“Na Teh Kha Village” (in Lahu) is located in the headwaters of the Mae Taeng River, within the area of Pha Daeng National Park and Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary. Located next to the border between Thailand and Myanmar, Na Teh Kha Village is a cluster of Kae Noi Village, Moo 2, Mueang Na sub-district, Chiang Dao district, Chiang Mai province, and approximately 80 kilometers away from Chiang Dao district.
“Nanoo” is my name, given by my grandmother. It means “a girl born in the Year of the Ox” or alternatively “a gentle and delicate woman.” I am of a Lahu ethnic group and currently serve as the President of Na Teh Kha Village Women’s Group (Kae Noi).
Na Teh Kha Village has faced significant challenges, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic from March to May 2020. During this time, there was a severe outbreak of forest fires, resulting in heavy smoke and affecting the health of villagers, especially children, women and elderly people. The community had to divide into teams to carry out various tasks, including COVID-19 screening at the checkpoint and firefighting. The villagers faced great hardship and felt very exhausted. When an elderly person returned from the city and was found to be infected with COVID-19, the team had to suddenly announce a lockdown of the community. It greatly increased the difficulty in the villagers’ lives especially for those who relied on daily wage labor and had not prepared food reserves, leading to food shortages. With stores closed and unwilling to accept cash, the situation became even worse.
As the President of the women’s group, I discussed with community leaders and members to mobilize funding from non-government organizations (NGOs) and individuals both within and outside the community, to urgently assist the villagers. Later, we developed project proposals to manage forest fires and smoke, establish food sources in kitchen gardens, farming lands, and watershed forest areas, and engage villagers in activities to conserve natural resources and the environment, such as firebreak construction, check dam construction to retain moisture in the forest area, and tree planting and cultivation of food crop native to the area.
This year (2024), with the government policy prohibiting burning for 60 days from March to April, the community has organized patrols to monitor and prevent forest fires, despite the absence of actual fires. However, dust and smoke from neighboring areas still pose a threat, exacerbating drought conditions. Due to the impacts of global warming, streams and ponds are drying up. This has caused hardship for farmers who have to seek alternative water sources to water their crops. The community therefore has begun exploring the cultivation of crops that have high water holding capacity, such as wild bananas, in the watershed forest area to supplement food sources.
The Doi Thuai waterways are vital to the community’s livelihoods, serving both consumption and agricultural purposes. In May 2024, after six days of rain, only small puddles remained in the waterways, indicating a severe drought during the dry season.
Over the past 20 years, water levels in the once abundant water sources have steadily decreased, leading to prolonged droughts and worsening severity. Despite this, the community has continued agricultural activities, relying on small water sources along the river waiting until the rainfalls occurred in mid-May. However, a community survey conducted in late May reveals that only small puddles remained, highlighting the impact of climate change on water sources.
Community members have collaborated to conserve water resources for future generations. I want to remind the new generation that, “Water is important to everything because rivers are the source of all life on earth. Everyone, especially the younger generation, must appreciate and recognize the value of rivers and help to preserve them in any way so that the river will remain and be fertile forever.”
The Na Teh Kha Village (Kae Noi), predominantly inhabited by the Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) ethnic group, has a total population of 331 people, consisting 151 males and 180 females from 72 households. The majority are engaged in agriculture, including rice farming, gardening, and general labor. They are Buddhist, Christian, and upholding traditional beliefs, with various activity groups such as savings, pig farming, and women’s empowerment groups.
Community members are very collaborative. When there is a call for meetings, community representatives always analyze problems and find solutions together in various aspects, including cultural, economic, social issues, basic infrastructure, public health, disaster, and natural resource management. A community development plan was formulated in September 2020, and the community’s customary rules, including natural resource and environmental management regulation, were reviewed and approved in October 2020. The plan is to have periodic reviews every 3-5 years or upon changes in community leadership.
Each year, representatives from each household, both women and men, participate in fire protection activities. Women are responsible for preparing food for the men who perform as guards and patrollers. When forest fires break out, strong women assist in firefighting when necessary. In 2020, I coordinated with NGOs to provide funding for food supplies for the firefighting efforts.
“Living in a secure home, ensuring food security, promoting women’s roles in the community, and developing women’s skills, and contributing to the well-being of themselves, families, and the community have been significant. Most importantly, women now have a safe space.”
I am proud of women’s empowerment and the achievements made in community development. Activities over the past five years have laid a solid foundation for sustainable community development.
In 2020, the community’s customary rules were reviewed and approved. Additionally, I collected data on disaster occurrences in the community over the past 30 years and gathered knowledge on forest fire management from various sources, including community members, government agencies, Pha Daeng National Park, and Mae Tia-Mae Tae River Basin Conservation Group in Chom Thong District. These led into a community development plan.
In 2021, the community established food sources in the backyards, agricultural areas (rice fields and gardens) and in the watershed areas, and invited external speakers to provide knowledge to the villagers.
In 2022, the community began to expand cultivation of local, rare, and long-preserved crops. Discussions were held within the community to create communal plantation plots for conserving Indigenous plants in one area.
In 2023, the collection of local plant species and seeds of Lahu that exist and used to exist, was initiated. The community is able to collect more than 130 species of local plants. A community food bank, a community agricultural fund to grow local plants, a collection of local seeds that are still available, and from neighboring Lahu communities have been established.
In 2024, the community began efforts to store seeds in a local silo in their own home following the local wisdom, and attempted to establish a Lahu seed collection center.
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Storyteller: Kulsuwarak Puyee (Nanoo), Chiang Mai, Thailand
Nanoo is a Lahu, and is currently the president of the women’s group of Na Teh Kha (Kae Noi), a village in Ban Kae Noi, Village No. 2, Mueang Na Subdistrict, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province.
