FOCUS FEATURE: Despite danger and amid economic hardship, Thai workers yearn for Israel

Kratchakorn Buddhasorn returned to Thailand shortly after being wounded in an attack on Israel by Islamist group Hamas on Oct. 7, but now wants to return due to debt and job insecurity he faces in his own country. His is not an isolated case. Many Thai workers go into debt to be able to go to Israel to work as seasonal laborers in the fields and now some of those repatriated after Hamas’ attack want to return to earn more money and save.
Kratchakorn, 42, told EFE that four months after returning to his country, he can barely make ends meet with a job as a delivery driver for convenience store franchise, in which he earns a base salary of THB500 ($14) per day plus THB15 per order.
“In Thailand we don’t have enough money and we don’t make ends meet. At least by working abroad we earn an amount of money that covers expenses,” he said in an interview at home in Samut Prakan, a province bordering Bangkok.
The man, who worked on a vegetable farm in Israel, lives in this house with his wife and four other tenants, while his three children aged 9, 12 and 13 are in the care of their maternal grandparents in the northeast of the country.