UPDATE (04/08/2024):

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters we have exceeded our original goal of £300. We have decided to extend our aid to the Mlabri, who are continually undergoing food scarcity and high levels of poverty. We will multiply aid from our original goal but also preserve funds for next March when we return for additional work. We also have plans for more long-term sustainable aid, which we will share after the current trip.

Over the past week the Northern Thai province of Nan has experience unprecedented flooding due to Tropical Storm Wipha. The flooding has disrupted electricity, caused wide-spread structural damage and caused food supply shortages.

We are raising funds primarily for the Mlabri tribe in Ban Huai Yuak village, an isolated community in the mountains experiencing high levels of poverty. Our focus is in delivering long lasting food supplies to the 32 households. We aim to provide each household with a 5kg bag of rice (approx. 120 baht per bag) and 5 cans of fish (approx. 60 baht per can) as well as additional supplies (fruit, headlamps, meat etc.) with any remaining funds.

As linguists establishing a long lasting relationship with Mlabri communities, we believe in giving back to the people who have demonstrated nothing but kindness despite facing continual adversity navigating life in a minoritised ethinic community. We stumbled into this unfortunate natural disaster while conducting research, and we have now made it a primary goal to have the Mlabri’s needs met.

We sincerely thank you for any support you can give.

Tim Jantarungsee (University College London)

Christopher Davis (University of the Ryukyus)

P.S. The village has no phone signal as of now so we can only respond to enquiries periodically.