My Eco-Hero                    

                When  Eco-generation team comes up with the Hidden Eco-heroes campaign, it reminds me of my grandfather. There are many things which were made or fixed up by him in my house. I have seen them since I was a little girl but I rarely even think about him in eco aspect until now. He was a TV and Radio repairman. He left school since he was 13 years old to become an electrician assistant. After he got married, he started his own electronics shop, at the age of 18.  He is now 66 years old and lives in Kanchanaburi, about two-hour's drive from Bangkok, where he has his small shop.

            Whenever I go to visit him or he comes to see me, he will has some story to tell me and my sister and made us the special toys. We called things that he made "special toys" because you never find these things from anyplace in this world and they were made from special material. Someone told  me that they are toys from trash but for me they are invaluable toys. Here is the story behind these toys: My grandfather has 5 children and my mom is the second. My mom told me that her family was poor so grandpa had to work hard and grandma had to take care of children. After work, grandpa always told them the stories and made toys from nature for them such as clay dolls, wooden dolls' house, wooden stick gun, and so on. He also created toys from the unused household part. My mom favorite toys were "a cotton reel tank" and "a paper box TV". They were fun and saving money. He and grandma earned money to support their kids until all of them graduate university and get a good job. They often come back to their hometown and bring a healthy food and nice things for grandpa and grandma. Of course, the goods come along with nice packages and my grandpa keep gathering them up with love from his kids. From a bottle of soy bean to a box of an expensive ginseng, all packages invade the whole space of his work space. When I was born (I am the first granddaughter) , my grandpa and grandma came to help my mom taking care of me. And this is how my priceless toys has begun.

            The airplane from light bulb box that he replaced it in my house and speed boat from pizza box. He even created a solider troop and a zoo from fruit seeds. Finally, he made the surprised gifts from his beloved accumulations for every kids' birthday and every New Year. He made foldable flashlights from cookie cans and a lot of lamps from juice and milk cartons. He gave one lamp to his father, my great grandpa, he used it every night until he passed away. He also gave one to me and told me the story behind it. He also made it for his relatives and all kids around his house. Kids often come to share the story with him. He always does the story telling and teaches all of them about Waste Segregation and Waste Awareness. He showed them how to recycle and transform the waste to the meaningful things. Every kids call him "Grandpa" as I call.

            He is not a conservative or ecologist and not even an eco-scholar. He is a farmer's son with less educated. He only has knowledge and skills which have been collected from his experiences. He proper manages unwanted and unusable materials with respect. He transforms them into the special gifts for everyone which lead him and his family to a real happiness. He is still continues collecting and doing what he loves. He is one of my biggest inspiration on Eco concept. This is the reason why he is my Eco-Hero.