Riz’s decision to raise funds for the children of the Sunshine Village by launching the sexy Women’s Will Power (WWP) Calendar 2010 was one that took a long time to make and was ultimately grounded in her own unhappy childhood.

When Riz was a little girl, her mother left to work in the South of Thailand leaving her to live with her grandmother in a sea house in Chon Buri province. She shared the house with four other children whose parents also couldn’t look after them. She was the oldest.

“So I started to work when I was seven years old, by ten I was taking care of everyone in the house. I remember crying every night and praying to get out of there. I had to walk 3kms to school every day, but I kept going though, because I knew that education was a way out, education is so important.”

Former TV reporter Tipwarintron “Riz” Tanaakarachod came up with the idea to launch the calendar in the summer of 09, and was a result of many occurrences that some may say were coincidences, but what she likes to think of as fate.

“I always had the idea. I’ve gone through many things in this life... from earthquakes in Taipei to the tsunami here. In fact one image from that disaster stays with me to this day. I remember seeing one man and his baby boy who were dead and lying side by side.

I’ll always remember that and my feeling of frustration at not being able to help.”
As a reporter, Riz has seen many things and met many people. She recollects one particular interview with an organisation very well, “Meeting the children at the Sunshine Village brought it all back to me, seeing the children without parents broke my heart.”

Although, again at that time she felt like she was unable to help and didn’t know what she could do. When she finished working as a reporter, Riz was unsure as to what she wanted to do. It was then that a strange occurrence of events led the way to her making such an important decision.

“A professional photographer called Mr. Sakhorn Saengtongsamarnsin had wanted to take my photo for a long time, but I wasn’t so interested until I went to Japan.”

It was there, while visiting a shrine in Tokyo that the first incident occurred. She found a poem which inspired her and later became the WWP project’s message. It read: ‘If you consult your innermost heart and still feel no shame, then let the people of the world talk on as they please.’

It was also around this time, that she happened to be having dinner with Frank Couture, the Vice President of the Phuket Sunshine Village Foundation. He told her that the center was running out of money to take care of the 120 orphans who were now growing up and needed to go to school. As there was no vehicle to transport many of the children to school, they had to walk.

“This was the deciding factor, I called up the photographer and told him I’m going to do it... but that I wanted to ask some other girls to help me, as soon as I approached them and explained what I wanted to do they agreed and have been a tremendous help ever since.” she said.

The other four girls who pose in the calendar are Able Wanamakok, Jiraporn Chaiyasat, Tippanate Pittayasamai and Pathamaphan Ratanaphan, all of whom are based in Phuket.

They have taken part in many events so far, including hosting auctions of some of their ‘sexiest prints’ in order to raise enough funds to print the calendars. Once printed, their aim is to sell them and they hope that the funds raised will be enough to provide the the Sunshine Village with a new car.

“That’s what’s driving me now, I know it’s so difficult for kids who are so young to be doing things that they shouldn’t have to.”

The Women’s Will Power organization is determined to not stop there, “This will be our first project, but I want to help a lot of abused women as well. They have to take care of their family, so if we can take care of them, this will help them take care of the children.”

Riz is now happily re-united with her mother and they share a house with four dogs, “My mum supports me and its her story as well. She’s a strong woman like me.”

It is moments like these when speaking with Resilliant Riz that us mere mortal males are reminded that women are by and large a much stronger, caring and beautiful gender, they certainly have a lot more willpower.

The Women’s Will Power group will be at Central Festival from 26–2 December to officially launch and sign the calendars from 12–1 pm.

Contact: wwpcg@yahoogroups.com for more information.