Flood Relief 1st Update
Where There’s Life, There’s Hope!
Having made it safely to dry ground, in the face of the torrent of the recent ravaging floods in Ayuthaya and Pathumthani, thousands of victims were now facing life in a temporary shelter, despairing & anxious about their future.
With a banner on stage pronouncing that “Where there’s Life, There’s Hope” , we themed this relief program on 16th October 2011 to encourage the hearts of those left high and dry by the floods. The charity event saw thirty talented Thai and foreign volunteers converge at the Thammasat University Rangsit flood relief shelter. Under a beautiful bright blue sky, it was as if, like the sunlight, we hoped to help them step out of their gloom and into the sunshine, even for just awhile – to be entertained, amused and receive some emotional relief.
There are currently some 3000 people from the nearby provinces of Ayuthaya and Pathumthani who are taking refuge in the Shelter, and this number is growing as evidenced by the long queues we saw outside the registration office. Many that we spoke with, had been rescued with just the clothes they had on. Noi, a 60-year-old lady who has been in the Shelter for the last four days since her house was inundated with water, told how she found herself, alongside a cobra, trying to escape the rising waters. Thankfully, the cobra had no appetite for her, having already devoured her rabbits!
The event featured a concert with some impressive performances by our ‘farangs’ — the Danish band Sobic with their original Thai songs, American Julie accompanied by Paisarn with a meaningful rendition of Peace in the midst of a Storm as well as Aussie Charlie who rocked with his lead guitar, along with the Swedish teens, Jenny, Safir and Percy from Smooth Barrage, who entertained with Thai and popular English top hits. There was also a special performance by KPN’s talent quest winner, Saran, who charmed the audience with a few Thai ballads. Thai volunteer Paisarn was a hit when he got members of the audience to get up, let go and dance to a popular Thai Isaan favourite. As the song went on, our foreign volunteers jumped in as well and we soon had full floor of fun-loving, anxiety-free folk finding their relief in the rhythm. Special thanks to our Thai MC, Tom (a tutor who is also Oishi’s online program host), who partway through teamed up with familiar TV show host, Janlo. They were a show on their own with their wit and humour.
One of the highlights came at the end of the concert when we sent out an enthusiastic team of teens to reach out and offer FREE HUGS. We can’t deny the power of touch, in encouraging, loving and sympathising. So our free hugs team was warmly received and even approached as they also offered a bag of cookies (kindly donated by Kerry Flour Mills) for every genuine hugger!At the end of the program, we drove our vehicles to the donation center where we unloaded two full vehicles of clothes, toys, hotel bathrobes, shoes, Dole desserts, Lactasoy drinks, chocolate milk drinks and 800 paper diapers. We also visited the children’s care center where volunteers (mainly students from the university)help to keep the kids occupied with arts/crafts and activities. Here we brought board games, kindly donated from the piggy bank savings of two Aussie-Thai kids, Hal and Lulu.
A couple of our friends also jumped into trucks to participate and help with onsite distribution of goods to housing areas that have been inundated and residents unable to leave their homes. A crisis is truly a challenge, yet the beauty of people joining hands and hearts to serve their fellowmen in their hour of distress, is much like the beautiful perfume that comes from crushing of scented flowers. May we live our days, with this heart of service, believing that we can – in our own unique way — be something special to somebody by adding value to their lives. We couldn’t have done this without the individual contributions of friends like Ake Lackgren who helped with the sound system setup, Havard, Marc and Paul — our photographers and drivers who helped in so many ways, Orasa and Dao who spiced the concert with heartening, stories of perseverance, as well as the many friends who helped to make this event possible. Thank You!
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