Help Keep Families Together

Three years ago at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, Sutasnee’s (Su) husband caught Covid-19 and after just 5 days of being infected, suddenly passed away. Su shared with us, “After my husband’s passing, I had a lot of anxiety since I then had to figure out how to raise my 2-year-old son, August, on my own. It was especially stressful since my husband was the sole provider for our family while I stayed home to raise August.” When we first met Su, she was selling sushi in front of the local school. In order to start her sushi business, she needed money so she went to a loan shark which she is now still trying to pay back. Thankfully, we see that Su is a very determined woman. From day one when she first joined our program, she has been diligent not only in attending our trainings, but we see her trying hard to implement the things that she has learned into her daily life. During one of our home visits Su even told us, “I want August to receive a good education. When August arrives back home from school, I help him with his homework every day to make sure that he completes it before I allow him to go outside and play with his friends.” In February, we began working with each family in our program to decide how best to invest in their current business or help them find a new career. Su was passionate about selling sushi so we bought her a large industrial size umbrella so that she would be protected from the sun while selling her sushi in the middle of the hot Bangkok days. We also were able to provide her with many of the ingredients that she needed to make her different types of sushi along with take-away boxes. Su is very happy to receive support from the project. Earlier this month, Su told us that she is now earning a profit of about $12 per day, which is more than what she was making before she joined our program. Thankfully, that has been sufficient to cover food costs and to send August to school. She is still working on paying off her debt, but we are encouraged to see how she is trying to budget each month as she works toward becoming debt-free. “I am grateful that I have been able to learn new things through the KFT program. My son has especially enjoyed the activities that we’ve done for the fun days. Thank you KFT for these special days that I get to spend time together with my son. I’m so thankful that my family was chosen to join the KFT program.”

We envision a Thailand where all children grow up in safe and nurturing families. 

Yes, it has often been called an audacious vision for Step Ahead, but we continue to know we do not pursue this alone. Rather, we engage and train many others across Thailand, from Thai government departments to other non-profits, and including religious groups of all sorts. We make many others competent to run and train others to run KFT programs. 

Here's how KFT Keeping Families Together Program WORKS.

Step Ahead’s flagship program, Keeping Families Together (KFT) is a comprehensive, evidence-based 18-month program designed to strengthen families to prevent separation. KFT gives families the tools they need to succeed in sustaining a safe and nurturing home for their children. Through holistic development training, income generation assistance, educational opportunities, psychosocial support and health access families are fortified.

• Families improve the safety and wellbeing of children
• Families strengthen their financial literacy skills
• Families increase their psychosocial wellbeing
• Families practice strong health and hygiene practices
• Families ensure their children stay in school