January 1, 2005
Dear Beloved in Christ,
A friend recently wrote and expressed an interest in hearing/reading
our observations or reflections on how all of this tsunami devastation
has affected our world and ministry. How big is this in Thailand?
What do we hear about Thailand's responses, resources, help from
other countries? Have people in our area been effected by losses
of friends or relatives?
It is almost embarrassing to say that we have been impacted so
very little by this. Living in the north, some 16 to 18 hours
away by car and two hours by plane, our lives have been marginally
impacted except with administrative concerns and a great deal
of personal frustration and sadness. But I’m getting ahead
of myself.
Christmas night had kept us up into the wee hours of the morning.
We had 7 of our 12 volunteers and a friend (a volunteer from last
year who has returned to teach professionally) over for Christmas
dinner. We played games and simply enjoyed fellowship until late.
Because of this we had slept in and were in bed when the earthquake
occurred. As far away as we were from the epicenter we were nevertheless
awakened by the bed shaking. I recall telling Carol she made the
earth move for me. She recalls my asking “what was that?”
Life went on. We knew that an earthquake had occurred but had
no sense of what was about to happen just a few short hours later.
We have tried to stay in touch with folks in the south as best
as possible (with many phone lines down that communication is
further hampered, but cell phones have been an abundant blessing).
We try to stay current through the Internet, the local papers,
and most importantly word of mouth. Communication is an especially
significant issue in the areas impacted. In the south, the resorts’
employees generally handle English fairly well but this has been
a crisis of epic proportions and staff not only had to “run
for their own lives” but so too needed to be checking their
own families and subsequently caring for their own losses –
meaning that translators have had a great impact here.
Not only are communications difficult but health issues abound
as well. Raw sewage is now being pumped directly into the sea
as the already stressed treatment plants handling the largely
overbuilt tourist areas have, in many cases, been destroyed. Fresh
water reserves are being depleted at an unfathomable rate.
All this is happening down south, but on our end it has been
curiously quiet. Life goes on. Outside of checking on our volunteers
(two of whom are in the south) and helping to confirm the well-being
and whereabouts of our PC(USA) mission co-workers my (Glen’s)
involvement has been largely administrative and frustratingly
so. My email has grown from the customary 25-30 (legitimate) emails
per day to over 100. Requests have been made seeking information
on loved ones. Spine-tingling confirmation has come in for others.
One such case is of young man, whose father pastors the First
Presbyterian Church of Maumee, Ohio. Ben is in the south on a
Rotary-exchange year. He and his companions had planned a camping
trip to the beaches of Phuket. The sponsors decided not to chaperone
the trip and it was called off. The group would have been in tents
on the beach at the time.
In Thailand, where the Buddhist faith largely centers on individualism
and the working out of one’s “fate,” there is
not normally a strong focus on social outreach. This has certainly
impacted the way in which the crisis has been handled and yet
may be changing that socio-religious landscape for the better.
Much attention has been given to the resorts and tourist areas,
which provide a significant portion of income to Thailand. Less
attention, however, has been given to the outlying fishing villages
(which in some cases have ceased to exist). One story in the Bangkok
Post told of a single survivor from a village not far from
the resorts. He happened to be out in a fishing boat and was washed,
by the tsunami, into another bay where he barely survived. He
returned as quickly as he could to his village. He found nothing.
No houses standing. No people searching. Nothing. He says now
that since no one has come to the village to help he is starting
to smell the bodies buried in the silt, sand, and mud that used
to be his village. (It is estimated that hundreds or even thousands
of bodies may still be buried, just in Thailand). It is difficult
to get information on relief efforts as phone lines are maxed
out in the south and people are deferring to those really needing
to use the lines for emergency work and notifications.
Each day the papers carry more pictures of the devastation. The
beaches won’t be clean for a year or so and the coral reefs
3 to 15 years, they say. But nothing will exceed the heartbreak
of seeing in the paper a photograph of a 2-year-old boy who can’t
tell what village he’s from or who his parents are. Little
will erase the heart-cries of the father who has been searching
for his wife and children for three days. It will be along time
before the story of the boy found stuck in a mangrove tree for
three days will be forgotten.
Much has been made about contacts from as far away as Norway
where a man found a nephew via a picture posted on the Internet.
The rest of his family had perished. But it’s unlikely that
the fisherman from the village or his family would ever have access
to such technology. And so for us there is an injustice that has
left a sour taste. The papers are starting to carry some of this
inequity and resentment in the form of editorials. But the Thai
are polite people and normally would rather live in quiet denial
than to cause someone to “lose face.”
It was a particularly great heartache to the Thai people to note
that a grandson of their beloved King was killed in this event.
This makes the tragedy an immediate part of the royal family’s
experience and will certainly further the close bond the King
and Queen have with Thai people who have similarly lost loved
ones. Today is an official day of mourning. It is the day of the
funeral of the King’s grandson. It is intended to symbolize
the funerals of the many who have died. Business people are wearing
black and white in recognition of this. New Year’s celebrations
have largely been cancelled in deference to those who are mourning.
And all the while the clean up effort continues.
And life goes on. Our volunteers are busy teaching English and
living with the frustration that language barriers and work responsibilities
necessitate their staying put. It is a difficult lesson for them
but an important one. We all listen for what might be a responsible
opportunity to become involved while keeping busy with our appointed
tasks.
One major concern I have is that this tragic event may take the
world’s eyes off of some of the other major (and equally
needy) crises in the world today¾Darfur, Kabul, Basrah,
Baranquilla, Karen State. These and other hot spots keep me mindful
of the fact that while we here in Thailand are certainly experiencing
a tragedy of epic proportions, so too are so many others, and
I grow increasingly uncomfortable with my own lack of ongoing
participation in the lives of the neediest of God’s people.
The greater fear I have, however, is that when the publicity dies
down, that my passions to more fully engage the struggle will
die down as well. My great hope is that we who call ourselves
Christians will use this great opportunity to do kingdom quality
work wherever we may be and in whatever work we may be engaged.
Glen Hallead, Coordinator
Christian Volunteers in Thailand
Church of Christ in Thailand
PC(USA) Mission Co-Worker
www.hallead.org
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