Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Chasing a better life
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 11/08/2025
» Over two decades ago, Mai and his family took a train from Surin to Bangkok. Like other young people, they searched for better opportunities in the big city. Initially, they helped with chores in an exchange for shelter at a shrine. Soon, he found other jobs and a place to sleep. Since then, he has delivered charcoal to shops and collected trash. He toils long, back-breaking hours for 150 baht per day.
Putting numbers to diversity
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 30/06/2025
» Around 1.6 million individuals identify as gender-diverse, according to Thailand's first LGBTI census by Mahidol University and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth).
Cut from the same cloth
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 07/04/2025
» A second-hand sewing machine hums from a two-storey house in a remote village in Ra-ngae district of Narathiwat. Rahimah Saud has been at the helm since her early 20s. Going through seasons of life, the 49-year-old single mother is now sharing the spinning wheel with her daughters.
Struggling to survive
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 23/05/2023
» You are what you eat, but some do not have the privilege to choose. Nai, who is skinny and short for his age, lacks more than just a proper diet. He has been abandoned by his mother, and his father is serving a jail term. As a result, his uncle has kindly taken him into his own family. But like others, he is living from hand-to-mouth, so providing his nephew with a balanced diet from the five food groups is difficult. Due to a lack of variety in their diet, slum children, though not starving, are suffering from malnutrition.
Temperatures soar, headaches rise
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 01/05/2023
» Like other early birds, Dao Dul, 35, goes on duty at first light. For her, time is literally money. Her office is not a well-built weather-proof skyscraper. It is a makeshift cart that provides affordable dishes to hundreds of community residents from dawn to dusk.
Building a sustainable future
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 29/10/2021
» Clad in face masks, urban dwellers brave not only the coronavirus but also smog. Bangkok has been suffocating in polluted air from various sources that release greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
Joy amid hardship
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 10/05/2021
» Rusty tin shacks sprawl under high-rises and billboards. Rubbish scatters and floats down the foul-smelling river. Last year, fire broke out near a local mosque. With the third wave of the coronavirus outbreak, the Klong Toey neighbourhood is hanging by a thread.
Hanging by a thread
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 13/04/2021
» For Korn, the coronavirus outbreak has heightened loneliness. He feels trapped in his cave-like apartment in Samut Prakan where he has been living and working, with his depression still lingering after a painful break-up three years ago. Songkran is the only time of year he visits his family in the Thon Buri district of Bangkok. They are not close but at least the thought gives him a sense of belonging. Moreover, Songkran allowed him to join boisterous pool parties and water fights and "free his spirit".
Volunteers on the frontline
News, Thana Boonlert, Published on 20/04/2020
» Knocking on the door is a life-and-death mission for now. While medical staff are combating the coronavirus outbreak on the frontline, under-resourced village health volunteers are conducting house-to-house visits to monitor the health of community residents at their own risk.
Jump-start household solar with loans, say experts
News, Thana Boonlert, Published on 17/11/2019
» The government must provide more incentives and loans to encourage households to adopt solar energy generation, according to experts.