The 1978 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service

RESPONSE of  Prateep Ungsongtham-Hata
Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 1978, Manila, Philippines

Tonight I feel I cannot be myself. First, I want to speak to you in English, a language I am only beginning to learn. So please forgive me if I make mistakes and cannot speak properly. Second, this is the first time I have dressed in this way. This costume, like the Magsaysay Award, was given to me. A benefactor of my school wanted me to be able to accept this Award in Thai national dress. Third, I am only one of a team that has built the Klong Toey school the Award recognizes. The achievement is not mine alone but is a collective effort. So I am representing my fellow workers who are not here. Lastly, this ceremony is very far from Klong Toey, the slum of Bangkok where I grew up and still live and teach.

Yet, I welcome this occasion to say that the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation's recognition of our school calls attention to a problem faced by all developing countries. A Thai newspaper last Sunday carried a cartoon showing that it took a man near the top of a coconut tree on an island of the Philippines with a telescope to see Klong Toey while our own people nearby had overlooked the slums of Bangkok. I wonder how many of you in this audience have visited the slums in your own cities. They are so frequently ignored.

Through our lives we ask when something happens, what does it mean? What am I going to do? I asked when I learned of this Award, what have I done to deserve it? What am I going to do to live up to it? My answer is this. For us slum people the past is hard and the present dismal. We always look to the future for something better. So, to help make a better future for at least some of my neighbors, I will donate all of my cash prize to establish a foundation to support the Klong Toey school. Added to this will be the contributions from others which were encouraged by the announcement of the Magsaysay Award to me. This new foundation will help make my dreams come true. We will enlarge the preschool and provide a nursery for smaller children so that their brothers and sisters of preschool age can attend classes to prepare them for regular elementary school. For the vocational school we have just started for post-compulsory education level young people, we will be able to add essential equipment and facilities.

To the Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation I want to express my deep thanks. You have my promise that I will do my best to live up to the honor you have given me.