| Community Services |
| Tuesday, 29 July 2008 12:49 |
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Mandate: To empower the men and women living in Bangkok's slum communities by giving them knowledge about their rights, providing access to everything that is, by right, their own, and by transferring our experience to them so that their communities will continue to improve in future generations. Origins/History: This program has been in existence since the HDF founder, Father Joe Maier, first arrived in the Klong Toey slums in 1973. In the early 1980s, the HDF developed the resources to build and renovate slum communities; and the National Housing Authority began turning to the HDF for assistance. By 2003, the HDF had completed the construction or renovation of over 10,000 homes in the slums. As with construction and housing, all our community efforts have been initiated to fill a void in a critically needed service for the poor. We meet each problem by starting with modest yet practical solutions in one poor neighborhood and then refining and expanding their implementation into the greater slum communities. Geographic Coverage: Greater BangkokActivities The HDF oversees the following community services:
 Fires and Other Emergencies In the past three decades, responding to over 80 major slum fires, we have worked through the night and following days with the victims, primarily squatters, to rebuild homes and prevent eviction. In most cases, we provide the materials, social workers, and community organizers while the victims, their families, and neighbors provide the labor. We also respond daily - often hourly - to individuals and families in crisis.
Most of all, there are still slum children who need to go to school and who need to learn to read, write, and count to survive. Related Articles: Hard Work in the Slums Klongtoey Women's Credit Union A Day in the Life of Auntie Chalor Thai New Year - Songkran Holiday - 2010 |
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