An interview with Sayar Kyaung (Myingyan), a member of the “15 Baht A Meal” group that sells a meal for 15 baht to support the welfare of the revolutionary forces in Mae Sot
In Mae Sot, Thailand, there is a group that sells a meal for 15 baht (about 1,300 Myanmar kyat) to support the welfare of revolutionary forces who have fled oppression by the Myanmar military junta.
In this interview with Than Lwin Times, Sayar Kyaung (Myingyan), a member of the “15 Baht A Meal” group, talks about how their initiative began, who they mainly sell to now, and the difficulties they face.
Q: First, please tell us how you started the “15 Baht A Meal” group.
A: Before we started this group, we became aware of some other groups that were supporting their fellow revolutionary comrades. So, we first thought of working for the welfare of our fellow revolutionary comrades and participants in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Then we formed this group with an initial capital of 100,000 baht from the previous generation of diaspora comrades.
Q: What circumstances led you to start the “15 Baht A Meal” group to support the revolutionary forces?
A: When the Thingyan (New Year in Myanmar) was over and we were on the ground collecting data, we noticed that the support from some groups had slowed down. As a result, we started to think about the welfare of our fellow comrades and formed the “15 Baht A Meal” group.
At first, we tried to sell a meal for 10 baht. But we realized that this wouldn’t be sustainable if it stopped after a month or two. So we decided to sell a meal for 15 baht. Our priority is to sell to our fellow comrades, comrades from the political circle and CDM participants.
This is an initiative to show that we stand by them and will not abandon them. We sell them meals twice a week from our hard-earned money. When we sell, we don’t charge them delivery fees. Even if they order just one pack of food, we deliver to their homes. If our fellow members are really in need, they can contact us through our Page messenger. Occasionally, we also donate to displaced people and fellow comrades who are in need for their welfare.
Q: How does the “15 Baht A Meal” operate financially?
A: Financially, we face daily losses when we sell 300-500 meals per day. With the current commodity prices in Mae Sot, we deal with losses every week. The reason we have come this far is because some comrades buy ten packs but only eat one and donate the amount of money back to us for the other nine. We are not a group that depends on outside funds. We have also received 1,000 or 500 baht from compassionate donors, for which we have an auditor, an accountant and a financial officer. We continue to work with the surplus donations and our remaining funds.
Q: Please explain the “15 Baht A Meal” group’s sales model?
A: We want to sell every day of the month. But since we are a small outfit and our volunteer support network is still small, we can only sell twice a week – Mondays and Wednesdays. In order to sell on those days, we have to start preparing on Sunday so that we are ready to sell the next day. Since we sell twice a week, our volunteers have to work for four days. Financially, we could sell every day, but due to the limited number of volunteers, we have difficulty selling every day.
Q: Who do you mainly sell to?
A: We mainly sell to CDM participants, politically active people and our revolutionary comrades who fled the military coup and are not safe in the neighboring country. The 15 Baht A Meal is an initiative to support them.
Q: We also heard that the 15 Baht A Meal group also helps displaced people. How do you help them? And what do you plan to continue doing?
A: On the days we cook, which are Mondays and Wednesdays, our volunteers additionally cook for those who are fleeing violence in the evenings out of love for them. This means that when we sell in the mornings on Mondays and Wednesdays, groups who want to donate to the displaced in the evenings can contact us and our volunteers will cook extra until 4pm and we will deliver to them.
We also plan to donate clothes. Groups can contact us to donate clothes for IDPs and we will facilitate the delivery. The goal of our group is to support our fellow refugees to Mae Sot independently and with love.
Q: What else would you like to add?
A: As organizations and groups that have responsibility have seemingly neglected their duties, we have started this out of responsibility and are doing what we can. The 15 Baht A Meal is also working to do even greater things. As someone who has fled and is now in Mae Sot, in my humble voice, on behalf of the group, I would like to ask those in charge to provide more extensive and organized support than our small organization can.
Sent by Than Lwin Times.