NEWS NOVEMBER 2011
29 November 2011
The water continues to recede and is now more or less at the flood level of 2009. There are still people living along the road as they cannot access their homes and the stagnant water remains visible all over the area.
The last days we were busy with preparing the activities “Back To School” and “Restore Life”. We have shuttled quite a few times between the Makro and home to pick-up the items planned for the above mentioned activities. Nearly every day some people of the village came to help us with sorting out the goods.
Pictures of what was ongoing on 26 and 27 November can be found here.
Tomorrow we have the activity “Back to School”, which find place at the school near Wat Jom Ket on the east bank of the Lopburi River. The children have been cleaning up their classrooms and the first lessons are starting tomorrow. All children will receive a lunch followed by the distribution of school stationary. The lunch comprises a rice dish, fried bananas and … ice cream. The activity starts at 11.30 Hr.
The Group Lizzy Hua Hin - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated again 10,000 Baht on 28 November bringing the total of donations for this group at the amount of 780,000 Baht.
We have a donation announced by Ms Brigitte K. from Sam Roi Yot through Mr/Ms Markus & Daeng Rellstab with the special wish to help out sick children and disabled elderly. We will look with special care into the wish of Brigitte.
We sent out a clip on “Tears of Indra” regarding an activity held in October. We apologize for the inconvenience maybe incurred in sending out this rather large file. Certain networks did not accept it due to their policy.
We thank all who helped out.
24 November 2011
On 24 November we gathered some villagers of Tambon Khayai to help us with the preparations of Restore Life I in starting to unpack and sort out the goods we bought already. We are nearly three weeks back at our house, but it still looks as a bomb had exploded. It is a long way to recover, but we can't complain. Out there is nothing compared with our privileged situation.
Pia went looking for goods in Ayutthaya as these hour-long trips to neighboring provinces starts to drain out her physical resources. We try to find the best quality for the cheapest price, but this needs a lot of go-and-back between retailers and requires a lot of driving. But the result is there. We saved on the planned budget for Restore Life, and with that money we can help more people out. We want to use the donated funds as good as possible, so we need to be careful when buying goods.
At Hua Ro market in Ayutthaya, Pia stood in a shop to buy some goods. In front of her there was a young woman with a baby and she was asking the Chinese shop owner for a canvas. She explained the man she returned home and found her house still flooded and she needed some cover to stay under until the water receded and she could re-enter her house.
The Chinese offered her a canvas at the price of 1000 Baht, but she declined stating it was too big. The man went to the backside and came back with another cover. He said that he normally sold this one for 800 Baht, but he wanted from her only 600 Baht because of her situation (he understood the first canvas was not too big, but too expensive). She shuffled the baby on her other arm and grasped in her pocket counting a number of twenty Baht bills and then seeking again for some nickel in order to gather the 600 Bath. It was seemingly the woman’s last money.
Pia observed the situation and as she just had ordered blankets for Restore Life, she told the shop owner to put the canvas on the bill of the blankets. The girl dived to the ground still holding the baby, bowed very deep Thai-style and uttered a lot of thanks. When Pia recalled the story I had to think at Phil Collins’ song “Another day in paradise”
She calls out to the man on the street
"Sir, can you help me?
It's cold and I've nowhere to sleep
Is there somewhere you can tell me?"
Oh, think twice, it's just another day
For you, you and me in paradise
Just think about it
This time there was a Chinese man and the donors of “Tears of Indra”, not to walk on, neither not to look back, nor pretending not to hear. You donors, made the woman and the baby their day! All over flooded Thailand there are hundreds of these babies and girls, hundreds of young and old people with only a simple sheet of plastic above their heads. Just think about it. You did!
The day before we had visited the elephant kraal situated south of us in Ayutthaya city district. We stopped again at the place. There were two small stalls located at the foot of the Elephant Kraal building; one selling food, another selling vegetable and fruit. As it was already late we bought up the remaining stock of warm fresh food left, including some fresh vegetables and fruits, which we distributed under the people taking care for the cows and baby elephants on top of the structure.
Afterwards we went visiting an elderly woman, her daughter and a baby who were camping under a plastic sheet in the adjacent hamlet of Pho Sam Ton. We encountered them the day before when we were distributing Guy Turf’s polo-shirts and we had requested the needs for the family. We bought the requested items for the baby and delivered next to drinking water, also some of the items donated by the staff of the embassy of Belgium.
This concluded another day in paradise. Pictures you can find here.
We received again a donation from the Group Lizzy Hua Hin - “Wir Helfen Uns” as from the Group Ruan Siam (Nongyao (Jeab) Chitreechao, Jum (Lek) Chitreechao and Carlo De Paoli) from Switzerland. This group sold especially food in their restaurant in Baar ZG to support the activities of “Tears of Indra”.
In name of all the flooded people in our area, we thank you all.
23 November 2011
The situation in Tambon Khayai remains much the same. Water has gone down for a few centimeters but still many villagers on the west bank of the Lopburi River have to paddle to the main road as their houses are still standing in the heavily swollen river. The road on the east bank is still flooded and most of the houses can only be accessed by boat.
Whatever the government is stating that the situation is turning to normal in the area of Ayutthaya, has to be taken with a serious pitch of salt. Everything here is still one large sea of stagnant water. The pollution is enormous. Though nothing much is mentioned in the newspapers, when visiting the hospitals you can see them clearly battling with an excess of patients. A strong wind started to blow from the north east, but the temperatures did not drop yet as it was in earlier years.
The account of the activities from 20 till 23 November 2011 you can find here.
The Group Lizzy Hua Hin - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated again 10,000 Baht on 19, 21 and 23 November bringing the total of donations for this group of friends and friends of friends at the amount of 760,000 Baht.
Since Tuesday we have again access to broadband internet and we can say finally farewell to our wireless stick on which we worked for more than 6 weeks. It feels good to be able to upload pictures in a single minute during daytime instead of an hour or more in the mid of the night. As we have more capacity, we started to put captions with the pictures.
We thank all our donors for their help and trust they have put in “Tears of Indra”.
20 November 2011
The water of the Lopburi River slowly declined the last couple of days with about 15 centimeters. The water on the premises of Wat Ton Satu has been pumped out, but the site sits completely under the silt and requires much maintenance. Most houses in Tambon Khayai are still flooded, but life is slowly returning.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday Pia and Dawit went looking for the items for “Restore Life I”. It is not that easy, as in many places there is not sufficient stock, because most of the goods need to transit through Bangkok; Krungthep Maha Thale is still fighting with flood in many areas.
The old man was allowed to leave the hospital on Thursday. We went to pick him up and brought him back home; this time not the roadside sala, but his own house where the upper floor was finally cleared from floodwater. He is still on medication. We will follow up his health until he is completely recovered. We did not know when we brought him in, but the hospital in Nakhon Luang was a Royal Hospital and sponsored by the King of Thailand. We did not have to pay for his stay at the hospital, neither for his medication. As he lost all his cloths in the flooding, we bought him some pants. T-shirts will follow.
Pictures of the activity on 19 November can be found here.
The Group Swiss of Ms Snoh Stocker & friends donated 42,640 Baht for Tears of Indra on 9 November. We also received the donation of Mr/Ms Guido & Hilde Schouteet (Belgium) well.
The Group Lizzy Hua Hin - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated 140,000 Baht in the period between on 11 and 18 November.
Nongyao (Jeab) Chitreechao, Jum (Lek) Chitreechao and Carlo De Paoli from Switzerland announced a substantial donation gathered through their restaurant "Ruan Siam" in Baar ZG. The group made special Thai food for sale to gather funds for “Tears of Indra”.
We do know all donors have put their trust in us. We from our side like the use of the donations from "Tears of Indra" as transparent as possible. Every activity on the website has a reference to the bills and the amount used.
We have only printed bills from large supermarket such as Makro, Big C and Tesco Lotus. The bills of the supermarkets were often very long, so we only scanned the last part of these bills. For supplies bought locally we can only provide a written bill from the shop (it is not an habit of local shops to write out bills), which is often a simple piece of paper. On some occasions there were simply no bills as the circumstances of the moment did not allow it.
As we have access to a scanner now, we started to publish all the bills in our possession on the webpage “Balance”. It figures as a photo stream bottom page. For an enlarged look click on the photo frame. It will lead you to “Tears of Indra” photo album. If you want information regarding one or another bill, please send us a mail, we will be glad to answer your question. The bills are all renamed as - YYMMDD Bill No-, so it is easy to link them to the activity on the website.
In the name of the people of Tambon Khayai and Khlong 1, we thank you all.
Yesterday, 14 November, we went visiting the old man in the hospital at Nakhon Luang and we brought him fresh supplies. He is recovering slowly and still hangs on infusion but he is likely to leave the hospital next Monday.
Between “the soup and the potatoes”, we are now trying to recover from the floods ourselves and started cleansing out all the dirt, selecting the still usable goods and throwing away what is damaged. We have to say it is a frustrating job, as it will take some time before we will be back to more or less the old situation. But that’s the fate of all flooded. We are not alone.
What’s up now?
We continue to help out the people in need of Tambon Khayai on a day-by-day basis. We plan one more distribution of emergency packages based on the supplies we received from Hua Hin and on rice freshly bought. This activity will be announced later.
Restore Life I slowly gets shape. We received from our hamlet headman - Khun Montri - the list of names of the 300 people - 50 per hamlet - who are in need the most. We have to thank our hamlet headman for his kind co-operation and coordination with the other headmen and with Pho Sam Ton sub-district (Khayai sub-district has no technical support service and resorts under the greater Pho Sam Ton sub-district). It is also Khun Montri who arranged us the trucks to deliver supplies on 8 October and on 9 October; and coordinated the pick-up of the supplies by the people of Tambon Khayai during all later activities.
We took contact with the head monk of Wat Ton Satu to make the reservation of the temple grounds and main vihara for Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December. Pia left today for Talat Thai to order the different items to constitute the individual sets.
What with the remaining funds after Restore Life I?
The remaining donations will be used for “Restore Life II” and for activity “Flood Aftercare”.
The activity Restore Life II comes on request of the local community of Pho Sam Ton, where many elderly are desperate and still in need.The activity Restore Life II will be held at Wat Pho Hom in Pho Sam Ton (the three Bo trees), a sub-district in the immediate vicinity of Tambon Khayai and also belonging to Bang Pahan district; this likely on 17 December.
The activity Flood Aftercare will be continued by Pia in helping out the people in need as she is doing already since many years. Flood Aftercare will still use remaining funds of “Tears of Indra”.
As thus we will keep all donors informed on a monthly basis, what has been done with the remaining donations. When the balance is zeroed, “Tears of Indra” will fade away in history.
We helped out - just as you donors did - not for the name or the fame. We made a bridge over the flood waters with our heart.
“Tears of Indra” was one small machine with a lot of helping hands and every hand had its own importance. We are you and You are we. Without each other there would not have been “Tears of Indra” and its humanitarian aid.
It is also important to underscore the giant hand with likely hundreds of fingers. It is the hand of Lizzy Michael and her friends, and friends of friends; the group “Wir Helfen Uns”. Without this constant blood transfusion, we would not have been able to realize “Restore Life” and many of the humanitarian aid activities of “Tears of Indra”. Sie haben wirklich sehr geholfen.
In name of all the flooded people of Thailand You helped out, we thank You.
13 November 2011
The situation in Tambon Khayai remains the same. The road on the east bank is still flooded, so are most of the houses on both banks. As Bangkok is still obstructing the flood water running south, the waters are still high. As we are mid-November, Ayutthaya province is already flooded since three months. Pictures of the activity on Friday 11 and Sunday 13 November can be found here.
“Restore Life” will take place on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December 2011 on the premises of Wat Ton Satu, Tambon Khayai, Moo 5. 150 people of the hamlets Moo 1 to 3 will receive their set on 10 December. 150 people of the hamlets 4 to 6 will receive their set on 11 December. All donors will be invited by mail.
The polo-shirts donated by Mr Guy Turf have been collected in Bangkok on Saturday, 11 November.
The supplies bought by the donations of Mr/Ms Markus & Daeng Rellstab (Hua Hin) and Mr/Ms Peter & Sybille Krauer (Switzerland) arrived well in Tambon Khayai. The transport of the supplies was arranged by Lizzy Michael (Hua Hin). Our thanks to all.
12 November 2011
The situation in Bang Pahan remains nearly the same. The Lopburi River is slowly retracting, centimeter by centimeter, day by day; but its level is still higher than the flood of last year. For the Bangkokians last year means nothing, but for the people in the central plains the flood of last year was one of the highest since 1995. Looking back today, that flood was “peanuts” compared with the one of this year; but still counted for 232 deaths, affected 7 million people in more than 25,000 villages and took the life away of one of our friends. Pictures below are only taken over a distance of 200 meter along the west bank early morning, but they give more or less an idea of the present situation. Be aware that the east bank is still in a worse condition.
11 November 2011
The account of the activity from Thursday 10 November you can find here.
On Friday morning I went visiting the old man again. This time he looked already in better shape. His fever came down, but he has likely to stay an extra week in the hospital to recover.
We ordered one hundred rice meals and Thai sweets based on rice in the morning at a local shop as part of the village “reactivation”. In the afternoon we went to deliver these ready warm meals in Tambon Khayai and vicinity.
We have to thank all our donors again. We received donations from Ms Im, sister of Nitthaya (Jum) Meyer (Rangsit) and Mr/Ms Paul & Lek Turcksin (Saraburi). The latter was alarmed by the notice, the Belgian Embassy sent out to its compatriots, in which the activity of “Tears of Indra” was announced. We thank all donors for their donations and the embassy of Belgium in Bangkok for their initiative. The personal assistant to the Belgian ambassador - Ms Sophie Damme - is also busy this weekend in buying blankets for the Restore Life activity. We thank also His Excellence Rudi Veestraeten for supporting ‘Tears of Indra”.
A donation was announced by Mr/Ms Guido & Hilde Schouteet (Belgium).
The Group Lizzy Hua Hin - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated 20,000 Baht on 8 November and another 20,000 Baht on 9 November. If we did not have Lizzy Michael and all her friends, and friends of friends, we had in fact already longtime to stop our aid activities. Lizzy and her group managed to gather 590,000 Baht for “Tears of Indra” and - looking at the incoming SMS - still more is to come. We do not know really what to write or what to say. It is really incredible. We all know she works very hard and late night in collecting donations. She deserves a statue in Hua Hin.
On Saturday we pick up the goods kindly offered by Guy Turf (Bangkok) of OrgaThai. Guy donated 170 polo-shirts to “Tears of Indra”, which will be used in the activity “Restore Life”.
On Sunday we receive the goods bought and donated by Markus & Daeng Rellstab and Peter & Sybille Krauer (a small part was paid by ToI funds). Lizzy Michael arranged the transport of the special supplies from Hua Hin to Bang Pahan. We could not pick them up prior as we were completely flooded at Khlong 1 and we had no place to store the items at that moment. We thank all for their kindness.
We received a donation via a Foreign Transfer Transaction on 2 November. We do not know the donor. If you donated and your name is not on the donor list, please send us an e-mail.
For each activity we have published the costs. A page “Balance” has been added to the website. At the moment we are scanning in the bills. All bills in our possession will be published in one folder at http://picasaweb.google.com/106169825480498381212.
10 November 2011
The account of the activity from 8 - 9 November you can find here.
The situation in our area - as in so much other areas all over Central Thailand - is terrible. People live on the street, just as it was the case until the flood wave of 5-6 October. Many returned, but their houses are still flooded and inaccessible. The water still stands on both sides of the road. There are no sanitary facilities; snakes are crawling around trying to keep dry ground, there is hardly anything.
Everything looks filthy or better is filthy; rusty roofs and walls of the tin shack houses, all bushes and low trees brown died off, pollution everywhere, roads completely damaged. Oil drifts on the water, garbage swims around. Nowhere there is a tap with emergency water, which leads to the supposition that people still use this flood water for their daily activities.
At the lunch table in the vihara, after the ceremony, we spoke with villagers. Though many try to keep their head up, for some recounting what happened to them on the night and morning of 5/6 October when a flood wave hit twice the village and the days after, it became too much to bear. They had to evacuate in small boats, hardly anytime left to take belongings, grabbing their dogs and cats, sometimes a caged chicken or bird. Some nearly drowned in the heavy water current of the Lopburi River. This river - becoming mad - took lives. It remembers us a song: “It’s sad, so sad, it’s a sad sad situation” (Elton John - Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word).
Today we live again one of the most important festival days of the year. The full moon night of the 12th lunar month is the time for the Loi Krathong festival. The word "Loi" in Thai means "to float", while "krathong" refers to a receptacle most commonly made from banana leaves. A candle and a coin are placed inside the leaf cup, which is then placed on the water and left to float away, as offering to Phra Mae Khongka - Goddess of the Waters.
Legend has it that in Sukhothai, a girl known as Naphoman, shaped the very first krathong and presented it to her king, some 700 years ago. It has been an annual festival ever since. By tradition, the krathong is to give thanks to the water and say sorry for have used (or misused) it. Thai often cut a fingernail and a piece of hair, putting it symbolically in the krathong as letting go the bad parts of themselves; the grudges, the anger and defilements. Bad luck is floated away, a new life is ahead and good luck is expected. The water gives, the water takes.
Many people in Bang Pahan – and in many other places of Central Thailand - will not be feasting Loi Krathong this year. It is a good opportunity to keep the mind silenced for a moment and reflects on Buddha’s philosophy stating that everything is in motion, everything changes, and everything appears and disappears. We need to be prepared at all times.
Tonight we will float a krathong on the banks of the Lopburi River for all our donors; light up its candles and pray that its flame might bring rewards and happiness for them forever.
As we push away we pray,
We can see a better day.
We wish you all a nice Loi Krathong festival.
08 November 2011
The waters in Tambon Khayai, Bang Pahan are receding. Our garden was once part of the greater Lopburi River, but the waters are now slowly retracting from the garden. The level though is still about 30 cm higher as the flooding of last year, which means the water is still very high and the houses of the villagers are still submerged.
Also in Khlong 1, an area which remained dry during the great flood of 1995, the water level starts to reduce. Instead of 1.5 meters, it is now at 1.2 meters after more than 3 weeks now of flooding. The above means that the mass of water is still moving south. We hope Bangkok has a better drainage system than adjacent Pathum Thani province; otherwise some of the Bangkokians will be in water world for a few weeks.
The account of the activity from 7 November you can find here.
In April and May, during the peak of the hot season, the water level of the Lopburi River was more than a meter above its normal level for that period; the same for other rivers such as the Pa Sak, Chao Phraya and Noi Rivers in the Ayutthaya area. These abnormal high water levels were the first signs of the impending flood 2011, the biggest flood since 1942. Being river kayakers, this abnormal water situation triggered our attention already early May 2011. Unfortunately no alarm bells at the many governmental institutions dealing with Weather, Rivers and Dams went off, or at least were not heard by the ones who should.
It will be difficult to drain all that water to the sea the coming months, so we will enter a precarious period. If we have early rainfall - meaning prior to Songkran - we are likely in for a new big flooding. This time it will be “2012” in 2012. If in five months, Nakhon Sawan or the “Heavenly City”- located at the confluence of the Ping and Nan rivers, forming the Chao Phraya River - is flooded again, the people in the Central Plains better prepare for a repeat.
Thailand is not prepared (irrigation works are not equal to anti-flood works) and it will take years and a lot of investment to make the necessary substantial structural changes. It is time that the government considers an immediate and serious dredging of their clogged rivers and canals. Rivers run deep; if they don’t, they run wide.
A donation of 30,000 Baht was announced by the Swiss Group of Snoh Stocker.
The Group Lizzy Hua Hin - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated 20,000 Baht on 6 November and another 30,000 Baht on 7 November.
The Embassy of Belgium announced that it is collecting donations in order to buy 150 blankets for the activity “Restore Life”.
We thank all our donors. We can help, because of you. All merit gained is returned.
6 November 2011
On Saturday we relocated to Bang Pahan as the waters started to reside in our area and we wanted to focus our activities again on Khayai sub-district. The road on the west bank can now be used, but the road on the east bank is still flooded about more than a meter high. Cars leaving the Asian Highway cannot reach the four hamlets on the east side; all movement needs to be done by boat. The Lopburi River is still running very fast.
The exit from Khlong 1 towards Ayutthaya was still difficult as only one side of the road was in use and traffic went in both ways. Three lanes suddenly came on a single lane near Future Park, generating a huge traffic stop. After Nawa Nakhon it got better as both sides of the highway were in use. The road has been roughly repaired and there was no problem to reach the bridge over the Lopburi River. We were surprised to see our road, though in a bad state, dry again. The level of water, be it the Lopburi River or the opposite rice fields, is just below the road. All what you can see is water until the horizon. But anyway glad to come home.
The account of the activity from 6 November you can find here.
We updated the bank account and we can confirm the good reception of the donations of following donors: Andre & Goy Hubin, Patrik Vandensande and Dirk & Mon Nicasie.
The Group Lizzy Hua Hin- “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated 34,600 Baht on 3 November and another 11,400 on 4 November; the group’s donations total the magical sum of 500,000 Baht.
We thank all our donors for their great support.
5 November 2011
The waters here at Khlong 1 receded about 10 cm. The mass of water is moving slowly towards the Bangkok area. All nice statements and trials of the government in vain, Bangkok will be flooded for at least 60 percent. Actions are far too late; a little plaster on a large open wound.
An ocean of water more than 100 Km wide and at this moment still 200 Km in length, trying to contain within three rivers is only illusion. Fighting the waters is only extending the agony for the people north of Bangkok. Every announced battle has been lost; the dominos fallen one by one.
The revenge of Mae Khongkha is now Khrung Thep Maha Thale; the result of bad water management and bad urbanization planning, both influenced by local politics; too many players trying to control the waters and a general lack of coordination; the result of not dredging the rivers and canals; the result of the sandbag “policy” during the floods year after year, silting the rivers and canals; obstructed polluted canals; no alarm bells on the amount of rainfall in the first four months of the year. It is hard to admit, but the price has to be paid. Time for Bangkok to be unplugged.
The account of the activity from 4 November you can find here.
In Ayutthaya, a clean-up operation started Thursday. The waters in Bang Pahan are receding and we plan a trip to our sub-district on Saturday. If the conditions are feasible we might return home and start helping from there again. As thus we decided to turn down our help in Khlong 1 area. We still have a same small stock from prior activities and we are able to constitute another 30 emergency packages, which we will distribute in Khlong 1 area.
After being flooded for close to three weeks in this area, it is urgent time for the government to come out of their state of lethargy (only focusing on Bangkok) and to start action; providing help to its population and most important to sanitize the area.
We will start to focus back on the six hamlets of our sub-district. I do not know if internet communication is possible from Khayai at the moment, so it could be that the daily update will not be send out for a while and the website not updated. It does not mean we stopped helping.
We thank Comp Gamer for all donations and especially making their zodiac available to us. After a few days paddling and trying out an electric motor we bought a 5.5 HP long tail motor for the zodiac. The combination of the two extended our action radius and facilitated our help.
The Hua Hin Group under Lizzy Michael - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated again 34,600 Baht on 3 November, bringing their total amount of donations at 488,600 Baht.
As soon as we have the possibility, we try to get the special supplies from Hua Hin donated by Markus & Daeng Rellstab (Hua Hin) and Peter & Sybille Krauer (Switzerland) to Bang Pahan. The road Hua Hin to Bangkok is still flooded to our knowledge.
Aside, for the art-lovers under the readers of this mail, Sybille Krauer is an artist and a display of her work can be found at Krauer-Art. Maybe Lizzy Michael of the Hua Hin Group “Wir Helfen Uns”, can mention it in her regular flyer to the German speaking community of Hua Hin as some lovers-of-art might be interested.
We thank again all our donors and all who kept the flooded refugees of Thailand in their heart and mind. You all generated a lot of karma.
4 November 2011
Yesterday we went helping out Wat Rangsit were 60 adults and children are sheltered.
The account of the activity from 3 November you can find here.
The Hua Hin Group under Lizzy Michael - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated 44,000 Baht on 2 November. We thank this very special group for their kind-heart and feeling with all the people in dire need.
We received a mail and a phone call from the Belgian Embassy on Sathorn Rd expressing the wish to lend a hand. We are looking now together, in what way this help can be realized.
We did not update our bank account for a while, but we intend to do that tomorrow on our way to Bang Pahan. We will visit Tambon Khayai and vicinity and look into the need of the community there.
We thank again all our donors. Without their help, we would not be able to help out.
3 November 2011
The level of water here in Khlong 1 remains unchanged. Also in Tambon Khayai, Bang Pahan the water remains at the same level, after having dropped about half a meter. Bangkok is still trying to keep the flood water out, which seems to delay the receding of the waters more north.
The account of the activity from 2 November you can find here.
The Hua Hin Group under Lizzy Michael - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated again 45,000 Baht on 1 November, bringing their total of donations at 410,000 Baht.
We have a donation announced from Dirk & Mon Nicasie of Belgium. Dirk runs the company Dimaro, specialized in locksmith.
We thank all the donors of “Tears of Indra” for their help and trust.
2 November 2011
Yesterday morning we went with the zodiac delivering water to Wat Thamma Suk Jai about 1.5 Km south of our location. We went down Soi “Lotus”. The situation remained still the same; deep flooding, massive floating garbage and dark polluted waters. We smashed into the open temple gate as the current running south, was very strong. The zodiac nearly exploded when hitting the iron fence. Pia became nearly food for the fish. I suddenly saw her straw hat floating on top of the water, I looked on my right … Pia was gone. As she was sitting next to me, she must have been overboard. Suddenly I heard some noise behind me, turned, and found Pia in the rear of the boat on top of captain Anucha. The fish will have to wait for lunch…
We passed to the south of the vihara, where a makeshift kitchen was installed for the 30 people residing there and delivered the water and some of the remaining fresh supplies (vegetables, fish and pork) bought yesterday in the Makro. We returned north over Soi “Blue Bridge” and passed Wat Khlong 1 to hear what were the needs. Also here we donated some fresh supplies.
From there we went with the boat to the Big C. Also here the mall adapted to the situation and made now a small harbor. We bought again some fresh supplies to deliver immediately to people in need in our immediate vicinity.
We turned under the bridge of Khlong 1, where some very poor families sought shelter against the weather and flood. We donated the just bought supplies. Here after we turned to the family house to gather some remaining goods left from 16 October and returned to the apartment where we constituted another number of packages to be delivered at later stage.
On returning to the apartment, the man taking care informed us that the electricity company, which we requested for several days in a row, passed by and cut off the electricity for more than an hour in order to move the main electricity box about half a meter up.
On 29 October the main electricity box was already moved up for about 30 centimeters (it was half flooded in the morning at critical point and when returning in the evening the bottom stood just at water level), without any electricity cut - a disabled family member was present that day. Until now neither the construction workers in the building opposite, neither the caretaker of the apartment know who moved up the main box that day. It looks like one of Roald Dahl’s “Tales of the Unexpected”. We can assure you the water did not recede suddenly with 30 centimeter, it continued rising instead. It reminds me a sentence in the song “Camouflage” from Stan Ridgeway “Things are never quite the way they seems”.
Many of our donors at early stage, Ms Naphornphat (Bang Khae), Mae Nui (Bang Bua Thong) and Mae Chaeng (Phra Ram 2) fell victim of the flooding in Bangkok area and had to leave their homes as the flood became too deep. We feel with them in these troubled times and wish them strength.
We received a donation of Kjell-Åke & Britt-Marie Karlsson from Sweden. We know Kjell-Åke & Britt-Marie from our tour of duty with UNMOGIP (United Nations Military Observer Group in India & Pakistan) about ten years ago and remained in contact over the years. We still have good vibrations of this UN-mission in Kashmir.
1 November 2011
The water level at Khlong 1 remained unchanged, chin deep. Water as thus is still coming down from areas in the north, hence the strong current; but the good thing is that the water does not rise anymore.
The account of the activity from 31 October you can find here.
We have donations announced from Andre & Goy Hubin (Belgium), Patrik Vandensande (Belgium) and Patrick Degallier (Switzerland).
We received a donation of +20,000 Baht from Chookdee Magazine via Koen Van de Sande, The transfer was done via an electronic money banker, but we have some problems to retrieve the funds as we are still in status "unverified". There might be light in the dark soon. Chookdee Magazine is the only magazine on Thailand, for Belgium and The Netherlands.
The Hua Hin Group under Lizzy Michael - “Wir Helfen Uns” - donated again 35,000 Baht on 29 October and 25,000 Baht on 31 October, bringing their total of donations at 365,000 Baht. This group should have a place in Ripley's "Believe it or Not" or a statue in front of Hua Hin's railway station.
The last update of the account was done on 28 October. We will confirm the Foreign Transfer donations from this date onward as soon as we can do an update of the account. If you are a donor and your name is not on the donor list, please contact us.
We thank all our donors in the name of the people of Tambon Khayai in Bang Pahan (Ayutthaya) and of Khlong 1, Khlong 2 and Lak 6 in Thanyaburi (Pathumthani) for their kindness and feeling with the people of Thailand touched by this mega flooding, started many months ago in the north and mid-Augustus in Ayutthaya Province. Today, first of November, after so many weeks, they still continue to live in or on top of their flooded houses.