Field Reports

TEAM FIELD REPORT 3
February 14, 2005

The hotel fountain's trickle helps to create the illusion that it is cooler then the 95F average temperature. Though this heat is still a challenge for many of us, there are longer moments our bodies seem (almost) to have acclimated. Yet in every moment, there is a larger awareness of how relatively minor our heat (and other) inconveniences are. We are not living in a tin or plywood 1- room shelter with our meager belongings stacked against the walls. We have not lost homes, loved ones, outrun and barely survived towering waves or witnessed those who did not.

We have learned so much in the process of our work here in southern Thailand. We have made many contacts including with other organizations working in the refugee camps. One of us, for example, described our SE orientation and work to a representative of the Social Workers Across Borders group in the camp serving Baan Nam Kem villagers. This group has been doing exercise classes for the elderly in the camp as a way to encourage them to get out of their houses. This group may be interested in receiving some training and we collected their contact information.

We have also become close to a number of staff at the hotel; many are themselves suffering from fear and loss following the tsunami. Our team has been doing Qi Gong at the edge of the sea each morning and many evenings. We invited some of the hotel staff to join us. However, they did not yet feel ready to go to the sea, so the class was held in the hotel.

Our work has been divided between doing drop-in home visits in the temporary shelters, sessions at the medical tent where the staff refers us patients who report symptoms, and work in the child care center. We are realizing that a goal we have for future teams is to have our own SE tents in the camps and, perhaps, outside the wats (temples). This would promote much more “continuity of care” as well as visibility in the communities we are serving. We have been here long enough to have provided more than one SE session to some of the villagers in the camps. It is a challenge to find them after a first session because their lives are changing day by day. While it can be frustrating to be unable to find someone in the camps, often we are told it is because they now have found work…or are back in the village participating in rebuilding. This sign of healing is a welcome one!

We go each week into the Baan Nam Kem village. This village was the worst hit, almost completely demolished by the waves. Villagers are making their way back to the village during the day and we do sessions sitting in partially demolished houses surrounded by debris and curious family members. Time spent in the village heightens our understanding of the magnitude of the tsunami’s force, the devastation the villagers have been exposed to, and the miracle that they survived. It is reassuring to the villagers to know that we have been to their village and are not afraid to go close to the sea. We have also spent time at the wat that serves this village and it was here that we met the “psychology monks”. They seem to be doing very thoughtful work with the villagers and the way they work is very compatible with SE. A few of us are interested in taking the Buddhist materials the monks have given us and weaving SE concepts into them. So many parts of the disaster region (Sri Lanka, Indonesia, parts of India) have Buddhist people that it makes SE more culturally relevant if we can draw from the tenets of Buddhism when we work with them.

Last week we conducted a teacher in-service for 15 staff at Wat Kom Ma Nee Ya Ked School. This week we conducted another half-day workshop for 15-school presentation at the Ranong Province. It went very well with the organizing schools asking us for another workshop when the next team returns. Slowly, the word is spreading about who we are and what we are doing.

Several of us had the fortunate opportunity to conduct an informal interview with a PhD psychologist monk from Bangkok who was working in the wat the same day we were. Monks are one of the most influential groups working among the many Buddhist villagers. The Buddhist philosophy provides an important framework from which to understand and work with the villagers’ beliefs. We asked the monk to discuss the way he has approached such issues as survivor guilt, fear of returning to the sea, search for and despair at not finding bodies of loved ones, and rumors in the camps of another tsunami. He was extremely helpful to us and we have hopes of talking further with him when we return to Bangkok. We also have hopes of perhaps scheduling a future orientation or training at Mahachulalongkornratcha-wittayalai University (usually referred to as “Monk U”) in Bangkok where we could present SE concepts to these very influential resource people.

Each week we seem to be involved in some community event. On Sunday, February 13th, we attended an ecumenical service by the sea at Baan Bang Ngiang, another beach town that was severely destroyed. Muslims, Christians and Buddhists were all in attendance, an estimated 5,000 participants! The Thai Tourism council sent busloads of Thai tourists to demonstrate the continuation of life and the revival of one of the primary industries here, tourism. Under the fringes of the few remaining palm trees, orange robed monks sat near the calm turquoise sea. Most participants dressed in white. Children, in their school uniforms, carried offerings of white roses chanting prayers and songs wove everyone together. The ceremony was a mosaic of sadness, joy and honoring, offering a way to reconnect to each other and to the sea that only 6 weeks ago rose up so destructively and took away so much. An honor guard saluted those who had died, including the Royal Grandson. The ceremony was both bittersweet and hopeful.

After 2 weeks of seeing only empty seas it is gratifying to see a few boats beginning to venture back to the fishing areas. Many of the villagers we have been working with were fishermen and women. At this stage of their recovery process many still say they do not want to go back to the sea. They want to raise vegetables high up the mountain. While we assume this fear will gradually dissipate, it certainly shows the power of ‘over coupling’ and its grip on the psyche.

We had also hoped to work directly with the military who had been involved in early recovery efforts. They have been staying at our hotel and we have spoken to them briefly. Our first day here the Army commander told us of difficulties some of his battalion was having from doing the body identifications. He asked if we could do some work with some when they returned from their four-day break. When they returned, the command had changed and they were in another phase of their work, focusing more on construction, so their interest had shifted. There is a big shift after 5-6 weeks and the initial crisis work has passed. Though disappointing, it was important to learn that is timing is critical when working with the military.

We are very pleased with the ways we are applying what we have learned in our work here. It is a lot to assimilate and it has been exciting as well as challenging to design and use materials that are both culturally relevant and appropriate to this disaster. We feel honored to be able to do this work!

February 14, 2005 TOP Team Thailand Kao Lak, Thailand