By Rungroj Yongrit
Bangkok, Apr 25 (EFE).- Along a pavement that lines a canal in Bangkok’s Old Town, a group of around 20 elderly people sweep up dry leaves, collect garbage and plant flowers.
They are wearing yellow aprons emblazoned with the words ‘Jang Wan Ka’ – Thai for ‘Hire Me’ – a slogan for the homonymous project that provides support for homeless and low income elderly people in Thailand’s bustling capital.
“The Hire Me project is mainly focused on hiring homeless people and also assisting elderly people who have no income and have been left alone (without work or family support), which can lead them to homelessness,” Benjamas Pangam, the project coordinator, tells EPA Images.
The project pays 250 baht (around $6.75) for half a day’s work cleaning and maintaining public spaces.
A CHANCE TO GET OFF THE STREETS
Benjamas says the project coordinates with Bangkok’s district offices to provide jobs that help people earn money for basic necessities, so they no longer have to rely on free food handouts, and can eventually be able to pay rent and get off the streets.
While newcomers to the project are hired for street work for two half-days per week, those who have been collaborating with the foundation for longer and have earned enough to afford an abode are eligible to work five days a week for 500 baht a day in roles that require more responsibility, such as repairing electrical devices like microwaves and fans.
These participants are part of the Slow Engineering program, which employs elderly technicians to refurbish and sell donated electronic appliances, supporting the foundation’s funding.
Narong Taepalai, 65, used to be homeless but now works five days a week fixing electrical appliances.
After moving around the country for years doing odd jobs, he eventually found work fixing electronic devices – until he lost his job during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hire Me is one of the only job providers who give elderly people like him a chance at gainful employment, he says.
“I don’t have a family, I’m alone. And I’m getting old so no company or business would hire me, then I would become homeless.”
COVID IMPACT
Currently, the Hire Me project supports 240 homeless participants, 75 of whom have transitioned to rented homes through their earnings with the initiative.
The project was set up in 2020, during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit Thailand – a country that is heavily reliant on international tourism – particularly hard.
Many workers who relied on foreign visitors to Bangkok lost their jobs and, unable to pay rent, ended up homeless.
Nopporn Boonpong, 50, used to sell tickets on tourist boats on the Chao Phraya river that runs through Bangkok.
“There were no tourists for years because of Covid-19, so I didn’t have money to pay rent, and I had to live on the streets,” Nopporn says.
After working for months with Hire Me in street cleaning, he now works five days a week at the Mirror Foundation’s warehouse.
EVERY LITTLE HELPS
While the pandemic triggered a spike in the city’s homeless population – the Mirror Foundation estimates that there are around 2,500 people living on Bangkok’s streets – there are many who have struggled with homelessness for years.
Sombat Krajaechan – a 62-year-old from Loei province on the border with Laos in northeastern Thailand – says his wife left him after he was conscripted into the military 30 years ago. He has been “roaming across Thailand” ever since doing odd jobs.
“I have been hired to work two days a week since January, but for the remaining five days I have nothing to do and (earn) no money. I live on donated food and use the free bathroom at the Fresh Station. I sleep here on this street and sometimes I move to another street nearby,” Sombat says.
The Fresh Station lies under a bridge over the Chao Phraya, and provides bathroom and laundry services to the homeless. It also serves as the monthly recruitment point for Hire Me.
Just beyond that bridge is where Jintana Duanyai, 58 – nicknamed Maew – lays her head every night. She explains how her life has improved since joining the project, even though she only works two days a week and still sleeps rough.
“I sleep here next to the Khlong Lod (a canal that runs just behind the royal Grand Palace),” Maew says.
“If I had enough money, I would like to rent a room to live in instead of sleeping on the street, but now I work only two days a week and that is not enough. But this job is still better than having nothing to do. At least I can work and earn money,” she says. EFE
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