to answer your question : means a girl who live in a tropical country..hihi..

Monday, November 21, 2005

Doi Tung Project.. can we do it?

Last weekend, i went to Medan, north Sumatra attending an important workshop on the Prospect of Developing and Implementing Alternative Developmentā€™s Policy to Fight Illicit Cultivation of Cannabis in Indonesia. One of the note speaker was Mr. Dissnadda Diskul from Thailand. A one remarkable person. 17 years ago, he started a project on a rural area Doi Tung, on the border of thailand and myanmar where he interacted with the local people who at that time planted opium poppy for a living.
Those people were poor and far far away from development reach. They have no education, not sufficient health care and no money. With lack of skill, they planted opium poppy, which easily grows, and sell it to earn some money.
Mr. Diskul saw this as a crucial problem to be solved. With the help of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), he intensely interacted with the local people in Doi Tung, mingled and tried to understand their culture. The next step, he said, was to teach them skills that they need to survive. he recruited some of the local people and provided them with enough skills on farming and animal husbandry. Soon, the group passed their knowledge to others. And the job began.
For 17 years they have been working on acres of acres of opium poppy's field, trying to alter it into coffee plantation. And it worked! Now, eventhough the project has not final yet, Doi Tung area is famous for its coffee. Not only that, the people now live more positive life, leaving poverty behind with farms, plantation, hospitals, and school enough for 500 children.
Doi Tung project is a project that implementing Alternative Development's Policy to fight illicit cultivation of opium poppy and it works very well. Doi Tung project is the most successfull Alternative Development project in the world. Most importantly, with the success of this project, now the same project has been started in Myanmar and Afghanistan.
Mr. Diskul was one passionate person. In his 66, he still has this great spirit inside of him to make others' life better. To know more about his work, just go to one of my links on the left and spread the news. The workshop i attended last weekend was the first workshop to discuss the possibility of the establishment of the AD project in Indonesia and elsewhere. Hopefully, we can make it there. ..

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