Money-making career: Grandpa Yen, 76 years old, makes a living by making and selling coconut brooms, extending the wisdom of the locals and turning it into a secondary career, earning 9,000 baht per month. At Ban Srinuan, Sangkha Subdistrict, Sangkha District, Surin Province, Mr. Thongyen Dasri, aged 76, or Pu Yen, a village sage, has taken the local wisdom of making brooms from coconut leaves and turned it into a secondary occupation. He sells them wholesale to shops and to villagers in the area at reasonable prices, but he earns his family more than 9,000 baht per month. Grandpa Yen said that he makes coconut brooms at home, which is not messy. Importantly, Grandpa does not only make extra income to support his family, but also hopes to pass on the knowledge of coconut broom making to people in the community who want to have extra income, or even unemployed people or interested individuals. The process of making a coconut broom requires bamboo to make the handle, coconut stems from which the leaves are sharpened, and rope for weaving the coconut stems. Then, they are put together into the handle. The selling price is 50 baht per handle, and there are always orders coming in because people still like to use coconut brooms these days. Grandpa Yen also shared the technique of choosing materials for making coconut brooms: if you are going to sweep cement, you must choose a broom with soft coconut leaf stalks that can bend well, the coconut is not old, the leaf blades and leaf stalks are still bright green. But if you are going to sweep the ground, you must use hard coconut leaf stalks, fully mature coconut, the leaf blades are dark green or yellow, and the leaf stalks are brown and hard. Source: Thai News Agency