INPAENG's health perspective

in their opinion, Health = Eat-well, Live-well. This involve food, family members, how they live their life, family economics.

April 25

What is INPAENG's health perspective?

 

After two months living with INPAENG people, listening to their converstions and participating some social events.

I could partly conclude their ideas about health.

INPAENG people are living in the alternative paradigm of doing agriculture. For twenty years, INPAENG style of farming is based on self-sufficient concept. They changed their lifestyle from grow plants, rice for sell to the paradigm of grow for consume, for eat. 

INPAENG's mottos are 

'grow everything you eat/use, eat/use everything you seeded'

and

'move the forest into your backyard (by selecting kinds of seedlings that will grow to vegetable you would eat/use. Grow plants for herbal medicine, for shade, for your children new house etc. and ground them on your own land).

So, even they have small amount of money, but they have lots to eat;  their backyards supply almost everythings for their life.

They feel that this lifestyle is healthy. The persepective of good health reflect in 'Eat-well and Live-well' (Kin Dee, Yue Dee) has been observed. They believed that what they eat will certainly affect their health. And the living condition (includes family life, work environment and psychological status) is also crutial for health.

In their sense, eat-well doesn't mean eating protein, carbohydrate, vitamin, mineral, lipid or the 'more fibre, less meat' paradigm. 

Their food are Rice+Vegetable+Fish (sometimes chicken, hardly pork or beef) (Kao, Pak, Pla). Not like city people concern about food (not enough veggie, too much meat), rural people have lots of veggie. What they concern about food is 'how much chemical substance contaminated in that food'.

Because of their experince as peasents, they know exactly how much chemical used in the rice field. Chemical fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide are main chemicals used in the rice field. They know exactly how much chemical used in veggie field. They themselves exposed to these chemicals.

This chemical remains in the ground, contaminate the underground water (main source of water used in the area). They know for sure that this chemical remains in their bodies. They consider the chemical is 'toxic'.

Eat-well is eating clean food, food without toxic. They can't trust market food, (to much chemical contamination; they used to sell those veggie to the market). They found that they can trust only themselves. So, 'eat-well' means eat veggie and friut that they grew themselves, use no chemical (use organic fertilizer insted). This leads to the the first motto 'grow everything you eat, eat everything you seeded'.

Live-well is living peacefully with family members, house with many generations living together would considered as a successful family. Successful family would introduce a sustained lifestyle to the young generation, keeping them from moving to work as 'unskilled labour' in Bangkok or in big cities. They reorient young people to know that they can live with less money and more happiness in this lifestyle. This remind me to a poster that I saw in Adelaide

eat money

Only when the last tree has died

and the last river been poisoned

and the last fish been caught

will we realise we cannot eat money.

Cree Indian saying

INPAENG's second motto  'move the forest into your backyard'.

Forest brings the sustainable lifestyle. Forest supply most of life necessities such as food, medication, (raw material for) shelter, fuel. Forest collects water for the area. It also consider as a saving account for INPAENG people. Forest brings family members together.

Then, you will see that in their opinion, Health = Eat-well, Live-well. Health = clean food, aggrigated family members, forest, river, family economics while health care, health promotion program seem to be far from their concern.

[help me (hurry)]

i am a chinese ,my friend told me Inpaeng Comunity ,so today i will leave for there by train and bus ,but now i only know Sakon Nakon and Inpang ,so if you see this message ,

please tell me how to get there ? can you give me a telephone number of inpang centre .

thank you very much .

jing ( [email protected])