New Life Foundation | Empowerment And Self-Reliance
Past Susan Munro
An expert in sustainable edifice techniques, Jon Jandai is the co-founder of the Pun Pun Eye for Self-Reliance, located in Chiang Mai province. The centre is a hub for those interested in edifice in harmony with Earth'due south natural systems, and offers brusque courses, workshops and long-term internship opportunities for learning. New Life was proud to host Mr. Jandai for our Winter Solstice Festival. In this mail, Mr. Jandai chats with New Life volunteer Susan Munro well-nigh his projects.
You founded the Pun Pun Centre for Self-Reliance in Chiang Mai Province 10 years ago. I think its a great concept to brainwash people a little more about their environment, organic farming and seed-saving. Tell me a piddling almost what you lot do at the middle.
With this centre is everything is an experiment, we experiment to be together, we experiment to be more self-reliant, to use less materials in our life, equally little as we tin can, to be more sustainable – we started 10 years ago, people came, and information technology turned into a community after that – now nosotros have about 20 people, staying together, including five kids. Many families alive together. We do home-schooling, because we desire to accept kids out of the system, and we grow food, nosotros utilize appropriate technology. We make our ain filter water, and solar-heated water.
Effort and stay off the filigree.
Not totally, we do equally much every bit we can, but not besides rough.
So how did the middle come nigh?
Actually, in the beginning nosotros did non remember most creating a centre, merely to have a place to grow vegetables and save seeds. To have a identify for my family to live together. Merely then people came often and many people wanted to stay with us longer, so information technology became a community afterwards that. And then people kept coming, and it kept growing and growing, and information technology simply became non-finish. It started to be a little bit too big, so now we encourage people to start new projects somewhere else. At present there is a new place side by side to us called The Panya Projection, they attend workshops with us, they do permaculture, similar to us – information technology's growing well.
Then what brought you to this style of building?
At the beginning I did not think much about the building, merely to accept a business firm. In the offset I have a bamboo house. Information technology'southward good, bamboo business firm is easy, and I made it small. Then, I had a risk to visit Taos Pueblo in Mexico. I want to have a business firm like this – it's then cool inside. At home I started to build a house every bit an experiment, it'due south and then easy, I didn't work too hard and I built the near stable business firm in my life.
In 3 months, right?
Yes – I only continue building, keep building, at present I take more 10 houses!
Are they your houses?
In my home town (in Isaan Province) I have four houses there. At present I motility to Chiang Mai to start Pun Pun, I have more there.
How do y'all call back this style of edifice would do good the community?
It'southward good, because information technology empowers people a lot. Because, in our instruction system, we effort to make people as stupid as nosotros tin can because then they rely upon the system more. They don't want the states to be able to do anything, but at present, when yous start to build a business firm, y'all find you can exercise this. Usually, to buy a house, you demand to do years of saving, and you lot demand to hire an architect, engineer, architect to do it, but now even kids can build it. My son, 9 years one-time, is starting to build now. Then, it empowers people a lot, specially women.
How so?
Women are taught that they cannot build a business firm, it's a man's chore. Women are weak, no energy.
Out in the sun, and conveying heavy bricks.
70% of people who build earthen houses in Thailand are women. Information technology changes their life, considering they never experience similar they can exercise anything in this life. Simply, afterwards they build a firm, they experience they can do anything.
It's very empowering. I recollect it's amazing a customs could come together to exercise something like this.
It's peachy for community, because when people use the brain and thinking, talking, yous have a lot of problems. Just, whenever people first to use the physical body together, you accept less disharmonize in communities, and people learn a lot, they enjoy being together again.
So you lot are really bringing a town together again – through edifice housing you are literally building a community.
Yes. Nosotros congenital a school for kids, for kids effectually 10 years former, 30 kids – they don't have anything, only a bamboo roof, and nosotros built i edifice, and one month later on, they built one building together. So, something like that is very powerful.
It'southward such a simple thing, really, isn't it – being able to house yourself… and we've just made it this incredibly complicated procedure, where y'all cant do it any more, of a sudden you need all these people who've been to university and have years of feel to larn how to build… it's like we've outsourced our power to look later ourselves.
I recall earthen building helps people to get back to being normal again.
Absolutely, stomp some mud, and get in affect with your nature. Information technology's very healthy! What are the challenges of building in this way in Thailand?
The main challenge is the thinking of people, because Thai people grew upwards with a lot of rain – then they know the rain and soil don't become along well. H2o ever melts the dirt.
Turns it back into mud.
Yeah. They haven't seen the earthen business firm before, and then they cannot imagine how information technology looks. They worry that when it rains, information technology's going to cook – but, If there'south a good roof, in that location'due south no trouble. That's the hardest thing to communicate to people. So at present, earthen building in Thailand is spreading very fast.
Information technology seems organic farming and earth-building are still pretty new in Thailand. How do you get the customs/local communities/locals interested?
Organic farming started virtually 30 years agone in Thailand. It'due south not very large compared to the population, but it' s growing fast compared to other countries. Possibly i one thousand thousand out of lxx one thousand thousand have part just it'due south growing fast.
How do you get people interested?
Mainly we do grooming with farmers. Nosotros work together, nosotros are not simply talking, they come up and come across, and they like it, then they go home and experiment to compare organic and chemical farming. They then start to see it (organic methods) benefits them more than.
Yous engage with the local communities.
Yep, we work with farmers and city people too. I think it's very of import to exercise organic farming with the city people, because in the past a lot of NGOs, a lot of people indicate at villagers, and say 'You need to do organic farming', merely when they grow it, who buys from them? Everyone goes to the large mall. Nobody buys, how can they survive? And so they practice grooming with a lot of metropolis people too. Metropolis people need to be organised to start a shop or co-op or whatever, then connect with the organic farmer, and so we can send the produce to you without a middle-person, then we (the consumer) tin can purchase it cheaper.
I was very inspired by your TEDx talk. I'm sure this is why y'all take and then many people wanting to come and see you and train with y'all. I was interested by the idea we take made things complicated for ourselves because we can. It is hard for a lot of people to let go of their iPhones, cars and Facebook however. What would you say to people looking to bring simplicity into their lives?
I think right now, we do not refuse anything, we do not refuse technology. We need to use our consciousness, that's the main matter. If we spend our life following our emotion or feeling, we suffer a lot, that's not sustainable – if we follow our consciousness that is sustainable. For example – if we buy something considering nosotros like it, that is following a feeling. Because, feeling is something not stable, it's come and go, come and go, but if we follow consciousness, information technology is based on truth, based on reason. For case, if I desire an iPhone, well right now I'm only a farmer, and so I don't need to have a film like some people, I don't need to play game, I have a lot of fun in the garden. I don't demand to do Facebook similar some people. Then if I purchase an iPhone it is because I demand it, not considering I am following my emotional feeling. But if 1 mean solar day I have a lot of things to do, check the stock marketplace or stuff like that, its okay. And then it's whether we buy information technology because it'south of import, it'south necessary, or because nosotros want or like it.
Jon Jandai works and lives in Chiang Mai Province at the Pun Pun Centre for Self-Reliance. He is involved in many earth-edifice, organic farming and seed-saving programmes in Thailand and Burma.
Source: https://www.newlifefoundation.com/th/empowerment-and-self-reliance/