Queen Sirikit visited the Kachin village of Ban Mai Samakee in northern Thailand on March 1, 1992.
Kachin people living in northern Thailand will mark the Thai queen’s birthday on August 12 by planting trees for the first time.
Kachin organizers are planning to plant more than 500 trees on Tham Ngob hill, where GOC Lahtaw Zau Seng, the first leader of the Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), opened his office in northern Thailand’s Fang Township.
“We are going to plant trees on the GOC hill around the GOC stone-pillar. The KIO/KIA was based on Than Ngob hill in the past,” Hkawng Hawng, a former KIA soldier who is now living in Ban Mai Samakee village, told KNG.
According to Hkawng Hawng, Kachin villagers from Ban Mai Samakee, Chinese villagers, staff from the Thai Royal Project in Ban Mai Samakee, staff from the Thai Forestry Ministry, and Thai soldiers will plant trees to mark the Thai queen’s birthday.
Kachin villagers will protect the Tham Ngob hill from wildfire in the dry season.
The birthday of Thailand’s Queen Sirikit has been celebrated as the country’s Mother’s Day since 1976.
Queen Sirikit visited Ban Mai Samakee on March 1, 1992. At that time, she helped to solve a water-shortage problem in the predominantly Kachin village by constructing a system of pipes connected to a water source.
