The Fishermen’s Life Enhancement Center (FLEC) in Songkhla recently organized a field trip for fishery workers’ children as part of the center’s efforts to strengthen the workers and their families’ knowledge for a better quality of life and self-dependence in its fight against human trafficking. The out-of-class activities have been hosted for four years in a row.

Ms.Nattaya Petcharat, Manager of Stella Maris Seafarers Center Songkhla as a director of FLEC, said that recently took 16 children of migrant fishery workers, who are the students of FLEC’s “Class for Migrant Workers’ Children and Families”, to Songkhla Institute for Skill Development. At the institute, they received cooking lessons on Thai food and desserts and safe food-preparation tips, following the center’s gardening class that has produced fresh vegetables for their families since the project started in 2017.  

The cooking lessons focused on 4 menus: curry steamed seafood, curry puff, steamed egg cake and steamed sponge cake. Under experts’ guidance, the kids were given advice from the beginning to the end. The class allowed them to do everything, from measuring, meat chopping, flour threshing and seasoning to cleaning and putting equipment back to its place. They tasted the stuff cooked by themselves and their friends and brought some home.  

Rorsia Win, 13, attended the activity for the first time and enjoyed the cooking class. Her favourite part was when she threshed flour for curry-puff making. And it inspired her to become a pastry chef.    

Keewa Noo, 14, was pleased with the opportunity as she has been fond of cooking. Her previous trip was to a zoo in Songkhla. The cooking class gave her an opportunity to try new things and she enjoyed making the steamed sponge cake the most. She was proud to have a bite of her own cake and intended to bring it home. She intended to practice more at home.  

“The trips help open up the world for the youth, with new learning experiences that will motivate them in self-improvement. This year, FLEC has organized 4 trips and all kids enjoyed them all, particularly this cooking class. It matched what they want and it raised their awareness in fresh, clean and safe food, which is the foundation of food security. Moreover, they can make a career from what they learnt,” Ms. Nattaya said.  

The cooking class followed the center’s gardening activity, which provided the kids safe food and helped their families save expenses. The activity is to strengthen migrant workers’ self-dependence and food security, in line with FLEC’s goal in promoting necessary skills for the vulnerable groups’ sustainable living.  

FLEC was established in 2016 as the collaboration effort of 7 public, private and civil society parties which are; 1) the Fish Marketing Organization under Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, 2) the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare, 3) the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand, 4) Stella Maris Seafarers Center Songkhla (Baan Suksan), 5) Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CPF), 6) GEPP Sa-Ard Co., Ltd (a Thai start-up with expertise in waste management), and 7) PTT Global Chemical PLC. 

All parties have combined their expertise to lift the quality of living of migrant fishery workers and their families. With the application of self-sufficiency philosophy, more than 200 households at Songkhla pier are assisted so that they can depend on their own feet in health, education, finance and social dimensions. The households have received knowledge transfers as well as beneficial and needed skill

development opportunities and they are being promoted to take an active role in tackling community and marine debris in a sustainable manner. At the end, the collaboration will create a model to end human trafficking and child/illegal labour as well safeguard the marine environment.