Social Welfare Projects
Ever since she was still a young mother caring for her 3 children in the confines of the new villa in Srapathum Palace, the Princess Mother proved that Thai housewives could make good use of their time and contribute to society. In 1932, when her children had started school and she had more time on her hands, she set up an American-style “Sewing-circle”, inviting close acquaintances to join the group. Among the members of the circle were Mom Chao Sipphanphansanur Sohnakul, Thanpuying Prayong Sanidvongs na Ayudhya, Khunying Chalaem Puranasiri, Khunying Srivisarnvaja, Khunying Prem, Damrongbaedyakhun, Thanpuying Poa Anurakshraja mondira, and expatriate wives such as Mrs. Zimmerman, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Langesen, Mrs. Nederguard, Mrs. Pendleton and Mrs. Reeve, whose husbands were missionaries or lecturer at Chulalongkorn University.
The sewing circle members started off by making their own clothes, then gradually made clothes for poor children at various hospitals. They met once a week, each member taking turns hosting tea at home between 4 and 6 pm.
It soon became a procedure for the Princess Mother to set aside her own money to purchase necessary items for poor villages during her increasingly frequent upcountry visits. These gifts included T-shirts, towels, multipurpose “pha khao ma” cloth, and stationary for schoolteachers, school uniforms, and stationery for schoolchildren, and pha khao ma, sarongs, needles and thread, medicine, tinned food and dried foodstuff for villagers, while small children would receive various toys suitable for their age.
She also set up with her own personal funds a number of foundations, most notably the Border Patrol Police Support Foundation, and the New Life Foundation for those who have recovered from leprosy or mental illness.
Apart from her own personal funds, the money for these various projects came from the sale of handicraft made through projects initiated by the Princess Mother, such as pressed-flower greeting cards, which was ner hobby, and brooms and brushes made from the sisal hemp, which became a very popular product.
In 1985, the Cabinet approved the proposal of the National Committee for the Promotion and Development of Social Welfare Activities that 21 October, the Princess Mother’s birthday, be declared National Social Welfare Day, in honour of the Princess Mother, who devoted her time and efforts, in addition to her own funds, to well-being of the people. As she was also a nurse, it has since been renamed National Nurses' Day (TH: วันพยาบาลแห่งชาติ Wan Phayaban Haeng Chat).
Read more about this topic: Srinagarindra
Famous quotes containing the words social, welfare and/or projects:
“If twins are believed to be less intelligent as a class than single-born children, it is not surprising that many times they are also seen as ripe for social and academic problems in school. No one knows the extent to which these kind of attitudes affect the behavior of multiples in school, and virtually nothing is known from a research point of view about social behavior of twins over the age of six or seven, because this hasn’t been studied either.”
—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
“I have an intense personal interest in making the use of American capital in the development of China an instrument for the promotion of the welfare of China, and an increase in her material prosperity without entanglements or creating embarrassment affecting the growth of her independent political power, and the preservation of her territorial integrity.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“But look what we have built ... low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.... Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums.... Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)