จากครูโรงเรียนบ้านนอกสู่ครูนักปกป้องสิทธิ | Dear to dream | Niwat Roykaew | TEDxChiang Rai

Quick Overview

Niwat Roykaew, known as Kru Tee, left his stable position as a school director at age 66 to pursue his larger dream of protecting the rights and benefits of his community, society, and the environment, successfully stopping the Mekong River rock blasting project after a 20-year fight.

Key Points: Niwat Roykaew, aged 66, views dreams as a gift from nature providing motivation and energy, contrasting the fear that stops young people and exhaustion that stops older people from pursuing them. As a young teacher in a rural school, he solved a major local problem by organizing villagers to quit drug addiction, resulting in 60 people quitting opium within two months without government funding, allowing children to return to school. He struggled with the constraints of being a government teacher, realizing he could not address issues like inequality or environmental concerns adequately within the bureaucratic framework, leading to his decision to resign. Leaving his stable career as a school director was the hardest decision of his life, requiring a year of intense thought and grappling with concerns over his family's livelihood and disappointing his parents. After resigning, he co-founded the Rak Chiang Khong group, focusing on environmental and local development issues, eventually establishing the Mekong River School to educate local children about their homeland. He and the villagers fought for 20 years to stop the plan to blast rocks and rapids on the Mekong River to allow large Chinese cargo ships through, arguing that these rocks were essential habitats and food sources for fish. For his environmental advocacy, including successfully halting the Mekong blasting project, he received the Goi Peace Award in 2022 (2565 BE).

Context: The video features Niwat Roykaew, affectionately called Kru Tee, a 66-year-old former teacher from a rural school in Chiang Khong, sharing his journey from being a village teacher to becoming an advocate for community and environmental rights. His early experiences as a 'mountain teacher' involved handling diverse roles beyond teaching, such as being a medic and social worker, which exposed him to deep-rooted community problems like drug addiction.