Home is where you should feel safe.

This family was brought to our attention in the past years by the local government. The mother, father, and two little girls aged 6 and 7 were living in nothing more than a dilapidated tin box void of proper doors and windows. Both door and windows were a flimsy and rusting sheet of tin. The temperature inside the house rose to dangerous levels during the summertime leading to fear of heat stroke or dehydration; in the rainy season they are virtually unprotected from the elements and prone to mold, insects and flooding.

This is not a home. Living in a house of this condition is de-humanizing, high-stress, emotionally draining, and physically dangerous for the family.

Both parents foraged for food and survived off of a trading system with the local community; they have no other source of income. Earlier this year the father, who was struggling with addiction, died suddenly of a heart attack-leaving behind a young mother struggling with severe health problems and their two little girls. While living he was unable to provide for his family’s needs, creating only chaos and fear for his family due to his problems with alcohol abuse.. With him gone, “Phueng”  and her two young girls are not only left to fend for themselves, but are without a safe home to live in. They are now completely vulnerable to outside predators – human or animal.

Every woman and child deserves to feel safe in their own home.

Many days these girls cannot attend school because they are out with their mother foraging for food to survive. Without having anywhere to do laundry or keep clean clothes the girls usually go to school in dirty uniforms and are either ignored by or mocked by their peers. These extreme living conditions lead to learning disavantages, lack of opportunities, feelings of inadequacy, malnutrition, and a deeper plunge into poverty.