motorcycles to go around and vaccinate flocks of
sheep. Veterinarians from Afghanistan’s Ministry
of Agriculture helped train these para-vets on
what drugs to use to treat sheep with runny noses
and how to administer the vaccinations. Since it
is difficult to find a trained veterinarian in such a
remote location, the people must be self-reliant.
This is like when the Princess Mother arranged
for the border patrol police in the remote areas
of Thailand to teach children in isolated villages.
(Afghanistan has since implemented the model
of our project as their national policy.)
“In Aceh, we first tackled malaria by taking
doctors from Aceh for training in Chiang Mai for
several months until they knew how to treat malaria.
They went back to set up their own teams
who travel around to test blood. Before this, many
who contacted malaria in Aceh succumbed to the
disease for lack of treatment. But the infection
rate there has since declined from 2.17 to 0.07
percent, and with no fatalities now. This model
has now spread all over Indonesia.”
Khunying Puangroi added that wherever she
goes to promote the Princess Mother’s model,
she always follows Her Royal Highness’s remarks
upon embarking on the Doi Tung project: “We
don’t have to make it big. We do it small but successfully
so it serves as a model,” and “Nobody
wants to be bad, but they are bad because they
lack opportunity and choice.” Khunying Puangroi
said, “These words are the guiding principles for
the staff at the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, in that
every time we look at people, we always see their
potential; we will never think they are bad and
that it is impossible to make things better.
“The Mae Fah Luang Foundation has earned
a high reputation internationally. Every year,
many people come for a study visit to the Living
University at Doi Tung, be they politicians,
government officials, students or the general
public. Many countries are interested to invite
the Mae Fah Luang Foundation as their consultant
for anti-drug campaigns. Explaining what is
behind the MFLF’s success, Khunying Puangroi
stressed, “The Princess Mother always said,
‘This is not yet a success; don’t get too carried
away that we are successful’. We never say we
have finished. The Princess Mother always said,
‘This is just a beginning; we have to continue
working; there is no success’.
“The seven years that Princess Mother spent
at Doi Tung - from the start of the project in 1988
until her passing in 1995 - are testament that she
never did things just for show or window dressing,
to start something and then simply abandon it.
She undertook it with her own hands and she lived
alongside the people throughout the project. Her
vision, that we uphold, is essentially true. Just
take the things she said before - the problems of
sickness, poverty and ignorance; are these still
the issues facing the current generation of Thais?
“I must say the Princess Mother was a very
progressive Thai woman. She was visionary.
She studied hard and read many books. She
went abroad to fulfill her dream even when she
could not speak a single word of English. The
most important thing was that her husband,
Prince Mahidol, had been her model. The late