RATIONALE

While previously marginalized tribal communities in remote mountainous areas are being offered increased government services, they remain far behind the larger lowland Thai society in every major area. Furthermore, hilltribes play almost no role in determining the type and extent of any existing or new development opportunities and, thus, not only their freedom of choice but their very cultures are disregarded. The single most important factor in this lack of representation is their substandard education, which restricts their ability to share equitably in the determination of their own future - a future which grows more uncertain each year.
Hill tribe people face growing challenges to the continuation of their traditional lifestyle. These include dependence on a declining resource base (especially farm land), poor health, and emerging socio-economic problems, e.g. demand for illicit drugs, AIDS, debt, cultural erosion. The consequences that many children now face include homelessness, poverty, abuse, and drug addiction. An important factor in helping these children to survive and grow-up is a safe and secure environment. A large number of the students have come from a village with an extremely high rate of heroin addiction, with a few of them being former heroin users themselves. It is in order to address these issues that Bahn Ruam Jai exists - to help disadvantaged tribal children to have the opportunities which will allow them to better integrate into Thai society on a more equitable basis.