Aon knows well what it means to sacrifice for her family’s future. As a teen mum at just fourteen, she has had to learn to adapt to her circumstances and simply make difficult situations work. Her husband’s two-year absence due to military service left a gaping hole in their family, but with his return, they have received assistance to develop as a family through the support of BSF.
Aon is an exemplar of sacrificial, familial love – having had to care for a child from age fourteen, to being the sole earner during her husband’s time in the military, she knows what it means to work hard and keep hoping for a better future.
In Thailand, a system of national service requires men over a certain age to potentially be drafted. While the system assists in protecting the nation, it can greatly affect the soldiers’ ability to assist in providing for their wives and children. For Aon, her husband’s military service meant that she was the solo parent in terms of emotional, physical, and financial support for two long years.
However, this wasn’t the first time Aon learned to step into leadership and exhibit a high level of resilience. As a fourteen-year-old pregnant teen, Aon chose to drop out of school in order to give birth to her precious baby and raise her child. Aon’s bravery at just fourteen years meant she never gave abortion any thought but sought to diligently safeguard her child’s future from pregnancy, onwards. Her son, now aged 8, is in school studying.
While her husband has been away in the military, Aon has been selling drinks in Chiang Mai township and in the evening market to make ends meet. After two long years, in April 2023 Aon’s husband returned to their family from the military. Eager to start providing again for their family, Aon’s husband decided to pursue barbering to support his family financially, as he had garnered this skill during his time in the military. His return meant a fresh start for the family – Aon and her son finally had their husband and father back, and they could really progress in strengthening their life together.
It was around this time that the family came across Building Stronger Families, and before long the organisation was able to support the family with sessions to strengthen their family unit. In terms of business support, BSF has provided Aon’s drink business with two tables, one ice bucket, equipment for making drinks, and a shop banner to launch her own drinks stall at a market. Due to a lack of equipment in the past, her sales were very limited. Though small in number and cost, these few items greatly enabled Aon’s profits to increase, as well as increase her number of customers and word-of-mouth marketing. Aon also saved money from these items by not having to rent someone else’s ice bucket for the drinks. So often for small business owners throughout South-East Asia, just a few small additions can exponentially increase their business. Things that are inexpensive to those living outside the region can bring generational change to families as they avoid debt to purchase these things and go straight towards better quality of life - holistically, not just financially.
For Aon’s husband, launching into his barbering career was greatly supported by BSF’s provision of all the necessary tools for hair cutting, including: two sets of clippers, two pairs of scissors, four combs, a powder jar, a brush, and a number of other items. This has really set him up for quick success, and he is now working at a barber shop in town. Aon and her husband have been able to access market opportunities that would have taken them a long time to achieve without support, and it is such a joy to watch them flourish as a family unit as they are finally together again. It is also wonderful for the family to be able to have been given school supplies for Aon's son to assist him in pursuing his education: an incredibly important part of improving quality of life for future generations within Thailand.
Expressing her thanks for the BSF program, Aon said, “Thank you for supporting my family. My life changed after I joined this program, and I felt that I could be part of something. During the training day, I learned a lot of things, including how to maintain good health and how to save money which are very important for my marketing. Moreover, the program supports my son by providing school supplies that he needs for his studies. I sincerely appreciate the program, which has improved my quality of life and helped me lead a happy existence.”
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.