Development Department

Watcharaporn Jaikla (Tu)

Tu is the Vice President and Head of Development for the IDF. Tu has worked for the IDF for over half of her life, having started as a secretary and data entry clerk in 1979. She was at first surprised to find out that she had come to work for a Christian organization (and not too pleased, since she had had some negative experiences with Christians.) But she soon changed her opinion and after a few months of Bible study became a Christian herself. She has since dedicated her life to serving God through the IDF and ISD ("under contract with God" as she terms it.) She has headed up the Development Department since 1990. Tu is married and has a teenage daughter.

More can be read about Tu elsewhere in this Website, in an article written in 1996 for the Covenant Companion magazine. Some of her comments about her work also appear in a Tear Times magazine article.

Agro-Forestry

Boonnak
	Boonnak is one of the longest-serving staff members, having been with the IDF since 1980. When the IDF was still raising pigs, he was in charge of that department. Now he works in development, using that experience with the agriculture projects, which include pigs as well as fish and other products. He also oversees the water resources projects and some of the non-sewing vocational projects.

Home Industry

The IDF currently has sewing cooperative projects in twelve villages, managed by Nuu (click here for information on Nuu.) Providing women with a source of income in their home villages permits them to stay at home rather than going to Bangkok or elsewhere to find employment; the IDF has helped to purchase sewing machines, set up training, and has negotiated with clothing manufacturers to get contracts.

Other Home Industry projects include basket weaving and silk production. The IDF helps villages organize the cooperatives, provides technical, financial, and administrative training, assists with the purchase of materials and supplies, and helps with marketing the products.