As we learn more about the coronavirus pandemic and its fatality rate, it is becoming clear that the elderly are the most vulnerable. For those over 80, the death rate is 14.8%, compared to 1.3 per cent for those in their fifties and 0.2 per cent for those in their thirties.
In marginalized households in Chiang Mai, the danger of Covid-19 is particularly heightened; many of the family breadwinners are daily wage laborers, meaning social distancing is not an option.
The elderly living in these households are at risk of contracting the disease and stand to suffer from it badly.
One social enterprise, Buddy Homecare, is trying to help. Buddy Homecare has worked with the elderly in Chiang Mai since 2003. Chiang Mai has one of the highest concentrations of elderly people (defined as those aged 60 and above, per the UNFPA) in Thailand. Through survey work, they found 5,000 households in Chiang Mai with elderly people in need of care.
From there, they asked the community to identify the households most in need – either with elderly people who were already sick, relatives who were not able to be present with them during the day or households in dire poverty. This came to around 200 households.
Buddy Homecare is now raising money for “survival packs” to distribute to these households – each pack including nutritional dried and fresh food, medicine, and masks. Beyond this, they’re working to train volunteers within the community to help the elderly folks in small ways.
When Buddy Homecare put out a call for help, the community mobilized with enthusiasm, according to Janevit Wisojsongkram, a project coordinator for Buddy Homecare’s Covid-19 efforts.
“People said, ‘I can look after this grandpa, when I was younger he used to buy toys for me to play with, I can repay him,’ or others said ‘This person is my aunt, my relative – I can look after them.’”
Buddy Homecare is a social enterprise that places the community at the heart of its projects – part of its ethos of design thinking.
But it wasn’t always a social enterprise. It began as a volunteer service under the Foundation for Older Persons’ Development (FOPDEV). They continually applied for grants to fund their work with the elderly.
Eventually, Janevit and two friends, Yui and Ae, experimented with a business model where they charged those who could afford it for elderly care and used the proceeds to help the elderly in need.
“Initially, I worked for an American media company. At the time, I didn’t really have a socially-oriented perspective,” says Janevit. But his involvement in a UN drug trafficking project showed him the impact he could make in the social sector, so he quickly pivoted. One of Buddy Homecare’s other project coordinators, Yui, spent some time in the hospitality industry and the industrial sector before turning to the foundation.
As the business model got off the ground, they found another avenue for community care. Initially, they had been hiring volunteers part-time to work as carers, but there was high turnover and low commitment. Ae, their third project coordinator, is of Karen ethnic origin, and suggested that they hire Karen children instead to become volunteers with their elderly clients.
“Some Karen people work in agriculture, but their agricultural work gets them into debt every year. Their small profits are never enough to pay off their debts,” Janewit said of the cycle of poverty that has come to trap most Thai farmers, especially in the North and Northeast.
Buddy Homecare decided to provide scholarships to Karen children to take a course in nursing at the Faculty of Nursing in Chiang Mai University, and afterward, they came to work for the organization. The mentorship and steady stream of income offered by Buddy Homecare made it an attractive opportunity for them. They also contributed uniquely to the budding business.
“When we look after clients, we look after them as if they are our family. Karen children were particularly good at this, as they are deeply tied to their communities and their families. They look after clients like their own family, their own brothers, and sisters.”
Buddy Homecare’s fiercely community-centered vision has driven its success. It will now be put to the test, as they field 100 volunteers to try to organize a donation campaign to meet the critical needs of the community.
“On one level, they’re worried about the virus, but the bigger issue is poverty,” Janewit laments.
“Even in normal times, many of these elderly people don’t have people looking after them, their children are daily wage laborers. Now, their children don’t have work. This makes it a much more urgent priority now they might not have enough to eat.”
“They’re using handouts from the state to sustain themselves, which is not enough.”
To save the community, Buddy Homecare will have to turn outside the community – to people like us, for help. Hopefully, we will rise to the challenge.
Check out Buddy Homecare’s Taejai page here for more information on the project and a link to donate – if you can afford it, they would really appreciate your help.
This article is part of a Taejai x Thai Enquirer series aimed at raising awareness for vulnerable communities that need your help during Covid-19.
Taejai is currently facilitating donations for 9 projects related to Covid-19, including “Buddy Homecare”, which is raising money for 200 marginalized households, and “Khlongtoey Dee Jung”, which is working to provide food and income for the Khlongtoey community.
Visit their website and donate here
