Six Months On, A Plea For More Volunteers

[george]

Six months on, a plea for more volunteers

PHUKET: -- Six months after the tsunami disaster, volunteer workers are still needed in the southern provinces on the Andaman Sea.

After attending to the material needs of the local people, the work of the volunteers will focus on education, career skills and psychological healing, the organiser of the Tsunami Volunteer Centre (TVC), Soontara Kaewpongpok, said yesterday.

Over the past six months, more than 1,500 volunteers from all parts of the country and around the world have arrived at the heart of the tsunami-affected area - at Khao Lak, in Phang Nga’s Takua Pa district - to offer their help.

About 100 of them are still there, although their work does not, these days, receive public attention.

And without public attention, many people might be tempted to believe that the work of volunteers is over, the situation is stable, the number of dead and missing people is finalised, those still suffering are known and help is being organised by the authorities, Soontara said.

In fact, it is not.

“Since February, efforts have concentrated on reconstruction, and many construction projects will run through this year and into next year,” she said.

At present, volunteers are helping to build 50 permanent houses at Ban Nam Khem and helping to make more than 50 boats in the Cape Pakarang Boat Yard. Over the past six months, volunteers have been involved in discovering corpses as well as identifying and consoling victims.

However, about 20 projects are presently under way and the volunteer force is focused on house construction, teaching English to local kids, and psychological and spiritual support - trying to encourage victims to think positively and to resume normal lives.

Responding to local needs, the volunteer centre has also been teaching English skills to local people because most of them will return to work in the tourism industry, once the industry recovers.

“We have been sending English teachers to train them since February,” Soontara said. “We are preparing them for the high season, or when the jobs come back.”

Many local people in Khao Lak have turned to earning money from making traditional products like batik and baskets woven from plastic, and the TVC helps them by distributing the products.

Volunteer schoolteachers have also been working in Khao Lak’s schools since February, especially native English speakers.

American volunteer Joa Keis, 25, who has been part of the TVC’s education project since February, said he regarded his job as an important one.

“Teaching language skills to the kids is important, because we know that in the future this place will rely on tourism. That will be a source of money for a lot of local people.

“In September, we expect there will be more American students on semester break who will come to join us,” he said.

At Ban Nam Khem’s World Vision temporary camp, a Christian group from Love in Action Foundation has been consoling the victims with religious teaching since January.

“We focus on helping locals relieve their trauma by consoling them with God’s words,” said Christian volunteer Chanakan Chanaphun, 40, from Hat Yai. “We plan to set up a church in Nam Khem, as well as opening an Internet centre.”

Sombat Boonngarm-anong, one of the TVC’s founders, said 80 per cent of the volunteers at Khao Lak had been foreigners. Thai volunteers are getting fewer every day.

He said the centre planned a public campaign to attract more Thai volunteers, especially from students, because there is much work waiting to be done.

“It would be great if university students could turn their traditional rab nong mai [freshmen initiation activities] and other student activities into joining the tsunami volunteers for a while,” he added.

--The Nation 2005-06-26

[Tornado]

Six months on, a plea for more volunteers

work permit ??

They had 1000's of volunteers to start with and then they said they all needed work permits - remember?

[Old Croc]

With the six month anniversary of the Tsunami there has been a rash of publicity in the Australian media with followup stories from the effected areas. It has helped highlight the amount of work still to be done in areas such as Khao Lak and Aceh. Hopeful it may rekindle the helping spirit of those who are able to to travel and assist as volunteers. Very cheap package tours to Phuket are being extensively advertised in the press here.

Of concern, the major aid agencies have reportedly only spent 20-30% of the massive funds donated. The rest is sitting in banks earning large amounts of interest for these agencies. Spokespersons have been defending this action in the media stating the money is there for the long haul (5-10 years). Cynics with long memories remember the reluctance of some agencies to release funds donated to the victims of the Bali bombings. Some of the funds were used for other projects.