Hope forged in difficulty is undoubtedly the strongest type. For Sansanee, raising a six-year-old and a ten-year-old was a matter of necessity that required a kind of perseverance that is difficult to sustain. After suffering physical and mental abuse from her husband, his arrest was a welcome escape from her family’s plight. But the burden of raising children alone, and her husband’s left-behind debt, left Sansanee in sustained difficulty. Throughout this, Sansanee’s belief in courage and a ‘strong heart’ propelled her to support her family alone, until the day she joined BSF.
Sansanee, like any mother, hopes for the best possible future for her children, of which she has two: a six and a ten-year-old. Tragically, Sansanee’s family was plagued by her husband’s physical and mental abuse: she fell into mental illness and was riddled with fear. Eventually, her husband was arrested on drug trafficking and consumption charges, allowing Sansanee the space she needed to heal. Her fear subsided, however, she continued to seek psychological help for further support. It was to this backdrop that Sansanee required the strength to shoulder the burden of providing for her two beloved children alone.
She worked tirelessly in a bean sorting factory, working in any condition. Where Sansanee resides in northern Thailand, the weather keeps people on their toes, encompassing exceptional heat in summer, passionate rain in the wet season, and, in the winter, cold that the children would feel acutely as they sped on the back of Sansanee’s motorcycle to school. To add further financial and family complexity to the mix, Sansanee’s husband had borrowed finances from relatives, including a loan from his mother. This strain caused Sansanee to put her motorcycle into finance.
Despite the walls surrounding her, Sansanee continued to believe in one simple thing: a strong heart always leads to the finish line. She reminded herself that patience and hard work would afford her children an education and food on the table if she kept persisting. It was a trying time: “Because of my husband being addicted to drugs to being in prison, it made me the head of the family having to bear everything, including paying off debts that I didn’t borrow. It made life very difficult and there was no strength to continue fighting.”
One day, a BSF volunteer mentioned the program to her. Her heart lifted as she listened to the guidelines for participation and as they were read, she felt courage restored and believed that the program would greatly help her family. After joining, Sansanee received financial support to invest in 500 Black Oyster Mushrooms along with equipment to build a mushroom cultivation house through the Income Generation Assistance, which also provided her with money management know-how through BSF training.
New mushroom-farmer Sansanee now collects and sells mushrooms every morning and evening, and it has brought great joy to her family to have another source of income. The debt left by her husband has begun to be repaid, and she is already budgeting to reinvest into her growing business. It is not only on the business front that things are improving, too. Sansanee now has the opportunity to invest into her family in different ways, with the family now able to take a trip for leisure – something she never had the opportunity to do in the past.
Sansanee’s growth in perseverance, hope, and a strong heart has paid off and is persisting.
Sansanee thankfully expressed her gratitude to BSF’s support: “When I joined the program, it made my heart stronger. And it made me believe that it will definitely lead me and my family to the finish line. Thank you for the program that encouraged me and my family to stand up and fight…Really, thank you for the program.”
BSF is a partner for project J1079 & J1102 with Australian NGO, Global Development Group (ABN 57 102 400 993). Donations to BSF through Global Development Group are tax deductible in Australia, NZ, and the USA.
Building Strong Families Foundation or มูลนิธิสร้างครอบครัวเข้มแข็ง is a registered foundation in Thailand (ชม770), approved by the Ministry of Interior.
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