March 2 2005 - Phuket
First Report from Phuket, by Nicole
Okay I know you all have been waiting to hear from us on the first trip, and I am sorry that it has taken so long to respond. i will brief you on my experiences thus far and I hope this helps.The first thing I would suggest is to come with an open mind and be prepared for anything. I don't say this because of anything negative that has occured, but because this is a different culture, climate, language, experience all together.
The thai people are very hospitable and kind, and one thing you need to remember is that you will have to adapt to their culture. The thai people who have lost their homes are engaging in helping the Phuket project volunteers rebuild. The first day we arrived, the Thai people were working with smiles on their faces and all kinds of joyous shouts were occuring. This to me was extrodinary! I thought that it was amazing that these people lost their homes and still had a sunny disposition!
Remember it is extrodinarily hot, so please bring sun screen (at least 45) and long sleeve shirts to work in. Also bring bandannas for your heads, and straw hats, the longer the brim the better, some people are wearing baseball caps and those are fine too. Bring work gloves because you'll be working with bricks, wood, cement, etc. Other than that anything you do not have you can buy here.
Be prepared to work hard...but don't be afraid of the work, it's great to see the progress you've made at the end of the day, and the smiles on the faces of the people you are affecting! One of our volunteers today build part of a brick wall, and was so proud because it was not something that she thought she could do. The work is very rewarding!
One thing I would like to say is that I heard so much in the states about disease, and making sure to get your immunizations. Don't let people scare you...there are not sick people lying on the side of the road with malaria, or any other major illness that will ultimately kill them! I'm being facisous, but I just want you all to know that things here are safe, and personally i feel great being here. Honestly this is the healthiest I have felt in a long time! I hope this covers a lot of your questions and concerns. Please feel free to ask me questions. I will be checking my email regularly.
Peace,
nicole
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March 2 2005 - Phuket
Some Useful Advice, by Mike
Hi Nikki
How is room 5317 (-;
Soory folks she's here here and so am I....the heats gotten to us
Ok, some important things....get a Thai book and study now...send e;s to each othe to practice the basics...they are a wonderfululy joyious people and will appreciate your efforts. There is laundry service in all areas, bring salt packets or a rehydration powder for when you feel drained....it does wonderes, sraw hats or jungle cap, a cloth tool piuch (the cheap ones)....light and packs easy...but we bought some the other day and there will be some available braing a belt to wear either. Bing pencils (carpenter) No bugs as of yet,
I started to take Echinachea 2 weeks prior and have had no adverse effects from "ALL" the Thai food Converters are a must for any of your electronics
This is like nothing I have ever experienced...you're gonna love this..the people are the best and the smiles.....ohhhhhh
More to follow
All my best
Mike
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March 8 2005 - Brooklyn
Leaving, by Maya
What a week! After moving, organizing a benefit, generally dealing with my life and work, AND organizing the 2nd trip for the Phuket Project, I'm finally leaving tomorrow for Thailand. Tonight I'm packing and sending out one last newsletter before i go off, straight from work, tomorrow evening.
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March 11 2005 -- Phuket
The First Group Says Goodbye, by Maya
I got to Phuket in the afternoon and we went straight to the worksite. I was overexcited, especially for someone who'd been on planes for 36 hours, and everyone seemed to be moving really slowly. The heat was oppressive. We drove by the place where they are storing all the unidentified victims' bodies on the way.
The volunteers and Thais and some random Australians had made enormous progress in the construction of 4 houses. We are not yet working on the school we thought we would be for various reasons involving local politics. However, the volunteers seemed sad to leave the project unfinished, even if there was a second group coming. I hope this 'blog' of sorts will show the progress of the project and bring a sense of accomplishment to those who have worked so hard.
The volunteers of the first group got along remarkably well considering their different personalities. I guess being covered in sweat and cement and working all day in the heat with diarrhea with 20 others bonds people together fast. There was a going-away-gift-giving ceremony where Mach gave presents to the 2 guys (known as Big Tiger and Little Tiger) who were the foremen from the Coca Cola company who were directing (somebody had to teach them how to mix cement!). Everybody (the volunteers included) had nicknames. It was inspiring to see how close they had become and how hard they had worked.
At night we had a bonfire on the beach and the Thais they had worked with grilled some fish and squid and everyone danced Thai-style around the fire (Mach too!) Brooklyn (aka Danny) who all the girls teased (he didn't seem to mind) Trisha (who managed to maintain her pale skin the whole time) Summer (who the Thai women couldn't stop hugging-- i don't think they wanted to let her go) Mary who bravely went out for more beverages, Nicole (who tried walking on coals and didn't like it) Mui (whose calmness and cool head I am so grateful will be with us on the 2nd group) Dottie (a nurse from Dubai) and everybody else too- i didn't get a chance to talk to everybody but some of them will be back for the 2nd group. People played the drums and some Thai guys sang "Loy Krathong" into a megaphone. Morgan played his digereedoo, we found phosphorescence in the water, and when I got home to the hotel I collapsed and slept for 8 hours.
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| Laying a few last bricks | The Mural at the Kamala School | The first group's goodbye party on the beach |
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March 11 2005 - Bangkok
Traveling, by Maya
How random to be sitting in the VIP lounge of the airport in Bangkok now. After more than 24 hours in transit, I am finally in Thailand. I made it through what seemed like God testing my patience: an ugly oversized baby screaming and screaming the whole flight long from New York through Vancouver and all the way to Hong Kong. The crotchety old grandma behind me kept pushing on my seat back with strong, meaningful shoves. I guess she took my wanting to sleep as a personal infringement of her personal space.
There was one really beautiful old woman with a face that was wrinkly and smooth at the same time, kind of like a turtle, if a turtle can be beautiful. She had a black ribbon tied daintily around her grey hair, and I saw her eating strawberry jam from the packet with her coffee spoon, which delighted me. She gave me a big smile when she saw me looking.
When I'm 90 I will eat strawberry jam from packets and laugh so that my whole face laughs like hers, with laugh lines in unusual places that make you wish you had more of them.
The first thing I saw when I got off the plane was a computer printout sign that read, "PHUKET MISSING PERSONS AREA ---------->"
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March 12 2005 -- Phuket
Alone in Phuket, by Maya
Some people went off for the weekend and the 2nd group will start work again on Monday. In the meantime, I had to move from the Sheraton Laguna (which claims the longest pool IN ALL OF ASIA) to the Le Tong in Patong (the most touristy part of Phuket). I just had to go swimming in the Sheraton's pool before leaving, and it was like being in paradise -- there were little bridges to go under as you swam along, flowering trees that looked and smelled kind of like magnolias, plants with HUGE leaves, and then-- A BABY ELEPHANT WALKED BY. I'm. Not. Kidding.
It was so cute, it had all these kind of soft red hairs on its head. Its owner let me pat it. He was carrying bananas. The hotel was totally weird that way-- a little too perfect. Breakfast there costs $25 per person per day. The bathrooms have a BATH MENU where you can pay $250 to have someone bring you a mai tai and have them massage your feet with lemongrass oil. A totally absurd place to be staying while doing tsunami relief work, but the rooms were donated, and I didn't hear too many people complain. The contrast between the gruesome reality on most of the island and this oasis of luxury that was our hotel was very disturbing, I have to say. The staff at the hotel told me a story about one of their elephants saving a little kid from the tsunami, picking it right up with its trunk. The parents didn't know what was happening, chased after the elephant thinking it was kidnapping their child. Thus, they were saved, too. Not sure I believe the story, but it's not about whether it's true or not, it's more about what people WANT to believe. The empty hotel gives me the creeps. I can't bear the few tourists sipping cocktails by the sea when I feel like a dead body could float by anytime.
Now I'm at the Starbucks in Patong, (which doesn't look as bad as the last post-tsunami photos I saw) after taking a motorcycle taxi which I had to bargain down to 20 baht from 100 by saying I wasn't a tourist, and there's a wireless connection -- I don't know how often I'll be able to come here, as it's on the other side of Patong from the hotel.
I have a whole CD of photos from the last 2 weeks that they gave me, which I will try to put up tomorrow. For the time being, here are some photos of last night's beach party and the Sheraton Laguna. Now, off to explore the island!
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March 12 2005 -- Bangkok
Saturday, by Rachel
A few people from the second group arrived in Bangkok by Saturday evening and made our way from our scattered hotels to the Aroms’ house to meet some of the volunteers from the first group and Mach’s parents.We expected to find a small, informal gathering in the Aroms’ backyard and were surprised to arrive in the midst of Dr. Aroms’ high school reuinion. Billy, Elizabeth, Jackie, Richard, John, and I soaked up as much information as we could from Nicole, Mary, Mach, Renzo, Jeremy, Muoy, Jamie ( Khun Jum from Bangkok Phuket Hospital) and Francis. The Aroms’ have a beautiful home complete with a karoake machine, where the first and second group bonded over cheesy 80s music.
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March 13 2005 -- Phuket
Walking Around, by Maya
The beaches are empty. The sea is fine but not particularly clean (i got the scare of my life when a plastic bag wrapped around me!) and the chunks of unusual coral and baby shoes washed up on the beach make me sad. Still, I saw a family setting up for a party in a big yard full of rubble. And I uploaded Kieran's photos -- they are amazing.
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| Still a lot of work to do | The most crowded part of Patong beach | The Holiday Inn is very damaged |
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| The town comes alive at night but the bars are empty | Thai boxing | In the Patong night market |
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March 13 2005 -- Phuket
Sunday Afternoon, by Rachel
Most of the complete second group met up with Mach and Mui for lunch in Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. Over lunch we discussed the guidelines for the trip, some basics of thai etiquette and logistics. Then it was onto the airport for our flight to Phuket. The cumluative jet lag was evident as everyone invariably nodded off on the plane or during our drive to the Le Tong hotel in Patong. The hotel is steps from the beach, beautifully furnished. The staff are incredibly kind and made us all felt welcome after a long day of travel. We met up with our fearless and energetic leader Maya and after a hot shower set off into nearby Hat Patong for dinner. Hat Patong is a bustling tourist town pulsating with neon lights, loud music and shop keepers looking to attract customers. It is both a striking contrast to the quiet less than a mile away at the Le Tong and the quiet villages where we will spend our time rebuilding what was lost in the Tsunami.
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March 14 2005 -- Phuket
Monday, by Rachel
Between the jet lag, the travelling and meeting 20 some-odd new people the tragedy that brought us all together and to Phuket is always in the background but at times, lost in the shuffle. The first day, we saw the damage and the resilliency of the Thai people up close. Our first stop in the morning was our worksite in Chai Thai, about 45 minutes from Patong. We were introduced to the work crew, many of whom lost their homes and the foreman from Coca-Cola, known as “Big Tiger” site, we frove onto the nd “Little Tiger.”
After an hour or so, meeting the workers, seeing the various tasks we would do, digging holes for the foundation, mixing concrete, building walls, we moved onto the Tsunami Volunteer Center, a disaster relief clearing house where an international community has formed to aid in the recovery. It is a makeshift complex, with an extensive job board to connect volunteers with projects ranging from furniture making to boat building. Through the volunteer center, we were connected with a boat building project in the village of Khao Lak, to the north of Phuket, which was hit very hard by the wave. The village is estimated to have 3,000 residents, with approximated casualties of 1,200. The boat building site is small and remote, a couple of houses, several small boats under a tarp along an inlet. A man from the village explains to us that the boats being made are only big enough to provide food for the families, not for commercial fishing.
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| Rachel at the TsunamiVolunteer.net center | The Khao Lak Boat Project | The Wall of Love at the Hospital |
We are constantly overwhelmed by the spirit of the people we meet, who greet us with smiles and open hearts. We drive back to the island of Phuket for a quick lunch where most of us get our first taste of authentic Thai food. Spicy curries, sweet pork, fried dough. We return to the vans and drive south to meet up with Khun Jum (Jamie) and Khun Eh, both of whom work at Bangkok Phuket Hospital. We are given a tour of the hospital’s “Wall of Love,” where people have come and posted flyers looking for their family and friends.
Coming from New York, it is impossible to look at the posters, the faces of the missing, the words of those left behind and not remember the flyers that appeared all over the city after 9/11. The first few months after 9/11 was a special time in New York. Where there was noise and self-interest was quiet and harmony. But there was no outlet for those feelings and within a few months things return to their normal volume and pace. The best part of being here, with all these other people who’ve come from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, inspired by the same feelings we had after 9/11, is that there is something to do with our grief, our concern, our knowledge that we are lucky to be alive. We leave the hospital and return to the hotel. The group is quiet, reflective and splinters off into small groups for dinner to absorb what we have seen and prepare for the work ahead of us.
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March 15 2005 -- Phuket
First Day of Work, by Maya
We said goodbye to the group that was going to work at the boat site for a few days and took vans to the construction site at Mai Khao, in Ban Tatchatchai. Justin, Lynn, Danny, Chaya, Jon, Morgan and Kieran showed us how to do the various jobs that would become our daily routine: brick laying, making mortar, using the cement mixer, using the brick cutter...Justin warned us that in this heat we had to drink a bottle of water every half an hour not to get dehydrated. We ended the day exhausted, covered in cement and sweat, sand, and sunscreen. Most of us had never done any kind of construction before and this amused the Thais we were working with very much. Most of them were women, which was kind of interesting. Many of them didn't have husbands: single mothers, widows, and women living with other women. All had lost their houses, if not family members and jobs, in the tsunami, and were working for 170 baht or so a day. The houses we were building were for some of the people we were working with. There seemed to be some tensions surrounding whose house was getting built first, as everyone was concerned about getting their own house built before the rainy season starts, in a month or two.
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| Unfinished houses, cement mixer, gravel | Some of our coworkers and their kids | Taking a water break under the tent |
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March 29 2005 -- Phuket
Ode to the Second Group, by Leah
Its midnight and we're driving back from the beach party the local Thai families threw for us. This is my last night in Phuket, I think to myself. Has it been two weeks already? I was just really getting to know people. Mui turns to me as he's driving, 'What have you learned from this whole experience?' I draw a blank. My clothes are still covered with cement mix and mortar. I'm
sure I stink of sweat and ocean, but I can't tell anymore after my two Spy wine coolers. What I've really learned is that showers and sleep are good things, and that I really miss my blow dryer, but I know this is not what he's talking about. Now's the time for me to make a serious statement.'What have I learned?' I repeat. I flash back to the first day I arrived on
the work site. I'm looking at four skeletons of houses. My first instinct is, 'I want to go home.'
I turn to Mui, 'I believe it's important to do things that scare you or that you don't feel like doing in order to grow. I'm 32 years old, and this is the farthest I've ever been away from home. I didn't even travel to Europe until three years ago, and that was with my Grandma!' This is not something I'm proud of, but going to Thailand was scary for me. Even the different smells made me feel strange.
I tell him, 'The first thing that inspired me was the people I met on this trip. Three of the volunteers are traveling by themselves around Asia and they're under the age of 23! That's amazing to me. Plus, meeting the Thai people and communicating with them, each of us struggling with language yet still understanding one another, was so much fun.'
I don't tell Mui this, but at first, it was so difficult for me to create relationships with the other volunteers and with the local people. I flash on the other 20 something volunteers how they did the work AND formed friendships with the Thai men, women and children. A few of the boys would constantly joke around with the young Thai women, who were earning about $3 a day working at the site. Seeing those girls laughing and smiling was so inspiring. Billy took his Polaroid camera, taking pictures of every Thai person he came in contact with. Then he'd give them the pictures. They loved it. I envy these acts of kindness. I'd constantly question weather I was giving such kindness out.
'It was hard too,' I confess to Mui. 'Usually I'm the organizer, so I'm busy strategizing and scheduling, but this time, I had to sit back and just do the work. I'd remind myself it's about them, not me. The situation was more different than anything I've ever experienced.' I had to just jump in and start making connections, just like I had to jump in when I first got to the work site. I didn't know anything about construction, but I just had to grab a bucket and fill it with mortar and begin.
'The whole experience is like laying the bricks for the houses,' I tell him. 'When I first started, I hated it. 'One brick at a time,' I thought, 'this will take forever!' Plus getting all grimy and stinky in hot humid weather didn't have much appeal either. But I forged through and soon walls were built.'
'It's just like us,' I tell Mui. 'People are just like those houses. We can either stay a barren piece of land. Fine and flat, or we can build. We can get our fingers dirty and slowly start to build, make ourselves evolve into something other than how we started. It might not always be fun, but that's how we grow.'
I look out the window and flash on just five minutes before I got into Mui's car. I was talking with Shane while we were sitting in the Van he was trying to figure out what he was going to do with the five coconuts he was given by a local Thai boy. 'It's weird,' I confess to him, 'Everyone is so emotional, but I don't feel any thing.' I think to myself that this can't possibly be true. I must be feeling something. And before I knew it, I was crying. For what, I can't really describe, but Shane reached over and rubbed my back and then handed me a coconut and we began to laugh.
-Leah
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April 27, 2005 -- Khao Lak, Pang Nga
Wednesday, by Aly
Sawatdee kap...
I've been in Khao Lak about a week and a half now, since April 17th. Khao Lak is a small resort town about a 1.5 hour drive from Phuket Town, with a population of about 3,000. The town lost 1,200 people in the tsunami (over 5,000 including the tourists) and four months later, the destruction and devastation are still all around us. Areas that were once too densely populated with resorts and homes to even see to the water have been completely leveled and it's flat land and coconut trees all the way to the ocean (for about half a kilometer, more in some areas).
The hotel we're staying at (we've been given discounted rates and The Phuket Project is footing most of the bill) had 60 rooms before Dec. 24. They now have about 20. I walked down to the hotel's beach and when I see the rooms that were destroyed, my heart sinks; they're completely gutted with broken windows, roofs, walls, and damaged foundations. The closer you get to the beach, the more serious the damage. Closest to the beach, there's an empty plot where a bungalow stood. The beach is mostly cleaned up but there's still some debris scattered around -- personal effects like shoes, broken sunglasses, keychains, children's pencil cases, etc. I found out that everything that washed up on the beach, from refrigerators to air conditioners to luggage, were all buried on the beach and there's a very powerful and eerie energy to the area. The bungalow I'm staying in is at the end of the walk, closest to the other bunglows that were destroyed. The energy's very strange there as well.
The weather is unbelievably hot -- it's the hottest time of the season right now and we're outdoors building houses from 8am to 5pm everyday in 94F weather. It's extremely physical and demanding work. Because we're mostly unskilled laborers, we're mixing cement and pouring the foundation, support beams, and flooring for single-story and duplex houses. The most high-tech piece of machinery we have is a cement mixer so everything is done by hand and we rely heavily on buckets and shovels -- they are our best friends and worst enemies. On our first day at work, we poured the foundations for two houses and the columns for a third. We apparently set a record. Our group dynamics are not the best, with such a wide spectrum of personalities and ages, but we work well together and accomplish as much as the other groups in a quarter of the time. The work is taking its toll on my body though, and when I wake up in the morning my joints creak and my muscles ache. I don't know where I find the energy, but I drag myself out of bed every morning to do it all over again.
The people for whom we're building the houses are usually on the site helping us. One man's house is in the middle of the forest and he went and cut all these fruits for us to snack on during our break. At the end of the day when we finished laying the foundation of his new house, he made it a point to shake all of our hands (there are 21 of us in this group) and say, "Thank you." I was carrying supplies back to the truck when he stopped me and because my hands were full, I tried to give him an elbow. He didn't accept it though and took the supplies out of my right hand to shake it. The smile on his face, the look in his eyes...it was incredible. We work our asses off all day and we're exhausted and drained (many of us too drained to even eat dinner), but when you meet the people and hear their stories, it makes every ounce of energy and sweat worth it.
Luckily, we've got two Thai people in the group and they teach us Thai words and translate when needed. Everybody we've met (including the people picking us up when we're hitching a ride into town for dinner or people who work in the stores and restaurants we frequent) has a story to tell. The people are in surprisingly good spirits considering all they've seen, experienced, and lost. I'm told that's the Thai way though, that they don't like to express emotion and so they smile when they're telling us these stories of survival and loss.
One woman lost her house and we're building her a new one adjacent to her sister's. The two of them don't get along though, and so the one who originally lived there is pissed that her sister's going to be so close to her. It's strange to think that instead of being happy that her sibling is safe, she's angry that she's going to be living in her backyard (literally). It's sad.
I had Sunday off and went snorkelling with a few of the other volunteers. We went to Kho Similan ("Nine Islands"). We visited four of the nine and on one of them, I was surprised to see a poster of Andre Agassi taped to the door of one of the tin shacks on the island. When I came back from a short hike, I saw a little seven-year-old Thai boy eyeing the kite I'd brought with me. The "Mother" of our group, who's Thai, told him it was mine and that he should come talk to me. He walked up to me and then turned back to her and asked how to talk to me: "Is he Thai or Farang?" She replied that I was Farang ("foreigner"). He turned back to me and was about to speak when he noticed my piercings and then turned back and asked Mother, "Is it a man or a woman? I've never seen a man with piercings there." She told him I was a man and then I spoke to him in Thai, telling him my name and asking him his (he gave me his nickname which, oddly, was "Fruit"). He turned back to Mother, even more confused than before and said, "He speaks like a Thai!" I walked with him to the beach and we played with the kite for a little while. He was having so much fun...He had a huge smile on his face so when we finished, I handed him the kite and said, "Hai kap" ("gift"). His eyes lit up and he turned away bashfully. Then he turned back to me and said, "Thank you," and puckered up to give me a kiss. Mother offered him some fruit and gum to take home with him but he wouldn't accept them. When she asked him if he didn't like them, he replied, "Yes, of course I like them. But if I take them, you and your friends won't have enough to eat."
I feel like this week has been extremely tough, both mentally and physically. The heat's getting worse and so is the humidity. Each day, someone from our group is out sick. The problems range from stomach problems to hemorrhoids. I've come very close to heat exhaustion a couple of times this week and need to remind myself that you can't build a house in one day (literally) Tomorrow afternoon, I'm supposed to do an arts and crafts workshop with kids from the displaced shelter for which we're building the houses. Emily and I were supposed to do it yesterday, but it was so hot that they sent the kids swimming. Hopefully it'll work out for tomorrow.
I treated myself to a Thai massage tonight...I'm not sure that I liked it. I was really relaxed at one point, on the verge of falling asleep -- and then I woke up to find myself being wrestled into a full nelson. It took me a moment to figure out what was going on and then I remembered someone saying Thai massage is a cross between a massage and chiropractic session. I kept worrying that she was going to pile drive me or snap my neck.
Well, that's it for now until my next update...
Chok dee kap ("Good luck"),
Aly
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May 11 2005 -- New York
Hello to all Third Trippers from the Phuket Posse (and others considering future trips), by Timothy
Just a word of gratitude to Mach, Mui, Jon, Aarti, Montira and all of the others who made the third trip such an incredible experience. I felt totally blessed to be part of a group that came from all over the world to provide some relief for those suffering from the tsunami.
First of all, hats off to Mach for envisioning and organizing such a compassionate endeavor which touches the lives not only of those who we’re mixing the cement and laying foundations for but also has a profound effect on those of us who step outside of our normal routines to contribute and participate.
Mui and Jon's gentle guiding spirit made me feel immediately welcome and at home and were a constant support; Aarti, with her great sense of humor ("show us your guns, girl!"); and Montira with her multi media bag of tricks. She always had on hand candies, fruit, Burmese sunscreen, rambutans, mangosteens, immodium, bandaids, instant coffee...................I swear, she would have pulled a shaker of Cosmos and a Martini glass out of that bag if I asked her. That woman was like the Thai Mary Poppins and I don't know what we would have done if we didn't have her on the line
All in all I feel that we came together as a unit extremely well. At first when I saw Khao Lak and Ban Nam Kem and all of the destruction and heard first hand of the loss of life that the wave had caused I kept thinking that this is just a fraction of the devastation that goes on for thousands of miles along the coasts of several countries. And I thought of that quote from Mother Teresa that a former volunteer wrote on his T-shirt that said " I don't do great things, I do small things with great love." With every bucket of wet cement that we passed hand to hand we helped to lay a foundation for someone’s home that will last for many years (and I think we laid foundations for over 25 houses!)
Some of us also got the opportunity to work with the children at the refugee camps which was also an unforgettable experience. I plan on doing an art show at my school with artwork and photos from these children and will keep you posted as that progresses.
Anyone even remotely considering going on any of the future trips I would highly recommend taking that leap of faith. If you consider that you can’t even go out and buy a banana at the corner bodega without a part of that going towards the building of bombs or weapons or other things we may not approve of it gives a great sense of power to know you have the ability to go out into the world and personally commit “random acts of kindness”. The gratitude shows in the faces of those lives that you are able to touch with your compassion and it will greatly improve the way you walk through life.
Here’s to my fellow Third Trippers, you were a constant source of inspiration and laughs while working our collective asses off for a worthy cause. Phuket Posse Rocks!!!
Best Wishes,
Timothy
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May 11 2005 -- Chicago
Reflections, by Nancy
Nothing really prepares you for the experience...it's something that you simply have to throw yourself into, heart and soul, and see where it takes you...it will inevitably take you to places that you have never been, emotionally and physically...to a new understanding of yourself and your capabilities..and to a new appreciation of your place in the world.
Where to begin?? Having been home for a month or so, our trip seems like a distant dream, but at the same time it sticks with me in ways that other travel experiences have not. Thailand has imbedded itself in my heart, permanently. As I go about my mundane life, I find myself wondering what my fellow team members are doing in their (relatively) hum-drum jobs, how the houses are progressing, whether the rain has cooled the unbearable heat, whether our Thai friends are resettled into new houses yet, how Richard's leg is healing, whether our young friends Bam and Bia are back in school yet, whether the Thais ever talk about the crazy Americans who descended on their village, whether the ice cream man has replaced the daily sales he lost when we left...
The experience overall was fantastic...with moments of frustration, personal doubt, boredom and pettiness sprinkled throughout to remind us all that we are human. For me, the experience was all about the people involved..both my fellow Group 2 volunteers and the Thais we worked with. Our team...a motley crew, assembled from all corners of the globe, representing all ages, all backgrounds, all viewpoints, and yet we somehow managed to come together over 2 intense weeks to achieve our goal of helping the Thai people. I was amazed at the relative maturity of the group..how people were able to put aside personality differences and focus on our common goal.
I was also frankly amazed at the leap of faith that people took in coming to Thailand and working with The Phuket Project..it was a start up organization, work projects were in flux, many kinks had yet to be worked out, most volunteers didn't know Mach, and yet they came anyway..they wanted to help and were willing to take a leap of faith to do so. I think most volunteers would agree that leap paid off hundred-fold, but it just as easily could have failed miserably.
And then there were the Thais...I truly believe that they made us better volunteers. When I was drenched in sweat (when wasn't I?) and frankly ready to throw in the towel, I would look around the job site and see the other Thai women slogging on...I'd think if they can do it, then so can I. When I was cranky, hot and hungry, I'd hear the Thais giggling on the bucket brigade and I'd begrudgingly smile. I specialized in wall building--I became so focused on making progress that I forgot to take breaks, I'd get frustrated at people who were talking more than working, I'd count the number of courses that I laid that day...I was doing this project for the Thais...I wanted them to know that I cared..I wanted to help my friends.
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