Farm life puts troubled youth on reform path
The Nation 26.03.00

CHUMPHON Six hundred kilometres south of Bangkok, many juvenile delinquents watched the television news reports of the recent breakout and unrest at one correctional home after another.

Those glued to the TV were no relatives of the youths who tried to break free, but some knew what it was like to be in their place.
Others realised that they themselves may have ended up in those correctional homes if not for the fact that the Duang Prateep Foundation had set up Niwathana New Life Project (NNLP) in Chumphon province's Lamae district some 14 years ago.
The project usually takes in boys between nine and 18 (some older) for a period of three years. The project accepts residents sent voluntarily by their parents, for, as its name suggest, it aims at giving new life to these youngsters and not at punishing them further.

While there are only a handful of staterun correction home alumni at the New Life project, the youths knew that any of them could have ended up in one. Luckily, their parents discovered the need for intervention and chose to send them to this project in the south.
None of the three former inmates of the Baan Karuna Correctional Home currently at the New Life centre expressed surprise at the breakout. To them, the staterun home was like a volcano waiting to erupt. Others said it was not worth rebelling for they would be punished even more severely once they returned to the correctional homes.

But when asked what they thought of these staterun homes and what improvements should be made, a whole Pandora's box of bitter memories was opened.

"It was very crowded. We didn't have enough drinking water and there were 1,500 people," said 17yearold Samruay, who was at Baan Karuna for drug abuse. The 16rai area of the staterun correctional home was meant to house 500 juvenile delinquents not 1,500.
"The wardens also used huge sticks to punish us. And some of the punishments were actually meted out for very little reason."

"It's not like here," said Pat, a 21yearold member of the New Life centre who was also at Baan Karuna for six months in 1996 due to heroin abuse. "If you have a wound they don't really care. There are eight toilets and the wall covering is just waist high."

"It's now 18 [toilets]," countered Samruay, a more recent inmate of the notorious correctional home. "But the sleeping quarters are still very crowded."

Somkid, sent to Baan Karuna following charges of robbery and sexual obscenity, said physical abuse and gang attacks were common there. "If you have fair skin and look cute, someone may take you to sleep with them," he said.

The three former Baan Karuna inmates said greenery and the opportunity to work with their hands on the land, as they have been doing at the New Life Project, are important factors in the healing process. At this 191rai project, various vegetables are grown by the youths, including string beans, cucumber, Chinese cabbage and morning glory. Robusta coffee, rubber trees and palms are also grown to raise funds and make the environment, which is surrounded by a mountain range, even greener.

"I didn't know what a coffee tree looked like before I came here," said Ton, one of the 90 residents of the New Life centre. "Growing vegetables and plants is definitely enjoyable."

Nature and greenery aside, many felt that a sense of home and caring wardens were necessary to improve the many governmentrun correctional homes. "I think there's one important key to running a successful correctional homes to have good staff. Some of the wardens do not love their work," said Suchinda, one of the four teachers at the NNLP. "It takes some dedication and sacrifice."

Currently, there are 150 children whose parents want to place them at the New Life Project. However, the project can only accept two more at the moment. And the Bt3 million yearly budget for 90 youngsters is already difficult for the foundation to bear.

"I should say that we are 80 per cent satisfied with our work here," said Sarayuth, another teacher at the project. He said that some youngsters at the project went on to study at university level, but some came back to become teachers at the project.

Twenty year old Vasant came back soon after graduating from the project. He went home briefly to Nakhon Prathom province, where he found that amphetamines had taken over his neighbourhood and home province. A former drug addict himself, Vasant feared he might fall into the vicious cycle again, but he also realised that he wanted to use his experience to teach young children how to make a change like he had done.

"Society at large is full of drugs. You find it in front of your home, even the police are into it," said Vasant, who is dark and plump, easily the most recognisable figure at the project.

Vasant, now an assistant teacher at the centre, said dealing with a mixed bag of young delinquents was no easy task. "They are all different. Some are orphans and when they see others' parents visiting they feel lonely, so we try to make this a homecumfamily. Others may be aggressive, so we let them do a lot of sports and try to tell them that winning [or beating] is not everything. And we also have attention seekers whom we have to ignore from time to time," he said.

To Vasant, nothing is more challenging than to change the youths' mentality and he hopes this project may provide a lesson to governmentrun institutions. "It's easy to get people off drugs. But to make them leave the past behind and offer hope for the future is no easy task it's a challenge," he said.

BY Pravit Rojanaphruk
Tha Natiion
LAST MODIFIED: Saturday, 25-Mar-00