Moken Medical Emergency Last month, while foraging in the forest, Pek was hit by a falling tree branch and his spine was crushed. He was rushed to the mainland and Pek’s family came to take care of him, but their meager savings were quickly spent. They sold all of their valuables, and started borrowing money in order to afford life away from the village. Read more of Pek’s story below. This is part of our Medical Emergency Program. Your contribution will be very valuable at [...]

Your Content Goes Here Moken-led beach restoration In 2020, a group of Moken elders proposed an innovative project to connect conservation, cultural empowerment, and meaningful work for adults who are unemployed due to Covid. Their idea – to restore beaches of Koh Surin while teaching their children ancestral knowledge that might otherwise fade. This project promotes environmental justice by removing harmful marine debris from the Moken’s ancestral beaches; racial justice by empowering an indigenous group who often face discrimination [...]

Your Content Goes Here The following reflections were inspired by the questions asked through an interview by Biliana Boneva, a journalist from Bulgarian National Television: Hooks Reflections: Introducing myself: My name is Hook I am Moken. My parents saw the changes coming for the Moken and they felt the need to teach us both cultures. So, I grew up attending Thai school on the mainland while also learning the way of life of the Moken, living on the [...]

Your Content Goes Here The Rains Have Come, The Park is Closed The National Park on Surin closed 5 days before the official end of the season due to bad weather. The Park is open for tourism from November to May, during the dry season. The tourism season is when Moken make most of their income, working 7 months of the year for the park, various speedboat companies, and jobs on the mainland. The monsoon is when the [...]

Your Content Goes Here All Moken have moved from their temporary shelters into new homes. In total there are 61 new identical houses, built of wooden beams and thatch walls. In addition to housing, the government has also provided bedding and basic kitchen items. As the hard-working soldiers have moved on, the villagers are finishing the last construction details by themselves such as the fence around the front porch and added a bamboo frame to stabilize the palm-leaf [...]

Your Content Goes Here Although the houses are almost ready, they are still waiting for the third and final delivery of nipa palm leafs. The leafs are used to cover the roof and the sides of the houses. The authorities have been searching three different provinces for the leafs. There are many different types of nipa palm, but the ones they are searching for are of very good quality and harder to find in Thailand. When the second [...]

Your Content Goes Here An article published by the Guardian recounts the burning of the Moken village on Koh Surin and its aftermath. As amenities are still lacking and must be shared among the 273 people whose homes were destroyed, “daily life is challenging.” After the incident, the park authorities and the Thai navy quickly stepped in to provide financial, material, and organizational assistance to the Moken. However, the article criticizes their rushed initiative to restore the village [...]