The Great Divide

The Thai government hands down harsh sentences for drug offenses. Even so, the prospect of long prison sentences has not deterred drug crime. Prisons are overcrowded and underfunded. Prisoners are given enough food to maintain life, but not necessarily health. For health, the prisoners depend on family or friends to augment the rice soup that is served for most meals. Female prisoners are even dependent on donations for feminine hygiene products. Medical care is scarce. So, if conditions are so bleak, why commit the crime?
The simple answer is money.
The cultural divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots" is clearly visibile in Thailand when you look at the differences between urban and village opportunities. In urban areas, especially for English-speaking Thais, jobs are avaialable in the tourist industry. Educational opportunities are more accessible. Rural Thailand villages may not even have electricity, much less jobs or schools. The villagers may not even speak Thai, since much of Northern Thailand has a large population of several different "Hill-Tribes." The choices are subsistence living farming, working in a rice field or drug smuggling. One or two drug jobs can provide more money than a year of back-breaking farm work. It should be noted that farming in village Thailand is comparable to farming in the US in the 1800's.

CFPM has established realtionships with several of the prisons in Northern Thailand. In addition to regular visits with the parents of the children who live in CFPM houses, CFPM also provides some educational programs to the prison populations (See pcitures above for past offerings), such as how to stay healthy in prison by frequent hand washing. Hand washing is a low cost and sustainable intervention that supports independent action, that is, the Thai population is not dependent on anyone for continued supplies once they understand the how and why of washing hands. An excerpt from a hand-washing lesson that will be given as part of a June 2011 missiosns project follows:


HAND WASHING - HOW TO PRIMER

The most important and easiest thing you can do to keep healthy is to wash your hands

Wash before you eat, after using the toilet, after nose-wiping or after changing diapers

In addition to the lesson above, there will be return demonstrations, and as allowed by prison rules regarding security, we will use a product called Germ-Juice, that involves rubbing a lotion on the hands, then washing the hands afterwhich the hands are placed under a blacklight. There are particles in the lotions that fluoresce under blacklight thus giving a really concrete example of the germs that are left on hands when washed improprerly.
(www.germjuice.com/Products.html)


For information regarding Thai Prisons - see the following link:
http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/Congress_2010/17Kittipong_Kittayarak.pdf

• Wet hands. Running water is best.
• Apply soap if you have it.
• Lather well.
• Rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds. Count 1- one thousand, 2-one thounsand...
• If you don's have soap, rub your hands briskly for 30 seconds.
• Remember to scrub all surfaces, including the backs of your hands and  between your fingers. Don't forget to wash your thumbs!

• Rinse your hands. Running water is best
• Dry your hands with a clean cloth, or air dry.
• If possible, use your towel to turn off the faucet.