A project by
The Mon are an ethnic group who live on both sides of Thai-Myanmar border. They were among the earliest people to live in South-east Asia. They speak the Mon language which has influenced many other South-east Asian languages.
The project is located in Jhoe Khar Prout, a village in a township called Ye near the Thai-Myanmar border. ‘Jhoe’ or ‘Jo’ means river, ‘Khar Prout’ is the name of a local tree. There are about 140 households, with a total population of about 650 people. They are considered Internal Displaced Person (IDP), a term used by the United Nations to refer to people who have fled their homes but not their country, for one reason or another.
In the case of the Jhoe Khar Prout villagers, they had fled from their previous villages due to fighting between 3 parties, namely; the New Mon State Party (NMSP), its armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the Myanmar army. Fighting between the MNLA and the Myanmar army ended in 1995, and an official ceasefire between both parties took effect shortly after.
Most of the people work in farms while others find work outside their village, particularly in Thailand. Due to a lack of infrastructure, transportation is limited. There is access to the village only in the dry season. During the rainy season, the villagers use boats to get around. There is also no internet Source Image extracted from UNHCR
and telephone coverage, and electricity is largely from small solar panels. You can read a detailed report about IDP in Myanmar, published by Human Rights Foundation of Monland, Burma Link and Burma Partnership here.
An urgent need in the village is a new clinic, a medical centre that can cope with a growing need within the community as well as 3 other nearby villages with a population of about 1,350, a good portion of which are young children.
The current clinic, a wooden structure built more than 20 years ago, is in a state of disrepair. It had a hydro-powered electricity generator that now does not work. There is no proper storage for vaccines as there is no electricity to run a refrigerator to store these and other medicines that need to be kept cool. This is a serious healthcare risk in a community that is efficiently accessible only in the dry season. In addition, soil erosion has washed away much ground around the foundation of the structure, causing the building to be in an unsafe condition.
Overall, healthcare facilities have deteriorated, and are in need of repair. The villagers, via the Mon National Health Committee (MNHC) has reached out to WeCreate Studio for assistance.
Š Trecia Lim
To provide a more durable building with better healthcare facilities and the opportunity for skillsets training for the local youths.
In response to
the Mon Community’s request for
assistance, we propose to build a new clinic, called the Jhoe Khar Prout Community Clinic, to replace the existing dilapidated one in the village. The new structure will have 10 In-patients
department
(IPD)
beds,
2
Out-patient
department (OPD) beds for examination and consultations as well as a store for vaccines, which the previous facility did not have. Soil erosion, which has affected the existing clinic badly, will be kept at bay with retaining walls & higher foundations.
The construction of the clinic will involve partnership with community authorities, the employment of local people through an Apprenticeship Programme and a design emphasis on materials and environmental sustainability. A detailed Architectural Proposal Report can be found here.
Total projected cost is SGD$35,000. A closing report with final expenditure will be shared at the end of the project. The estimate breaks down is as follows: Foundation, Slab & Columns
SGD$4,000
Mechanical, Electrical & Sanitary
SGD$2,000
Local Employment
SGD$10,000
Roof Structure and Roofing
SGD$8,000
Solar Panel System
SGD$2,000
Flights & Other Logistics
SGD$5,000
Partition Walls & Finishing
SGD$2,000
Equipment & Operation
SGD$2,000
Donations in the form of monetary, construction materials or sponsorship of flights are welcome. Please contact Trecia (wecreatestudio@outlook.com) or Dada Rama (baandadavolunteer@gmail.com), if you would like to contribute to the project.
| Project Collaborators|
Singapore (Architect)
Baan Dada Children’s Home & Community Services, Thailand (Local Project Management)
Thymn Pte Ltd, Singapore (Structural Advisors)
| Follow us on Facebook| https://www.facebook.com/ BuildingtheMonCommunityClinic
| Email us| Trecia Lim wecreatestudio@outlook.com Dada Rama baandadavolunteer@gmail.com
Copyright Reserved 2019 Disclaimer: WeCreate Studio is not a Singapore registered Charity or IPC (Institution of Public Character). Any private funds collected are on behalf of Baan Dada Children’s Home & Community Services (website: https://baandada.net/), which is a registered foundation in Thailand. All photos and materials have been reproduced with the community’s permission.
This project is a request by the Mon National Health Committee (MNHC). MNHC is a non-profit health organization founded in 1992. It serves communities along the ThaiMyanmar border. It is the main provider of primary health care to internally displaced persons (IDPs) living along the Thai-Myanmar border in the Mon State. On the border MNHC operates nine clinics and two village health facilities and has a staff of about 60 medics. Annually MNHC provides health care to about 10,000 patients at its nine clinics and two village health facilities.
WeCreate Studio is a consultancy firm founded by Architect Trecia Lim in 2017. It is a social enterprise that aims to use its architectural and development resources to create social impact by working with less privileged and local communities with limited resources directly, particularly in Southeast Asia.
Our mission is to improve the living conditions of underprivileged people who ask for help with projects that alleviate hardships and shortcomings in their community, with special focus on using our strength in architecture and planning to provide them with solutions for self dependency. To carry out this mission more effectively, we also provide leadership. We believe in collaborations, to bring together expertise from fields relevant to the projects. We also coordinate the fund-raising and sourcing for materials needed for the projects.
Our approach to fulfilling our mission is to work on projects with local authorities and the community directly so there is ownership and sustainability after we have handed these projects over to them. We adopt a cocreate design process with the community, involving them throughout the design process. We employ local people as far as possible, to provide jobs and skills training to the community. We incorporate local materials as far as possible into the design, to support the local economy. We also seek sensible sustainable design and construction solutions.