The School Teacher's Estate:
Bua Yai Co-op, Kon Kaen

It's a hot day in early August. We zoom across a large expanse of endless rice fields; when suddenly, an enormous housing estate looms up.

It looks like a large country estate of some old feudal lords. But at a closer inspection, we find that it is one of CODI collective housing project.

It's called the Bua Yai Cooperative and it rests on a 3,608 square meters piece of land - about half the size of the World Cup soccer field.

The cooperative is about 2 hours drive from the bustling city of Kon Kaen. The land is cheaper here than in the city.

Our car makes several bronchial cough before it comes to a complete stop next to the side of a peach-color row house. A middle-aged school teacher comes out to greet us; she walks with some difficulty, even on good pavements. Years ago, she got into a motorcycle accident where one of her leg was crushed; several steel bars were inserted into her left leg to keep the bones in place.

"Good afternoon," she greets several of us who has been here before, "welcome back to Bua Yai Cooperative!"

As we exchange greetings, she walks ahead to show us the progress on the housing construction. She shows us her house; it's beautifully done, completed with teak windows and doors and silk curtains. She seems very proud of it.

She says that, at first, people form a saving group so that they could have enough to buy the land together; then they registered the saving group as a cooperative. The land costs 200 baht per square meter (320,000 per Rai).

"What about the cost of the row houses?" I ask.
"The house is about 250,000 baht per unit, we take out 17,200 baht loan (from CODI) per family to help pay for it," says the school teacher.

Each row house is 4 meters wide and 8 meter deep. Each plot is 4 x 10 meters. It has a 2-meter wide front and rear setback. The rear setback is also being used as laundry area where clothes are being washed and hang-dried. It has one bedroom upstairs with a flexible area that could be converted into another, less private, bedroom.

"The whole area of this 2-story house is 64 square meters," she says; looking out of her bedroom window into the lush rice fields."

She tells me that the reason why the cooperative decided to build a 2 story building - in the middle of rice fields - is because they wanted to minimize the cost of land. By building at a higher density, they could save on the cost of land. In addition, they have found out that the cost of building a 2 story house is almost the same as that of a 1-story house.

"How many families are planning to come live here," I ask.

"There are 42 units total; each unit would probably have 2-3 people living in it," she says.
"Everyone is part of the saving group?"
"Yes."

"Must be hard, at first to get together and form a saving group," I observe.
"Yeah, but we find that it's the only way to get your own land, you know" she sighs. "These days, who will give you the money? Government? International housing foundations? They're all broke!" she laughs.

"So you guys managed to pool together your own resources and buy the land yourselves," I comment.

"Exactly, each month we pay 100 baht to our co-op, 1,186 baht for the cost of housing, 195 baht for cost of land, and 30 baht for our own general welfare fund," she says.

"You make payment to the saving group?"

"Yes, then the co-op makes the payment to CODI for the housing loan portion" she says.

"It's cheaper to go out and rent a place?"
"No, it's actually cheaper to form a saving group and buy your own land; it's cheaper even if you have to take the housing loan from CODI and argue all the time with the folks (saving group)," she laughs.
"What's the interest rate for the loan?"
"The interest rate is 4%."

The school teacher tells me that most of the people here work in the informal sector - they're independent sellers in one season and farmers in another. Almost everyone works on the farm as their side job. Although they now have a secure housing, they still find it hard to get permanent paying jobs, so most of them work as informal vendors.

"We are united as a group when it comes to housing issues, but we also need to start thinking about the issue of finding work," she nods.
"Are you guys building your own houses or do you use outside contractors?'
"Mostly outside contractors," she says.

I tell her that in some other communities, such as the one in Chantaburi, the folks make their own building materials and build their own houses. Then they became independent contractors after building more than 200 units of housing on their own. Some saving groups start selling building materials and became quite wealthy in the process.

"Yes, I heard about that," she says. "But we don’t have any experience handyman or technicians in our cooperative to start with; it's better to hire outside contractors."

The school teacher walks me to a community pavilion in the middle of the cooperative. There are about 20 people sitting in there - arguing, waving hands, shouting, and laughing. There are old men, women, kids with candies, and young men and women; everybody seems to be talking at the same time. They are the members of the cooperative, and they are holding the usual monthly meeting which covers everything from construction and payment plans. We enter the meeting room and find that there are 3 families who are late in their monthly payments and the group is trying to find a remedy to the situation. Fortunately the 100 baht monthly payment to the cooperative provides the cushion which covers that.

Outside of the meeting room, construction workers are taking a break at the end of the day. A young engineer from CODI who is working on this housing project shows up. He's in the field most all the time, supervising the construction. In his pickup truck lies a remote-control airplane.

"My hobby," he says with a smile. The pace of life in the rice farm can be painstakingly slow for a young engineer from the roaring city; one must be well prepared for the unusually large amount of time one has on one's hand. Aside from the remote-controlled airplane, he has several books and magazines in his pickup truck.

"We now finally have the municipal water supply running," says the young engineer. "Everything is moving along very well."

The school teacher smiles and greets another middle-aged lady who approaches her from the side of the alleyway. She walks in a strange manner too.

"This is Noi from unit 35," says the school teacher. "She works all the way in the city, selling baskets and straw mats."

"What's wrong with your legs," I ask.
"Another motorcycle accident," the school teacher shakes her head. "You're looking at artificial legs there, both of them."