The dedication
to public service exemplified by
King
Bhumibol Adulyadej's life is also found in other members
of the Royal Family, who consist of Her Majesty Queen
Sirikit,
the Royal Children,
Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother, and the King's
sister Princess Galyani Vadhana. Like His Majesty, all
these work untiringly for the benefit of the country,
sometimes participating in projects initiated by the King
and sometimes in others of their own; in doing so all
have contributed significantly to the creation of Thailand's
modern monarchy.
Queen
Sirikit spends as much time travelling as her
husband, equally indifferent to discomforts and long hours,
and her interest in the welfare of rural people closely
parallels his. An area in which she has taken a particularly
deep interest in that of finding sources of supplementary
income in the off-season or when crops are destroyed by
droughts or floods. It was to combat such problems that
the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations
and Techniques (known as SUPPORT) was established in 1976
under Her Majesty's royal patronage, partly through funds
supplied by Her Majesty and partly with public donations.
SUPPORT's primary objective is
to set up women's groups and provide rural Thai women
with equipment, materials, and training in cottage industries.
The latter include some 18 traditional crafts which Her
Majesty felt were worthy of being promoted on both local
and world markets, among them embroidery and weaving in
the north, a kind of ikat silk
called matmi in the northeast,
doll and rattanware making in the central region, and
yan lipao, basketry woven of a strong indigenous
vine, in the south. These are
marketed through a chain of Chitralada
Shops in Thailand and through department stores abroad.
Most of the crafts are indigenous to the areas where the
projects have been set up and use readily available raw
materials, thus making it easier for families to acquire
a second source of income for basic necessities when emergencies
arise.
Besides
individual projects in various parts of the country, SUPPORT
has established two multi-craft training centers. One
is in the compound of Chitralada
Villa, where around 200 students attend classes taught
by masters of particular crafts; the other, founded in
1980, is the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center, located on
the Choa Phraya River near the
old capital of Ayutthaya,
which has an enrollment of around 300. At both students
are given a daily allowance, travelling expenses, and
extra pay for the crafts they produce; after training
they return to their villages to pass on the skills to
others.
The Queen has personally undertaken
the promotion of these crafts through trips abroad to
meet potential buyers and also by using them prominently
in her own wardrobe; mudmee, for example, which was once
hardly known outside the region where it was made, is
now regarded as one of the most fashionable dress materails
in Thailand and it was also featured in a collection by
the French designer Pierre Balmain. The Queen's interest
in handicraft development led to the celebration of the
Thailand Arts and Crafts Year, held from August 12, 1988
to December 31, 1989, which featured a wide variety of
exhibitions, demonstrations, and other events under the
auspices of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
For her work among rural women, Queen
Sirikit was awarded the prestigious Ceres Medal by the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
bringing international recognition to an achievement already
well-known to countless Thais who have benefitted from
it. In 1988, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in
Great Britain's 470-year-old Royal College of Physicians,
the highest honor the college confers, for her "deep
concern for the health and welfare of thepeople of Thailand."
The
Queen's efforts on behalf of the less fortunate members
of society have also extended to the refugees from Indochina
who have come to Thailand in such large numbers since
the late 1970's. Similar handicraft training projects
have been set up in the Kao Larn Red Cross Camp for women
with young children, enablingthem to produce goods and
earn money while awaiting resettlement. Members of the
northern hill tribes have benefitted as well and many
are attending SUPPORT centers, where they are given new
ideas to use in such traditional skills as embroidery
and jewelry-making.
Sharing the King's concern over the
destruction of the natural environment, Queen Sirikit
is an active member of the World Wildlife Fund (Thailand)
and has worked for years on behalf of conservation of
forest areas as a part of watershed development and as
a means of helping perserve wild animals, especially those
in danger of extinction. To this end, she has actively
lent her support to an afforestation project on the northeast,
Thailand's most arid region, and has worked closely with
concerned people to protect wildlife habitats.
Despite her deep involvement in these
projects, as well as other responsibilities which include
numerous royal ceremonies and serving as Colonel-in-Chief
of the 21st Royal Guards Infantry Regiment, Her Majesty
has also found the time to be an attentive mother, passing
on to her children the same dedication to public service
that has characterized the reign.
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