Prateep Ungsongtham Hata

Prateep Ungsongtham Hata (Template:Lang-th, born 9 August 1952) is a Thai activist noted for her work with slum dwellers in the Khlong Toei District of Bangkok, Thailand. Among her supporters, she is known as Khru Prateep ("Teacher Prateep"), or as the "Angel of Khlong Toei". She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1978, founded and became the Secretary General of the Duang Prateep Foundation. In 2000, she was elected to the Senate, representing Bangkok.

Life

Prateep was born in a slum in Bangkok's Klong Toei district. Prateep Ungsongtham left primary school after four years, when she had sto start working. As a 12-year-old worker she began to save money from her meagre wages to pay for secondary education at night school.

Because most slum children could not go to a regular school, Prateep opened her own One Baht a Day School at her home. She spent much time helping children and their families to cope with the conditions of slum life.

When the slum dwellers were threatened with eviction by the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) Prateep pushed for a compromise solution, and the PAT made a new site available 1 km away.

In 1976 Prateep completed her education with a Diploma of Education from Suan Dusit Teachers College.

In 1978 Prateep received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. She used the prize money to establish the Duang Prateep Foundation (DPF) and became its Secretary General.

In 1980 she became the first Asian citizen to receive the John D. Rockefeller Youth Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mankind. With the prize money she established

In 1987 she married the Japanese citizen Mr. Tatsuya Hata.

In 1992 she became a committee member of the Confederation for Democracy and one of the leaders of the opposition to the then ruling military dictatorship of General Suchinda Kraprayoon.

In Thailand's first direct election of the Senate in the year 2000, she won a seat in this chamber of parliament. She used her position to advocate the rights of the poor and discriminated people on political level.

In 2004 she received the The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child from Queen Silvia of Sweden.

After the coup d'état in Thailand 2006, she bacame a supporter of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship ("Red Shirts"). During the , she belonged to the more moderate wing of the movement and was concerned to see the militant tendencies within the group. Her commitment to the "Red Shirts" and the political polarisation in Thailand led to a decline of donations for her Duang Prateep Foundation from within the country. Some regular donors who are affiliated with the opposite political camp refused to give to an organisation headed by a "Red Shirt" and stopped their payments.

External links

• Duang Prateep Foundation
• World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child 2004
• the Foundation for Slum Child Care