by Christina Jordan

Evolutionize It

Phase 1 of the pigletsforprogress initiative will not be followed on by a phase 2. This is not because the first phase has “failed,” but because it’s clear that the planned second phase probably would.  This has not been an easy conclusion to arrive at. In fact, it’s a complex story that’s been rich with thought provoking lessons about understanding when and why to stop helping.

The Phase 1 Trial

Around this time last year, funds which had been raised through Startsomegood.com had just been deployed to purchase trial piglets, destined for 50 of the 110 displaced Burmese families who live at the Mae Sot garbage dump, near the Thai border with Myanmar. About 60 families at the landfill were already raising piglets. The addition of 50 more meant every family at the dump had at least one. The trial project’s objective was to see what happened, and decide whether to proceed to a second phase.

Phase 2 would have provided a second piglet to every family. The community’s thinking was that the annual income from raising and selling 2 pigs might be enough to do without the childrens’ labor, so they could have a better chance at staying in school.

One year later, there is evidence that the trial phase has made a welcome difference in the lives of several families. There is also evidence that the landfill environment was able to sustain the introduction of 50 piglets without causing problems that were viewed as unacceptable by the community.  In principle, at the individual family level, almost all of the families living at the dump would be happy to proceed toward Phase 2.

There is also ample evidence to suggest, however, that the dump ecosystem will not be able to absorb another 110 pigs. (Actually, there are now 130 families who would expect to receive one.)

The evidence against continuing to Phase 2

During the co-creative learning discussions about piglet rearing that pigletsforprogress volunteers facilitated at the dump in May 2014, three main areas of unintended consequence surfaced repeatedly:

1. 1.Food supply: The supply of pig-appropriate food arriving to the landfill on garbage trucks is limited. Introducing another 110+ pigs to the dump without also supplying additional food for them would invite food scarcity into the equation of the social & economic challenges already faced by the dump community. Planting food is not an option.
   
   

2. 2.Time/labor: pig-food becomes more scarce when the number and then the size of the pigs increases. The amount of time it takes to find enough pig food then increases for everyone, and will at least double when the number of piglet mouths to feed doubles. Keeping the pigs clean and cool in the often extreme Thai heat also takes time. Diverting time away from the adults’ main activity of sifting the garbage for recyclables thus potentially decreases that family income. So whether raising 2 pigs for sale can actually replace the need for children to contribute to family incomes is directly called into question.
   
   

3. 3.Human health: The landfill is full of unbearable smells, but the amonia-like smell of pigs next to human dwellings has reportedly caused headaches and lack of appetite in a few instances - especially among some of the elderly residents, whose comfort is generally an important priority in the community.
   

Possible solutions considered

It is certainly possible to imagine a revised phase 2, with some accompanying investments that might be designed to address the identified challenges. Both the community and volunteers who’ve participated in the pigletsforprogress initiative have made some great suggestions that were worth exploring:

1. -organized food-waste collection from local Mae Sot restaurants, schools and other institutions could make it easier and quicker for those at the dump to find the quantities of food-waste needed to feed to their pigs.
   
   

2. -Working in groups of 3-4 families with rotating responsibilities, who are raising their pigs in one larger pen, might help with time management.
   
   

3. -in Thailand, homemade spray concoctions including “effective micro-organisms” are often used by pig farmers to control the smell.
   

To implement these untried solutions would require external investments in equipment and human resources, which could end up costing as much or more than the actual piglets themselves.  What’s more, specific risk factors which are unique to the Mae Sot landfill community, make the idea of investing that kind of money very difficult, if not impossible, to consider.

1. -In as much as the people who live at the dump are at constant risk of health problems, fire, regular flooding, or being forced to leave, the piglets (and accompanying equipment or systems) are also subject to those risks.
   
   

2. -The factory/landowner at the dump can and does regularly change the rules around allowing people to live there. Though he has not protested household pig-rearing to date, he could rightfully at any moment decide that pigs and/or large pigpens are no longer allowed.
   
   

3. -There is a foreign “philanthropist” in Mae Sot who regularly and aggressively antagonizes the efforts of other organizations (besides his own) to assist the dump community. After experiencing repeated harassment from this foreigner - including a physical attack on his car - our local project coordinator is no longer willing to face the personal danger of regularly visiting the landfill. Our project coordinator is a Burmese migrant himself, who has volunteered on and off thru local monks to assist the dump community for the past 5-6 years.
   
   Not only would it be extremely difficult to find another coordinator so qualified to implement an expanded phase 2 of this project, but I would find it difficult to ask anyone to take on a role that requires facing regular harassment. This is especially true considering that pigletsforprogress is an informal initiative, which is simply not equipped with the resources of a formal organization to support and protect it’s workers.
   

The personal “why” factor

I personally started out in this with the sole objective of  wanting to listen to the dump community and help them achieve their own objectives for change.

After 1.5 years now of visiting, listening to and interacting with the (growing) landfill community in Mae Sot, I (and other pigletsforprogress volunteers) have heard a consistent message that they are generally very satisfied with their family choice to live there.  For those living there, the benefits of life at the dump far outweigh the negatives that we outsiders might see. In fact, they like it so much that many are sending word to their family from back home in Myanmar to come join them.

Part of what’s so great about the dump, is that there are outsiders willing to provide them with free resources that make it even more comfortable to live there.

1. -They get free food for their elderly, housing materials and fresh drinking water, plus free rides to the clinic from the above mentioned philanthropist.
   

2. -The nearby Mae Tao clinic is also free - and amazing, unlike any healthcare they would ever find back home in Myanmar. This reduces any worry they might otherwise have for their family’s health - if they get sick, it’s free to get treated, so it doesn’t really matter.
   

3. -They occasionally get extra free food, clothing and protective work-gear from local monks and groups of nice people like the Rotary club.
   

4. -And a year ago, almost half of them even received a free piglet (rumor has it that proceeds from at least some of those piglets may have been used to pay off gambling debts, incurred at the nightly evening games). 
   

I am left with a lingering sense of disturbed wonder at how any country - in this case Myanmar - could be so terrible to live in, that some people would prefer to go live in a foreign rubbish dump instead. But this is their truth - after the hell they have experienced in their own country, the dump is a kind of peaceful haven.

While the community is both gracious and grateful for the charity they receive for sustaining their chosen family lifestyle, a sense of “progress” or meaningful improvement to their current situation is really not something that families there are actively seeking. 

After many months of reflection, I have realized that my own talents and energies as a changemaker and development professional are misplaced at the Mae Sot landfill.  I am good at, and passionate about helping people who want change to imagine together what’s possible and how they might work together to make it happen. It is not my place or passion to convince people that change is something they want if it’s not.

What’s more, playing a role in perpetuating a community of increasingly happy consumers of international charity is just not something that inspires passion in me - certainly not enough to make me want to ask everyone I know to help with a second fundraising campaign!

I do, however, remain concerned about the children at the dump, as they did not “choose” to live there, and their options for building a different kind of future for themselves are extremely limited.

If the children are also of concern to you who have followed this initiative, then I would invite you to please consider supporting the excellent work of Compasio.

Compasio’s well-trained local and international volunteers work with Burmese migrant children in a number of at-risk communities (including the landfill) at the Mae Sot border area. They create fun memories and caring relationships with children in these communities, and design/deliver support tailored to the individual family situation where an individual child appears to be at risk. Their targeted and thoughtful approach is spot on.

Keeping a door open to learning

Last month, the local project coordinator and I visited the community to let them know where we stand. Though all present would have welcomed another piglet, they were very gracious and understanding of the issues we raised.

In this particular story of making good things happen in the world, making sense of why pigletsforprogress won’t continue should not be confused with assessing the actual positive impact the pilot has made in the lives of several families (and their children) at the Mae Sot landfill. There have been some very positive stories of how last year’s piglets have led to family level improvements, and even new educational opportunities for children.

I am grateful that the community remains open - even welcoming - to another visit sometime in the early part of 2015, to complete the impact assessment process we started through household level interviews in January 2014. 

After that piece of this story is completed, I’ll be in touch again to give everyone who has followed or contributed to pigletsforprogress a fuller account of the actual good that did come, from your participation in this modest effort to start some good.

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