they also supported several hill tribe schools in Mae Hong Son. More than 900 hill tribe children are receiving an education at the schools funded by Unicef and operated by the local Education Service Area Offices. However, in remote area seems to have more children but limited range of professions and their limited opportunities for further education. Unicef will continue to support this campaign for a long-term and certify that all children living in remote areas have access to an education.

There are many problems that children face including: violence, trafficking, child labor, poverty, disease, tribes, and disabilities. They have to improve health, cure children from diseases by promoting hygiene and give medicines to sick children. They have to make sure that children with HIV are being taken care. They have to promote and run campaign on children’s rights. Their intention is to make sure that most of the children are access to the nation’s development.

“The goal is to ensure that all children have access to schools where they are taught to read and write Thai and do basic math so that they can communicate with others and earn a living when they grow up,” says Rangsun Wiboonuppatum, Chief of the Education for Unicef in Thailand.

To reach their goal, Unicef has to work with their alliances. They work with more than 150 communities, state agency, non-governmental organizations, and other organizations under UN, local communities, and the private sectors. They have to make sure that children receive things they suppose to have.

Everyone can be a part in helping these children. The problem can’t be solved in just a short period of time. We all are hoping that someday children’s problems will be gone. However, there are still more children who need helps everyday. So a collaborative and a long-term help are needed. People can donate money for a support in helping underprivileged children so Unicef can have enough funds to help the children.

By : Pinyalak Laksanawisit
Pafun Sthirasuta
Pacharawan Pathamanand

Books for a better future, Sikkha Asia foundation

Thailand is one of the most developed countries in Southeast Asia but if you look behind the huge business buildings and fancy hotels, you will find many people surviving in makeshift shelters. One of the major problems in Thai society is the persistence of social inequalities between the poorest and the wealthiest.  A case in point is that almost half of national savings is owned by the wealthiest 1% of the Thai population.

Sikkha Foundation was created in 1979 to fight against these inequalities, trying to give to every child the chance to pursue education. For more than thirty years, the foundation has remained very active in the poorest areas of Thailand, always carrying on the same fight to give education to underprivileged people. Sikkha Foundation has today 700 members who give some financial support and 30 people compose its staff.

The foundation is working in Bangkok slums areas and Burmese, Laos and Cambodian border areas. It could seem unbelievable but according to the foundation, there are 1000 slums in Bangkok with 42 are located in the Klong Toey area, although most of them are hidden. But most of them are hidden. “We did not know of their existence because we could not see it from the main street” [1] tells Arunee Promma, the director of the Foundation about Suanphlu slum.

Sikkha Foundation believes education is the best way to break the vicious circle of poverty. Indeed, most of the families living in the slums are not rich enough to provide their children education, so there is no perspective for a better future. The main objective of the foundation is to reduce the illiteracy rate, which remains very high in poor areas. Being able to read is just the first step of education but it is essential. The main education projects are the community libraries, the mobile libraries and the student dormitories.

To apply all these projects and to give free scholarship to the neediest children, the foundation needs 10 million baht per year. Until 2010, Sikkha was an overseas affiliated organization of Shanti Volunteer Association, so it did not need to find funds by itself as Shanti was taking care of fundraising. Shanti Volunteer Association, which is a Japanese NGO implemented in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan decided to stop its work in Thailand because it recently considered there were more needy countries in Asia. But Sikkha refused to abandon the Thai community and decided to become independent.

The first project of Sikkha Foundation was to build libraries in the poorest slums of Bangkok, which could serve as community and information centers. They built community libraries in Suanphlu slum which had no school neither nursery school nor meeting place and in Klong Toey.

At the beginning, the Foundation had to deal with several difficulties such as the lack of commitment from people living in the slums, who did not understand how a library could solve their problems. Moreover, some books were currently missing and drunken people used to gather in the library.

The foundation overcame these difficulties revising its way of proceeding working with local people who knew better how to sensitize children and their family to the benefits of reading. Residents became increasingly conscious about the importance of education. They developed puppet shows and storytelling sessions which are playful ways to familiarize with books and are consequently very successful.

The libraries are like the third home for the children. After school, the children like to go there, to read a book or just escape a bit the difficult living conditions in this preserved place playing with toys and friends. Sikkha Foundation is often organizing special activities for slum population. Because of the major difficulties people have to deal with in their everyday life, the family bounds are most of the time split, so these activities are a way to make the family members closer, to have good time together and to build a sense of community. To communicate about their activities, Sikkha is using speakers that are located around the slum.

Sikkha’s second project is the mobile library, which became its trademark is the mobile library. This adventure started 20 years ago and is still successful. Today, there are 4 vans – one which stays in Bangkok slums, one in Tak Province and two others which travel around the country. The main asset of the mobile library is that it makes the service more accessible, especially in remote villages. The vans usually stay two hours in a village and the staff organizes activities for the children such as reading fairy tales or small puppet shows to encourage them to read. Lately, this project is mainly implemented in Tak province, near the Thai-Myanmar border, where children belong to ethnic minorities without legal nationality. Because of this status, they have no access to education.

The third main project of the foundation is the dormitory. This project was developed after Sikkha staff realized many children in rural areas could not go to school because they are living very far away from the nearest school. To solve this problem, the foundation decided to create dormitories near schools for the most underprivileged children. The dormitory is not only a place to sleep but also a place for additional education such as cultural, agricultural and ethical trainings.

Today, there is only one student dormitory located in Payao Province with 50 students but the foundation established two other ones in the past, one in Loei province and the second one in Surin province. But as the areas are now developed and the transportation is easily accessible, they focus their efforts in Payao Province, which remains remote.

Even if the Foundation projects are many and varied, it keeps the same objective, which is to give the opportunity to every child to be able to read and to a larger extent, to get an education. Even if school is now free of charge in Thailand, poor families are not able to provide their children the textbooks and books they require, and moreover, they can not help them to do their homework. But thanks to Sikkha Foundation, these children can learn in the proper conditions.

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[1] Quote from the book Libraries beyond borders, Shanti Volunter Association, published in 2011

 

By : Katekaew Taveesombut
Arissa Scheiwiller
Jessica Laik

Home For Handicapped Animals Foundation

Home For Handicapped Animals Foundation was established by Mrs. Pimkun Olarnsiraroch to help many animals that are disabled or injured. However, the number of animals grew too large and the place became too confined. Therefore, she decided to move the foundation to the suburb and became legally registered as “Home For Handicapped Animals Foundation” in 1899. After that, Mr. Chuanchuen Komarmrakun N. Nakorn learned about the foundation and donated around 200 square meters which used for established the foundation, which is located in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi.

Many years later, in 1993, Luangta Maha Bua Boowa Nanasampanno, a monk from Baan Taad Forest Temple, Udontani, came to visit the handicapped animals and he thought that there were some problems in the foundation, caused by a lack of funds. So, he promised that he would donate 100,000 baht every month which he gets the money from the people who donates to the temple until he died. And unfortunately, the funding stopped after the death of Luangta Maha Bua in 2011.

Nowadays, the foundation has adopted more than 1,200 animals, most of which are dogs and cats. The noise and smell of those animals also have effect on people who live nearby the foundation. So, they had to move approximately 700 handicapped animals of the healthier animals to Bang Lane District, Nakhon Pathom, where they set up a new home for handicapped animals called Baan Bang Lane. Baan Bang Lane has an area of eight acres and construction of the house spent two million baht, including funds donated by many philanthropists.

This home of handicapped animals doesn’t heal only the body, but also the mind. Because most of the injured dogs were hit by cars, they also need the treatment for mental disorders. Many people come to visit those animals every single day of a donation such as giving them some food and donate money to the foundation. Furthermore, there were many people who want to own a dog, but they might be very busy and have no space for them. So, they can adopt some dogs from the foundation and the foundation will take care the dogs for them. And all they need to do is support them with money and food for their dogs and come to look after their dogs whenever they free.

In 2011, Baan Bang Lane had faced with unexpected thing – the massive flood, as the water level the area was more than two meters high. So, they had to move all of the animals to Phetchaburi province for more than seven months. After the massive flood, they repaired some part of the shelter area for the animals to live just temporarily. The reason why they did not renovate the entire the area is because there was just too much damage, all the shelters for animals were completely ruined since it was submerged in the water for too long. Moreover, Baan Bang Lane District is the area for releasing the water through Tha Jeen River. So, they used this area as a temporary accommodation before permanently moving to the new place in Kampangpetch.

Baan Pak Kret

Baan Pak Kret has an area of eight acres located in Tiwanon road, Pak Kret, Nonthaburi. Home For Handicapped Animals Foundation “Baan Pak Kret” started from Mr. Chuanchuen Komarmrakun N. Nakorn who donated  200 square meters of land and also built the permanent animal shelter for the foundation. Nowadays, the foundation takes care of more than 500 animals.

From the beginning, Baan Pak Kret was separated into three zones in order to manage the animals and extensive care. Zone A, the curing zone, which has approximately 98 rooms for the animals. This is the first stop where animals are checked in order to protect the other animals in the shelter from potential infections. In addition, most of the animals in this zone are blind, or have broken bones, or even cancer. This zone seems to be the most depressing zone in the foundation. Because it feels like you are walking into a hospital, you would see many peoplewho looked pained and some are dying, including the distinct smell of the medicine. Moreover, you can also smell rubbish from animals in this zone.

In zone B and C, the staff tries to rehabilitated animals but they still cannot walk and do anything by themselves. Zone B is actually for permanently handicapped animals, although Most of the animals in zone B and C are more active than zone A. Because they know that they will not be normal animals which can run or walk.

Nowadays, many people come to visit those handicapped animals all the time. Most of the animals here are so glad when people come to visit them and play with them, In addition, the foundation offered activities for the people who want to make a merit for their special occasion, such as their birthday. They need to make an appointment with the foundation before and the foundation will prepare everything for the activities.

Furthermore, Red Zone is a zone for the animals that are pretty normal and not injured. The reason why it is called Red Zone is because the floor of this zone is covered with red bricks, which is easy to clean up. However, this zone seems to be raising the most concern in the foundation. The number of the stray dogs is increasing every single year and is now around 5,000. Otherwise, if the foundation releases those dogs to the society, there would be more stray dogs that might cause noise and bad smelling pollution, dirty road and street, and danger in the society. Since the dogs in the Red Zone keep increasing more and more until they are confined in a small place. Besides, the congestion might have an impact on the dogs’ minds, hygienic condition problems and occur noise pollution to the neighborhoods.

Some people might think that they do not need to waste their money and time for helping this kind of being. Because animals are not important, they prefer giving their money to disabled kids or helping the poor. However, whether they are dogs or cats, they need love too. This foundation was instituted not only for helping animals, but also convincing people to take care of other little vulnerable creatures.

By : Surat  Jaratrungrot

Napasorn   Boonyasiri

Pattraporn  Fongphikun

Women Trafficking and Prostitution

Women trafficking is one of the fastest increasing criminal industries in the world today. Women trafficking or modern-day slavery is an illegal trade of human beings for forced labors and prostitutes or for sexual exploitation. Presently, Thai society also faces many problems, which related to women trafficking and prostitution. Prostitution has always been a worldwide serious problem for every country in the world, especially in Thailand. While Thailand is a beautiful country with rich natural resources with lots of beautiful attractions and sceneries that can encourage more than 14 million of foreign tourists to come and visit each year; however, the country has gained international notoriety among travelers from many countries as a sex tourism destination.

Many foreign tourists from the different countries around the world take flight to Thailand to experience the famous sex tourism from Thai prostitutes. Even though prostitution is punishable and illegal in Thailand, it is hardly enforced and there are high numbers of woman choose to do this career. The major cause of prostitution is poverty, since few of any would want to work in this field just for amusement. Some prostitutes enter this field by choice but others are sadly forced.

Prostitution is a big money maker as millions of baht are spent on sex services in Thailand in each year. Although prostitution is illegal in Thailand, many tourists have only pay attention to nightlife and prostitution in Thailand rather than the quality of Thai natural attractions.

Currently, according to the Thailand Government Public Health Department, there are approximately 75,000 prostitutes in Thailand. According to some  estimates, there may be up to close to 2 million prostitutes and as young as age 12.

Many reasons that people turn to prostitution are a direct result of the Thai economy and the lifestyle of Thai citizens. There is great poverty and a willingness of a deprived family to do anything to get money. These are the main reasons for the increase number of prostitutes. Some rural families sell their daughters to the agents in order to clear the debt and also for their survivals. These children are willing to show the gratitude to their parents; however, they choose the wrong way to do so.

The second reason is the lack of employment for uneducated women. The maximum wage that the women without the diploma or degree can earn is very low. It might not be enough for their survival. Many young uneducated women choose to be a prostitute in order to earn more money and to have a better life.

The third reason is that many young women are tired of living their life in the rural area. They are willing to take a chance with a new happy life given by the agents. Therefore, they decide to move to the city. These women picture themselves with a big house and luxurious life. They get such idea from the mass media. Once they enter the city, they know that the easiest way to get money and make their dream comes true is to be a prostitute since prostitution is an easy work. These women can make a great amount of money by just sacrificing their body without hard work.

Thailand is known as a land where the sex industry thrives. Moreover, the number of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) is quite high. As of 2012, Thailand has the highest HIV/AIDS level in Southeast Asia, and also the third country in Asia that have highest number of HIV/AID infected. Not just in Asia but also Thailand ranked in the 16^th countries among 193 countries with the highest total HIV/AIDS infected. Thailand has an HIV/AIDS infection rate of 0.87 percent of its population of 60,617,200 people, which estimate approximately 530,000 people with HIV/AIDS infected in Thailand. An estimated 28,000 people have died because of HIV each year and many more are expected to die in the upcoming years. The main cause of the high number of HIV/AIDS infection is because of prostitutions and drug abuse. The statistic shows that a third of HIV positive patients are the prostitutes.

Nowadays, Thai prostitutes do not just cause problems in Thailand but also in other countries, such as Japan and Malaysia. Prostitution can lead to another problem such as human trafficking; therefore, the governments from every country are trying to solve the problem since prostitution will cause the serious problems to their country.

In Japan:

Japan is recognized as a destination country for the trafficking of women mainly from Southeast Asia, Latin American, and increasingly from Eastern Europe. According to CATW-Asia Pacific Newsletter, There are more than 150,000 foreign women working in prostitution in Japan, more than half are Filipinos and 40% are Thai. Many women from Thailand are brought to Japan by the agents to work as prostitutes. The majority of women trafficked to Japan appear to be adult women, although there is some evidence that some are under 18 years of age, probably traveling with illegal passports.

Many Thai prostitutes tend to cross the border illegally to go work in Japan. Some Thai prostitutes make a fake identification card and fake passport in order to travel to Japan. These people are breaking the law and it is dangerous for they can cause further problems such as drug trafficking and many more. The government in Japan is trying its best to prevent those people from entering the country as well as from causing trouble to their country.

Ms. Thanadda Sawangduean is one of the prostitutes who used to work in Japan for more than 2 years before arrested by the Japanese officers. Currently, she is an awarded writer. She wrote a book about her life experience while she was working as a prostitute in other countries.

She once said about her two years spent in Japan, “It was like a nightmare for me. The agents told me that my work was to be a waitress in the restaurant but it was completely different when I arrived Japan. They

forced me to work as a prostitute. I had to have intercourse 50 times per day and 20 minutes per one time. I didn’t have a choice since I had to pay them back for the airplane ticket. If I don’t do the work, they will beat me up.”

In Malaysia:

Malaysia is a major country known for woman and children trafficking for sexual exploitation. Sex workers are coming to Malaysia from all over the world but most of them are Chinese and Thais. In Malaysia, they mostly separate prostitutes into 2 different classes, which are High end and Low-end sex market according to the age of the prostitutes. According to the World Health Organization, there are between 150,000 and 200,000 sex workers in Malaysia, most of them are Chinese and Thais. Recently, Malaysian government survey found that there were 76,000 to 77,000 adult prostitutes in registered entertainment industries; however, NGOs believed there were between 200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes. Although centers such as Bangkok (Patpong, Soi Nana, and Soi Cowboy), Pattaya, and Phuket are often known as main tourist prostitution are

as, with Hat Yai and other Malaysian border cities providing to Malaysians, prostitution takes place in nearly every major city and province in the country. Malaysian government declared that Malaysian males should beware of STDs that can be transmitted from prostitutes.
In conclusion, as we all know that being a prostitute can bring up a bad image for the country as a whole, therefore, the government should provide education for younger generation about the bad affect they might get if they choose to work in this field. The government should make sure that women in rural area are educated and encourage them to work in better fields rather than being a prostitute. Also, the mass media should show and broadcast more about the consequences of having a sexual intercourse without using a protection, which will bring awareness to the people. Even though the media is trying its best to broadcast about the danger of not using protection, however, it needs to work harder to encourage people to use protection and beware of STD. With the help of the government and mass media, the number of prostitutes would decrease and it could change the image of Thailand from the land of sex into a better one. According to the book named “Kon Glai Baan”, written by Mr. Pattana Kitiarsa, the professor from National University of Singapore, once wrote story about the victim named Ms. Ploy based on her true experience. Ms. Ploy is a woman from Buriram Province, Thailand who wanted to share her experience when she was working as prostitute in Malaysia. She said that she had to have intercourse with 10-20 male workers per day in the jungle with no water and no shelter. Most of them didn’t wear condom, so now she is suffering from HIV disease.

By : Weerawan Mungcharoenporn

Preeyarin Tangputthianan

Kuntida Dankhum

Ronald McDonald House Charity

Jumnien, an old lady sitting on the public bus with her granddaughter, asked the bus driver with a North Eastern accent, when they would reach the children’s hospital. She had never been to Bangkok before and had no idea what’s happening to her granddaughter, but the thought of medication bills made her desperate. How could she stay with her granddaughter, with all enough money expenses, the amount she saved up might not enough for her granddaughter’s medical expense so how could she come back to Bangkok to visit her again.

In that split second, she felt she wanted to die.

Jumnien is not the only one who faces major income problems, but also 85 percent of Thai people do not have enough savings for themselves and their families for times of medical emergency. Furthermore, medical aid is less efficient in the rural area, so they need to travel to Bangkok for more medical attention.

Since 85 percent of Thai people don’t have enough money to cure their children, so the government launched 30 baht medical health care to support with poverty. Even though the 30 baht medical health care are not cover their transportation fees, so it is the reason why the parents can’t travel very often to see their love ones.

Today, however, a lucky few like Jumnien’s family have been able to manage their situation with the aid of a commercial company; and not just any company, but a company that some may think has a commercial objective that is far from helping the ill and the poor.

Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC) Project belongs to McDonald’s Corporation, the ubiquitous global fast food industry which has for the previous year been notorious for their potentially harmful ingredients. But few people know that McDonald’s has a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project – the Ronald McDonald’s House – since 1974.

It all started in the USA when Mr. Ray Kroc the founder of McDonald’s Corporation pared with a famous American football player, Fred Hill, and his family, with included his a three-year-old daughter, who was ill with acute Leukemia. They built the first house in children’s hospital in Philadelphia with the intention of upgrading the quality of living for hospitalized children while providing their family with a temporary shelter, while their loved one lived in the hospital.

Since then they have expanded their projects to 52 countries around the world including Thailand that was opened on 28 November 2001.

Due to the fact that most people in rural areas will bring their long term ill children to hospitals in Bangkok, they will likely face the difficult times, and they need to find the place to stay near their children’s for short and long duration of time. With their limited amount of money, and the alienation to the place but above all with the love, most of them want to sleep near their children’s bed, under the patient bed or along the corridor. Also they use the public toilet in the hospital the clean their body.

With the understanding of such problems, RMHC launched the project on 7 June 2011. The house provides all the facilities such as washing machine, bedroom, kitchen, living room, and even a terrace. Everything in RMHC is free except for medical fee. Moreover, the house provides the caretaking managers who will look after ill child’s family 24 hours a day. In addition, the RMHC selection criteria are based on hospital, doctor, nurse and social worker’s suggestions in order to decide who will be suitable to stay in the house.

The RMHC is divided into two parts divided by gender. There are 26 beds in each zone; moreover, other parts of the RMHC such as the kitchen, terrace, and living room have to be shared with other roomers. In a year, Ronald McDonald House Charity can support more than 4,000 people. So far, the house has offered free lodging services to more than 498 families and 700,000 children have relaxed in their house while being recovering. The Thai RMHC house is the first place in the Asia Pacific Middle – East and South Africa (APMEA) zone but it is the tenth place around the world, which can be divided into five places in the USA, three houses in England and one place in Denmark.

Next, other than house for ill children’s family Ronald McDonald House Charity has another two projects, which are Ronald McDonald Kids Room and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. Ronald McDonald Kids Room (RMKR) is the place where kids can enjoy some activities and relaxation from the illness that comes to them. The RMKR project is now has 27 locations in Thailand. They also have agreement that they will come and look after RMKR in each location every two years. The second project, Ronald McDonald Care Mobile (RMCM), is the car that will travel around the country. This RMCM has professional doctors to check up kids’ health and eyesight. RMCM has visited more than 8o places around the country. RMCM has just one car in Thailand, with a total of 33 cars all around the world. This car is created by the help of the partnership like McDonald’s Thailand, Red Cross, Top Charoen, Mitsubishi and Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT).

Even though they have ten houses, 27 kids play rooms and 33 health cars around the world, the RMDH plans to extend their program to ill children and their families to more countries and to be better recognized by the public. They also want to help more families who cannot afford to pay for their medical fee.

In conclusion, although McDonald’s is the best-known fast food industry in the world and are criticized for their unhealthy options, they still do something useful for the society and McDonald’s has played a great role in supporting the place for ill children and seems to contrast with its main commercial objective. As Mr. Suwatchara Seenoul, spokesmen of RMHC said, “Instead of depression, I want to see happiness, smiles and laughter from kids and their families.”

By : Ploypachara Chansate
Salinrat Sriamorn
Supakan Tanaradtananon

The Rainbow Room

The Rainbow Room, a special needs awareness center in Bangkok was founded on January 7^th, 2010 by Mrs. Rosalina Alexander McKay, together with some friends and initial support from the Yuvabadhana Foundation which is a non-profit organization, its goal is to give educational opportunities for the children who need in rural Thailand. The Rainbow Room is a non-profit group of parents, friends, and relatives of individuals with physical development and behavioral special needs including Autism, Down syndrome, ADHD, and other genetic challenges. The group of people will regularly meet to share their experiences.

When Rose Alexander and her family were in the United States of America, after discovering her second baby had Down syndrome, she had a great start and support from Gigi’s Playhouse, a Down syndrome Awareness Center in Chicago.

While they returned to Thailand, she couldn’t find a support group that provided the same service as Gigi’s Playhouse and realized that people didn’t know how important of early intervention.

“I want to make people aware of the possibilities and potential of individuals with special needs, so together with eight friends and initial support from the Yuvabadhana Foundation, we were able to start the Rainbow Room,” said Rose Alexander.

The Rainbow Room’s goal is to create positive awareness by providing information about special needs, education and encouragement though ‘parent-to-parent’ model. Also, the center provides resources about available services that could help people around Bangkok.

They host parent-to-parent support group of meeting for both Thai and English speaker members is held every week and also includes activities for parents and for the siblings of individual who have such special needs individuals as well as individuals themselves. This support group will encourage each other members by sharing experiences through parent-to-parent model.

It has been three years since the group started with more than 600 families participating in this support group along with three main staff members and many volunteers.

The Rainbow Room serves as a support group where members regularly meet to discuss common issues to help the group understand how to cope with exact challenges and to provide efficient solutions.

“Nobody can give better support than people who have been through it,” Mrs. Rose Alexander added.

There are places allowing group of parents, siblings and friends of individuals with specials to meet and share useful information and freely to discuss their problems without any judgment. The key of thing that the Rainbow Room offers is for members to know they have someone stand by their side.

“Sometimes, parents don’t need any resources or information but they just need a friend, somebody that can understand and relate to their emotions or feeling of what they are going through,” said Mrs. Rose Alexander.

There are four main things that the Rainbow Room provides for individuals with special needs and their families:

–      Sharing of information

The Rainbow Room provides basic and specific information about special needs and workshops for parents, siblings and friends such as crystal bowl therapy workshop is the healing process that the sound is the important tool to heal modalities and a homeopathy workshop as well, with up-to-date researches regarding special needs.

–      Sharing of Experiences

Parent-to-parent coffee meeting is held every week is to support relatives of individuals with special needs through social interaction with other relatives. The Rainbow Room also invites experts or psychologists for consultation meeting with the families.

–      Sharing of encouragement

There is a support group for parents, siblings and friends to encourage them to do the right thing to their children and create positive social awareness campaigns through media. For example, last year the Rainbow Room held the exhibition called ‘The Art of Making a Rainbow’ which was featured beautiful photo from Mr. Win Rujirawiiryapinyo, the photographer who captured the joyful and natural moment of children in play setting in order to imply that children with special needs are as same as other children.

The Rainbow Room has recently launched a new brochure for their 2012 campaign titled “Change the word, Change the life”.

Furthermore, they celebrate individuals with special needs’ achievements and praise them for what our children capable of.

–      Sharing of Empowerment

The Rainbow Room arranges activities and recreation that help develop individuals with special needs such as art classes, swimming, and playgroup. They provide voluntary and donating opportunities as well, and offer community outreach projects, for instance, the Scholarship of Early Intervention Program.

Their hope is to inspire acceptance in the society and improve opportunities for the children to achieve the highest potential and encourage them to live as equally as other member in the society.

Some genetic challenges that are common in Thailand

Down syndrome is a genetic condition, most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes or the total of 46 but a person born with Down syndrome has an extra chromosome at chromosome 21 or the total of 47 chromosomes. The extra chromosome is obstacle for physic and brain development.

Individuals who have Down syndrome are facing the physical challenges which are widely recognized. For example, their heads may be smaller than normal and abnormally shaped or the inner corner of the eyes may be rounded instead of pointed.

Also, mental and social development of children may be delayed. Common problems may include impulsive behavior, poor judgment, short attention span and slow learning.

Autism is a disorder of neural development. People with autism find it hard to communicate with others and relate to outside world, but it is not a mental illness. These symptoms impact the development of the brain concerning processing information, however, the cure has not been found yet.

As soon as the families detect that their child has Autism, the quicker intervention, the quicker the children can develop normal communication skills.

PDD-NOS (Pervasive developmental disorder) is also one of the disorder in the autism spectrum. Children with PDD-NOS are characterized by delays in the development of socialization and communication skills.

Asperger syndrome is also an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It can be categorized into four symptoms; Low-functioning is who lacking of linguistic skill and social interaction, High-functioning is who can skillfully communicate and socialize with others, Autistic  tendencies is who look like Autistic,  Pervasive developmental disorder refers to a group characterized by a delay in their development of socialization and communication skills.

Cerebral Palsy is disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture causing the injury or abnormal development in the immature brain, most often occurring before birth.

ADHD is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder. People with ADHD find it much more difficult to focus on something without distraction. They can’t control what they doing or saying and are less able to appropriately control themselves in any situation. Moreover, people with ADHD are also impulsive and restless.

By : Suwimon Techagunya

Piyamon phomnayramit
Maneechaya Sarasuk

A Place for Dogs to Live

Dogs are humans’ best friends. Some families think that dogs are parts of their families. Some dogs are loyal to their owners. People enjoy playing with these them when they are puppies. But sometimes, when dogs grow up they are ignored. However, some people are cruel to their pets and do not understand the responsibility of taking care of their dogs. Some people just get bored of them and abandoned their pets in the temple. As a result, in Thailand, monks end up being responsible for taking care of the abandoned pets. In 2003, groups of students from Suan Dusit Rajabhat University built “Dog Condominium” which is located in Nonthaburi Province for these abandoned cats and dogs and it is a safe place for stray cats and dogs to stay.  

The Dog Condominium was established by Monk Payom Kallayano who was the founder of Suan Kaew Foundation and the Dog Condominium in 2003. At that time, the government felt that there were too many abandoned dogs and cats in Bangkok. They wanted to get rid of dogs by killing them. There were over 120,000 stray dogs in Bangkok, Thailand. It became a serious problem in the city. Monk Payom disagreed about getting rid of dogs and cats so he tried to protect them.

“Most people adore dogs and cats when they are little. When they grow up, some people are not being responsible for them anymore. The Dog Condominium was established by Monk Payom to help with shelters for dogs and cats,” said Mr. Pradith Nunfunn, a 45-year-old man who is in charge for Dog Condominium, supervising six employees who work at the Dog Condominium.

Most cats and dogs were recovered from the Suan Kaew Temple, nearby places, and from owners who purposely come to abandon their pets there. There are about 800 dogs and 300 cats in the Dog Condominium. They received the weekly donation of around ฿51,000 from supporters for both cats and dogs and their budget is about ฿240,000 per month, but they still need more supporters.

“Most people donate only about ฿100-฿200. Some of them donated things that they do not use such as old refrigerators and clothes. There are some groups of students and foreign organizations that support this foundation seriously. A group of students just visited here two or three days ago and will come back in February. They helped us to build houses, paint walls, feeding cats and dogs, and donating an amount of money,” said Mr. Pradith.

The foreign organizations that support Dog Condominium are from many countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Some of them took dogs to be the soldiers’ dogs in Iraq. They said that these dogs were trained to find bombs.

Cats and dogs are housed separately in cages to protect them from fighting and illness. They take dogs and cats to the hospital when they are injured. The Finance department at the Dog Condominium does not give enough money for the medical surgery for cats and dogs. However the department can only afford a certain amount of money with the remaining money from the donations.

“We look after them every day. Cats and dogs are fed only once a day in the afternoon. We do not have to wash dogs because they will wash themselves by going to the pond. Most dogs are happy to live here. They can play whenever they want, because we have 48,000 square miles area,” Miss Vanit Sukto, one of the workers, said.

The Dog Condominium does run into its share of problems. Sadly, some people steal these cats and dogs to eat. Mr. Pradith needs to lock the cage for the safety of both cats and dogs.

“Even though I understand that eating dogs is acceptable for some people, I think people who eat dogs are insane. I feel pity for the dogs. They are our friends, not pigs or chicken. Some people sell their dogs for money for ฿500 per dog. The living in the rural area is harsh. There are less opportunities and money than in the urban areas,” said Mr. Pradith about the dog eaters.

Also, there is a problem with the spaces in the Dog Condominium. There are not enough spaces for cats and dogs anymore. They do not adopt any more cats and dogs, unless the owners just abandon their pets nearby.

The other reason is money. Around 800 dogs eat six big sacks of dog food per day. Sometimes they eat 100 kilograms of chickens per day. The spaces are filled up and their money is tight, so they have had to stop adopting more cats and dogs.

Most people only donate dog foods, because the name of this place is Dog Condominium, after all, so most people think that only dogs are in this shelter. As a result there is not enough cat food for the cats. There are 300 cats, but only three sacks of cat foods are donated per day.

Mr. Pradith offered some final advice to pet lovers, “If you do not love your pet seriously, just do not have a pet. When your pets are sick, you must bring them to the hospital immediately. If you want to have your own pets, you need to take care of them until they die. It is not good when your pets get sick and you just abandon them. If you do not know how to take care of your pets, just call us for advice.”

Most people would see cats and dogs in the Dog Condominium to be happy. They have shelters to live, food to eat, and a pond to play in. They are also received medical care when they are sick. On the other hand, if you saw into these pets’ eyes, they will tell you, “Please do not abandon us.” Most of the time, when people come to donate money and food, the cats and dogs in the cages always gather happily in front of the cage doors with hope to be loved and adopted by the generous people. There is a sign outside one dogs cage said that, “We are not toys. When you get bored, don’t abandon us.”

By : Trirat Yuwawanitcharkorn
Patsasi Tatvakorn
Kanoknanda Bhandhukravi