TC-TB Oudomxay
Hi, my name is Santhi Thanthawong
I am 32 years old, and I am from Khamkeuth District, Borikamxay Province. I started working with HPP Laos in 2019. My role was to work in the field with the farmers and to be the agricultural teacher of the Farmers' Club Project. During that period, I was responsible for the Farmers' Clubs of 5 villages in Tha Kaek District, Khammouan Province.
During my work, I have seen this program enable farmers to create sustainability in their agricultural production. Our program works with farmers, focusing on group work in Farmers' Clubs. They learned and shared experiences with each other during workshops and training, and used sustainable working methods in farming and animal husbandry. Farmers have continued to do all activities, and I am very impressed to see these Farmers' Clubs continue to operate after the Farmers' Club Project ended.
I started to work at a community support project in early 2022. I am participating in support of eliminating tuberculosis in Oudomxay Province. My duties are as a field worker. Before we started to work in Oudomxay and got the responsibility of tuberculosis work, I received training. I went to learn about the work together with the HPP tuberculosis team of Borikhamxay Province, that implemented the same activities at that time. The work in Oudomxay, where I am working now, is very difficult because the area covered by the project is remote, and the roads are difficult because it is a rural area. In some places, communication is difficult because people are from ethnic groups with other languages. It is a challenge for me to motivate the people in the communities to get help from public health services. Most people in the project area are impoverished families who lack food, clothing, medicine, and clean drinking water and still defecate out in the open. They are poor and do not get good nutrition which causes diseases.
I am very happy to be a part of HPP; to have worked together with the communities, and to help them because our work is much needed. It is a job that I love very much, to be able to contribute to the development of the villages. Finally, thank you to the donors who supported the project. I also thank HPP Laos for trusting me and giving the opportunity to share knowledge and collect experiences in the development of these communities.
