Khlongtoey Dee Jung started out with a group of music teachers. They would come into the community every Saturday and Sunday with activities for children from low-income families, and eventually expanded their activities toward raising scholarship funds, and organizing the annual ‘Khlongtoey Dee Jung’ festival.
But now they are facing their biggest challenge yet, trying to mobilize resources to a community hard hit by the measures the Thai government has put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
“They’re more afraid of starving [than coronavirus], because most of them have lost their jobs,” says Amm, one of the project directors for Khlongtoey Dee Jung. “They are mostly daily laborers, from housemaids to drivers to motorcycle drivers.”
For most, working from home is not an option.
The various communities of Khlong Toey sit in a precarious position as the state becomes more heavy-handed in its Covid-19 response. In August 2019, Deputy Transport Minister Atirat Ratanasate declared his mission to “erase” the Khlong Toey community, stating that “by 2020, the term ‘Khlong Toey slum’ will no longer exist in Thai people’s minds.”
As part of the Smart Community initiative, Atirat was overseeing the construction of government housing for the families that will be evicted to make way for a mega mall.
“We don’t see them here,” says Wuttisak, a resident of the Pig Slaughterhouse community in Khlong Toey, “we are more afraid of not having enough to eat than we are of being evicted right now.”
The Catch-22 faced by most Khlong Toey residents has been well-documented: if they go out to work, they risk infection and death, but if they stay home, they face starvation. Some community efforts have emerged, with small restaurants leaving out food for those who have lost their jobs, and groups like Covid Aid Thailand organizing care packages for children in Khlong Toey.
Khlongtoey Dee Jung is taking a broader, more structured approach to its own community effort. The organization is working with five different communities – communities they have worked with closely over a long period of time: The Pig slaughterhouse community, Baan Munkong community, Flats 23-24 community, Klong Wat Sapan community, and the Sugar field community.
“We look for those who need extra support – households that have elderly people, sick people, people who have lost their jobs,” Amm explains. “We have worked together with the communities for a long time – we walk down every soi, create maps to identify the particular houses that may have fallen outside others’ purview.”
The project aims to help around 3,000 people in the communities they work with. They are taking a two-pronged approach: providing food for those in need and work for those who have lost their jobs.
“We are using shops in the community, turning them into restaurants for those in need. With the data we collect [on the relative needs of each household], we assign coupons to each household – they can then use the coupons to get food from these shops.”
The restaurant system is up and running, feeding families where breadwinners have become unemployed due to the Bangkok shutdown.
Sewing masks has become another means of employment, one actively employed by Tak-based Help Without Frontiers. But sewing requires skills that not many in these communities have, Amm points out.
“We’ve sub-divided the work so the people we work with cut the material that is required for sewing masks – at least they get fifty to one hundred baht a day for their work.”
Amm believes this dual approach of “food and work” can help, but ultimately is only a stopgap for those who have lost their jobs or are on the verge of unemployment.
Khlongtoey Dee Jung is trying to diversify the work that community members can do from their homes, but many are anxiously looking to the state for help.
“On the 5000 baht handout promised by the government – they’re really worried they won’t get it, and aren’t sure how to access the system to find out,” said Amm. “With filling forms out online for the utilities subsidy – some houses only have two elderly people in the household, so they aren’t eligible.”
“We’ve sent volunteers in to help them fill these forms, but we’re still not sure if they are eligible for the 5000-baht handout.”
For a community that has always lived on the fringes of the state – often, in defiance of the state – the prospect of state support is thrown into doubt. Amm can do little to assuage the deep, existential worries of the people they work with – but the support of community groups like Khlongtoey Dee Jung is much needed.
Here’s what you can do to 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” [covered above], which is working to provide food and income for the Khlongtoey community.
Visit their website and donate here
