Raya
THE AID WORK PHASE 8:
AID WORK PHASE 8 (November 21th 2005)
They stopped first at the Watkommaneeyakhet school in Khuk Kuk district Khao Lak, the principal and staff were very excited when they brought the copy machines there, as it was there original idea to be able to have a copy machine given to them, after talking to Garry on an earlier visit just what was needed most at the school, The Head Principal of the school told Garry how many people from many different countries had donated different things to the school and it had helped him and all of the students a lot to carry on with there lives since the tsunami. The copy machines would help both the teachers and the students in preparing lessons and with copy pages from books as most books at the school were in short supply.
The second stop was at Bang Muang school located at Bang Muang district Khao Lak.
We met up with the vice principle Mrs. Aumnougporn as the principle Mr. Jitdee Tongsan was not there at that moment, we had been to this school once before in July and donated books, rulers, paints and coloring pencils etc, with the technicians we set up the copy machine there and had a look around the school to check out the situation there and told them we would try to come back at a later time to help with buying books or uniforms that were needed at the school, Garry asked them to get a list together and fax it to him so we could check what was needed and to see how we could help out.
The next stop was Ban Nam Kem school located at Bang Muang district Khao Lak. There Garry met up with the Vice Principal a man he knew previously from giving donations out together with Anna Vermas from Finland back on the 22nd of Febuary 2005, on that day they gave out emergency cash to 75 of the students who had lost one or both parents in the tsunami, 274,000 baht (approx 5,480 Euros)
Garry could not believe the progress at this school as it had many new buildings, a far cry from the original very small school he had seen located there earlier in the year, the old school was a very small broken down one, and now there was a huge school brightly painted with many new buildings it really was a pleasure to see the difference, the school was built up from money donated by private people as well as some large companies also helping out.
At the Ban Nam Kem school Garry also met a man from New York, USA, Mr. David Johnson who along with his wife Tabea and their two daughters had been working as volunteer English teachers since April 2005, David had some good ideas on how aid work could be done better at the school as he has been there everyday since April. David was really pleased about the copy machine as he mentioned it was something really needed at the school as the old one was broken and not working any more. We left one of the technicians behind to set up the copy machine and we carried on to the last school.
The last school we went to was Bang Niang school located at Bang Niang district Khao Lak.
We meet the principle of the school and he showed us around, this school we had not been to before, it was a small school with 70 students that was very badly damaged in the tsunami.
They had done a lot of rebuilding work there, some people from Texas USA had donated money to make a new lunch room and kitchen, someone else had donated playground equipment,
As the technician delivered the copy machine to the schools administrative room there was a teacher there with a lot of papers just leaving to go to the town center to do some photo coping and she said she could not believe it, Garry told her to wait 30 minutes and she would not need to go anywhere again for the photocopying, she was very grateful and it was a highlight of the day.
The last stops of the day Garry and Mint went to check on people who had previously been given money or help in some way by Raya Divers and the Finnish people who had donated money.
The money left after the copy machine purchases was 87,900 baht (approx 1,750 Euros) and we divided the money to 9 different people all with very different stories to tell, one old man had lost daughter and grandchildren and was very grateful of receiving some financial help,10,000 baht (200 euros) which in Thailand goes a long way to someone whose income is less than that for the whole month.
We stopped at the house project that we had earlier helped out with donated money on the 9th of June, the houses were nearly completed, though we could only find one man working on his own house there, we gave him cash 10,000 baht (200 euros) to help a little bit more with finishing his house, I asked about the other people and the man told me they would be back later in the day and Garry promised he would be back one day and hope to see there houses finished.
25/11/2005
Garry Halpin along with Dr. Sakari Alhopuro and his daughter Saara went to the Siam commercial bank in Chalong Phuket to open a joint account to put the money that Dr. Sakari had raised in Finland to help the orphans and children affected by the tsunami, Dr. Sakari Alhopuro deposited 22,000 euros in the account and we set of to Khao Lak so we could see were the money would be most useful and make a good solid plan how to distribute the donations in the right places.
Garry & Dr. Sakari spoke together on the drive to Khao Lak about there last trip to Khao Lak and how it had changed things in both there lives and the way they now think about there life after seeing so much death and destruction around them from the tsunami.
We arrived at the Bang Niang school located at Bang Niang district Khao Lak and we met up with the Principle to discuss with him what was most urgently needed or for long term use at the school.
Saara interviewed the Principle for a report that she will be writing for a newspaper in Finland and she found out some very interesting facts on how the children were behaving and coping after going through the trauma of the tsunami.
After talking with the Principle both Dr. Sakari, Saara and Garry all agreed that buying books in both Thai and English would be the best idea, the school children also needed sports uniforms and some needed regular uniforms as well, so as this school has only 70 students it would not be so expensive to buy new school uniforms for all of the children as well, Dr. Sakari is a keen photographer and took many nice photo’s of the school and the children while we were there.
We next visited the Watkommaneeyakhet school in Khuk Kuk district Khao Lak, the Principle was at lunch and not at the school so we had a look around the school while we waited for him and Dr. Sakari took some photo’s of the children playing and eating lunch, we discussed with the teachers in the office there if buying books was a good idea and they were very excited about that idea so Garry asked for them to fax him a list of the books that would be required at the school.
Dr. Sakari & Saara had brought with them some Christmas story books from Finland that had English text and presented them to the teachers at the school so the children could learn to read them. We did not have so much time left so we went on to look at the progress of Khao Lak and the beach areas to see how things were going with the rebuilding, in general the area around Khao Lak is coming back much faster than anyone could have predicted, there are now many hotels open for business that have been either repaired or rebuilt, Khao Lak after one more year will be back to how it was or actually even better than it was, as the Thai government has fixed the beach roads,still working on the main road and has done a lot of other infrastructure there such as new electricity etc, now all the buildings are brand new and looking good, the children are getting lots of help in the schools so they may grow up to be better educated they would have been other wise.
At this moment the Bang Niang School has faxed Garry a list of books and uniforms needed already, The Watkommaneeyakhet school and the Ban Bang Muang school are preparing lists of books to be faxed, at the Ban Nam Kem school David Johnson the volunteer English teacher is communicating with the vice principle and helping Garry prepare a list of books that will be a big help stocking the new library that they are building, and also for the children to be learning English by reading the new books.
Last phase of tsunami aid work >>