"I do small things."
"I didn't start doing community service because it is something I need to do," Dr. Maia said. "I started doing it--voluntarily--because I felt I'd wanted to."
Although in poor health, when Dr. Maia was still little, and when many rural roads were still unpaved, made wholly from the native material of the land--she felt obliged to accompany her father to many close and faraway villages in her own country.
Her father, Dr. Soontorn Antarasena, M.D.--recipient of Distinguished Award for Humanitarian Efforts in 1996 from American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and National Award for his distinguished achievements in developing quality of life in 2002--did not plan to pass on the experiences he had gained from years of services to little Maia through the onsite observations.
Gradually, however, the young Maia started seeing how community projects her father launched, one after another over the past 20 years, improved the quality of life--of a massive number of people throughout Thailand and neighbouring overseas.
While her father is her first inspiration, her mother, Dr. Nantawan Antarasena -- an associate professor of Health Economics -- her first project guide. Knowing Dr. Maia needs to be in the care of the doctors from time to time, both of her parents showed her how -- even without very healthy body -- her life and life plan will never be affected.
"I do small things," Dr. Maia said.
"I didn't ask for grant when I started my first project so I made it small."
"Then I learnt that no matter how small, my small-scaled project could help the community in my plan. It thrilled the people who observed my work. And when I started making the impossible possible, it inspired more people to do a lot more "small" works."
And from that, the work never goes small."
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