Ms. Tu

Ms. Tu is one of the founding members of the cooperative. She participated in the project led by Coalition for Environment and Development since it's beginning in 1996. She was the chairwoman of the cooperative until 2012. She is now retired from the cooperative but is still involved with the group.

Ms. Tu became a widow when she was 20 and her son was only 18 months old. She was devastated. Her mother-in-law advised her to re-marry and to leave her son with her. Instead, Ms. Tu decided to support for herself and educate her son. She worked as a housekeeper and helped other farmers on their rice paddies carrying her young son on her back. She eventually built her own house and with a micro loan she could purchase farm animals to help to support for herself.

Ms. Tu now lives with her son's family. She has three grand children. Her son and his wife are working at the Samsung factory near by.

While her and other single mothers' socioeconomic status has gradually improved and nobody lives in desperate poverty she wishes to expand the cooperative to more women and to make more products.