The rubber plantation was purchased in the middle of 2008. It is located approximately 20 minutes drive from the orphanages at Baan Tharn Namchai and serves many purposes not the least being a place where the children and staff escape to on weekends to swim in the days and play in the jungle.
Seeing Khun Rotjana and the staff and children at the rubber plantation it is hard to measure the value of this investment that we made. It really is a place of solitude for many and the benefits are beyond what we could have anticipated.
Of course the investment of almost $350,000 AUD was not made for a place for the kids to swim and play. The purchase of the land and the plantation was made to work towards self sustainability for the orphanages. We are committed at Hands to creating opportunities for the Thai’s to become self sufficient and this is directly in line with their desire.
The rubber from the plantation is harvested and sold returning a positive return on operating costs. The rubber plantation also employs a number of local community members who otherwise would not have an income.
There continues to be much development in this area of the rubber plantation and we are close to commencing the planting of palm trees for the production of palm oil. This will complement the many fruit and vegetable plantations and also the fish farm which we commenced in July of 2009.