Prateep Ungsongtham Hata Award 2008
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2009-06-12 13:57.
Mr. Sangwan Bunsong was born on July 22, 1948, one of 12 children in
Sangwan and the slum community residents had to struggle hard as they built new homes while at the same time saving money from their labour to repay their debt to CODI.
The Life-story and Accomplishments of Mr. Sangwan Bunsong
Winner of the 2008 Prateep Ungsongtham Hata Award
Mr. Sangwan Bunsong was born on July 22, 1948, one of 12 children ina poor farming family based in Si Sa Ket province in Northeast Thailand. When Sangwan was nine years old his father died while his mother died when he was 12 years old, nine of his siblings also died at a young age.
With the death of his mother, Sangwan had to live on his own. About one year after he finished his Primary 4 education, Sangwan decided to be ordained as a novice monk at a temple in his home province. Sangwan stayed in the monkhood till the age of twenty-two, passing third and second grade dharma studies.
After leaving the monkhood Sangwan worked alone as a farmer for four years. However, wanting more money to build a house, he decided to go to Bangkok to find work.
Sangwan reached Bangkok with only 12 baht in his pocket.. For two days he walked from the Hua Lamphong train station all over Bangkok looking for work, returning to sleep at the train station each night. On the third day he found his first job, on a construction site, where he earned 10 baht a day. When the construction job was finished, Sangwan worked as a porter making 350 baht a month. He did this for three years and then drove a taxi and trucks but these jobs did not pay enough to support a family. To earn more money, Sangwan turned to renting a small 3-wheel vehicle, with which he travelled around Bangkok, finding old things to buy for resale or recycling.
At the same time as starting his new work, Sangwan rented a house to live in the Ban Khrua community. A few years later, Sangwan was forcibly evicted, another eviction followed and then a third eviction came just eight months after renting house in the Pattana Bonkai community, close to Khlong Toei Market.
Having been evicted often, Sangwan decided to join with the Bonkai community committee in finding a way to negotiate with the land owner so that the community did not have to move yet again. 
Three years later a new community committee was elected and Sangwan was chosen as the chairman to serve a two year term with twelve committee members. Led by Sangwan, the committee members initiated the setting up of a community savings group, to address housing problems and to let community residents borrow money when needed.
Sangwan was so trusted by Pattana Bonkai residents that they subsequently voted him community chairman for seven consecutive terms. He was also chairman of the Pattana Bonkai community savings group, which became under his leadership the Pattana Bonkai Community Credit Union Cooperative.
Later Sangwan participated in the setting up of the Chumchon Ruam Pattana Center, a people's organization for uniting the residents of various slum communities in Bangkok that had experienced problems relating to housing security. The goal of this organization was to unite in solving the housing problems of Bangkok slum communities. Later the group formed a network with slum communities in other provinces that had also experienced housing problems. This network led to the formation of the Four Region Slum Network, with. Sangwan selected to be the network activity coordinator.
In 2001 there was a fire in the Pattana Bonkai community in which 159 houses were affected. Six hundred fire-victims joined together under the guidance of the Pattana Bonkai Community Credit Union Cooperative in requesting loans from the Community Organization for Development Institute (CODI) and to rent land from the Crown Property Bureau. With land and finance available, the community could build new houses under the government's Ban Mankhong Project to provide housing security for the poor.
Sangwan and the slum community residents had to struggle hard as they built new homes while at the same time saving money from their labour to repay their debt to CODI. Sangwan led the community in building the new homes. However, he was arrested and charged with building a house without a permit, disobeying an order to dismantle a house, and bringing people to stay in the building. A lower level court sentenced Sangwan to a prison sentence of six months, suspended for two years. Also both the cooperative and Sangwan were fined 1,093,800 baht each. An Appeals Court reduced the fine to 78,825 baht per party and left the prison sentence unchanged. A nation-wide network of slum community residents and NGOs successfully joined in organizing fund-raising activities to get money to pay the fines of Sangwan and the cooperative. This put an end to the case.
In addition to his work addressing housing problems, Sangwan was chosen to be the activity coordinator for the Four Region Slum Network for three years; served on the board of the Department of Public Welfare; participated in the budget administration of the Fire Eviction Project for two years; was on the committee of the People's Alliance for Democracy for two years; was a volunteer and a committee member of the central agency supervising elections, Baan Manangkhasila, for two years; and has been a board member of the Office for Urban Community Development, now known as the Community Organization for Development Institute. Sangwan has also been part of a working group that set up cooperatives for the Urban Community Housing Site Cooperatives of Thailand, Ltd.; a working group for an emergency project, the Hot Lines Housing Project, that advised and assisted communities that had urgent or emergency problems; a working group that coordinated with the Four Region Slum Community Network in drafting development plans for presentation to the Nation Social and Economic Development Board for 2004-2006; a working group coordinating with the Seven Region Community Network in drafting laws for the constitution of 1997; a working group that coordinated activities of the Seven Region Network with the Ban Mankhong Project; and a
working group that coordinated activities of the Seven Region Community Organization Network in setting up the National Urban Poor Community Organization Development Federation.
working group that coordinated activities of the Seven Region Community Organization Network in setting up the National Urban Poor Community Organization Development Federation. On September 9, 2007, Sangwan was driving back to Bangkok, after presenting robes to monks at a temple in Khon Kaen province, when the car he was driving was hit in the rear by a speeding cement truck which caused him to crash into the back end of a trailer truck. Nine people were killed or injured as a result of the collision. Sangwan's left leg was broken in five places and had to be amputated at the knee, he also broke an arm.
Being disabled, Sangwan decided to return with his wife to his birthplace in Si Sa Ket province to work as a farmer. Despite his disabilities, Sangwan has not abandon his social development work. He has already formed a village savings group and with other groups organized a cooperative for rehabilitating nature in four sub-districts of his province. With the support of his daughter and son-in-law, Sangwan has also continue to participate in housing network activities as much as possible.
For more than 25 years, Sangwan has continuously worked to solve the housing problems of his own community and of many other communities also. He has never received a salary from any agency or organization where he has volunteered. The only monetary compensation he has ever been paid has been stipends for meeting expenses of about 50-100 baht a time. Sangwan has always taken pride in the work he has done and what he has learned through his experiences. Sangwan has received the friendship of slum community residents and this has encouraged him in his work He has seen needy friends get a place to live of their own and has seen the differences between the the society of the urban poor and the society of the rural poor.
Mr. Sangwan was presented with the Prateep Ungsongtham Hata Award at the Duang Prateep Foundation on 31 August 2008, as part of the thirtieth anniversary celebrations of the Duang Prateep Foundation.
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