Khao Lak Community Appeal | Charity Projects in Khao Lak Thailand

Land Donation

The Khao Lak Community Appeal has now donated 50% of land costs to the Foundation for Education and Development. This land will be used to build a Learning Centre for 150-200 Burmese migrant Students.

This is a great asset to FED and the Burmese community as previously learning centres had been in rented buildings leading to rent increases and instability of location. The other major positive of having 3 learning centres together in one “unified” centre is that resources can be pooled, transport costs will be reduced dramatically, it will be a lot more efficient to run and therefore funds can go further.

One part of the objective for the Khao Lak Community Appeal is to help improve health care facilities in the Khao Lak area. On 9th April 2010 the Khao Lak Community Appeal donated an ambulance truck to the area of Khuk Khak, Phang Nga.

After researching the situation with emergency Health Care in the area, it became apparent that emergency response vehicles, although available, were either inadequate, far away or belonged to private hospitals (making them an expensive option for locals). We spoke to a local volunteer team from the Narenthorn Organisation to find out a bit more about the situation and they informed us that they were using their own pick up trucks for this work – clearly not an ideal situation.

The Narenthorn Organisation is a non-profit charity working with the government to provide an emergency rescue service to the whole of Thailand. Their objective is to get victims to hospital as quickly and safely as possible. In Phang Nga province Narethorn organization covers 90% of the area for emergency response care. There are 9600 cases every year, however, the organization can only respond to 10% of these due to lack of development and volunteers.

In April 2006 the phone number ‘1669’ was introduced to Thailand, as the emergency response contact number; this connects directly with the Narenthorn Organisation and today most Thai people will use this in an emergency. The Narenthorn Organisation is structured to take great care in placing trained and professional volunteers to rescue centres. Narenthorn works together with Hospitals, both private and public, Health Centres, Charity Foundations and local governments to provide an effective and efficient service. Trainings are provided by hospitals and there are regular meetings between Volunteer teams, Rescue Teams, Call Centres and the Narenthorn centre. The management team, which includes doctors from the ministry of Health, regularly attends meetings to discuss and deliver policies to Rescue Team staff and Volunteers. This provides a good foundation for exchanging knowledge and experience. Rehearsals are also regularly held, the Tsunami was an experience that taught the organisation that this is a priority.

The Khao Lak Community Appeal decided that by donating a vehicle to be used by the Narenthorn Organisation we were contributing to Emergency Health Response in the best way that we could.

On Friday 9th April the Khao Lak Community Appeal Foundation was privileged to be able to donate a new ambulance truck to the Phang Nga province Health Office, to be used by the Narenthorn Organisation. It was donated on a special day held by Phang Nga province and the Ministry of Health to honour emergency services in the 5 provinces of Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. More than 1000 people were in attendance from a broad spectrum of emergency service departments. The day was held just before Songkran, Thai New Year, to remind people of road safety at a time of year when roads are particularly busy.

The Ambulance was formally handed over by Ms. Vikunda (Boom) Quilty and Ms. Anna Pering, on behalf of the Khao Lak Community Appeal, to the Minister of Heath, Khun Jurin Laksanawisit, who was the master of ceremony.

The ambulance truck donated by the Khao Lak Community Appeal is an essential additional to the area as the truck is well equipped and due to its shape and size is ideal for navigating the narrow rural roads throughout the Khao Lak area. Dr. Kajornsak Kaewjaras, the Director of Health for Phang Nga province wishes all districts to be equipped with this kind of vehicle in the future. The Khao Lak Community Appeal is delighted to be able to make such a significant contribution to the community, and to be able to help Dr. Kajornsak on his way to achieving his goal.

Background
On December 26th 2004 a tsunami hit the coast of Thailand in many places. The West Coast, in particular Phang Nga province, was one of the worst affected areas in the country. This was a catastrophic event, which was to have a huge effect on the area for years to come. People lost friends, family, possessions and livelihoods. The Khao Lak Community Appeal decided to help the community in Khao Lak by improving facilities at the largest local school in the area, Watkommaneeyakhet.

Watkommaneeyakhet is one of two schools in Khao Lak catering for children between 5 and 16 years old. The tsunami did no damage to the actual school itself; however, the facilities were desperately inadequate. Watkommaneeyakhet School had very poor sports facilities, an old science laboratory in very poor condition and insufficient IT facilities. In past years the school was not able to replace 8 teachers due to lack of funds. Furthermore there was no swimming pool or swimming instruction available for the school children at this school or in the wider local community.

The Khao Lak Community Appeal set out to help with some of these problems and built a substantial facility including the following:

A fully equipped IT Room with 43 computers, projector and air conditioning
A fully equipped Science Laboratory
A Thai Dance and Arts Room
A half Olympic sized swimming pool
2 Tennis Courts and Tennis equipment
Changing rooms for boys and for girls, complete with toilets and showers.
A Thai Dance Teacher
An IT Teacher
A sports Teacher
An English Teacher

To make the project partially self sustainable we also included:
A small restaurant
A small ‘tuck shop’/convenience store
12 Accommodation rooms
Staff to look after all facilities

The Khao Lak Community Appeal recognises the importance of English as a second language and IT skills for these children, many of whom will go on to pursue a career in the tourist industry. The swimming pool will also help locals to learn to swim and dive, providing jobs in the diving industry. Diving is an important part of the tourist industry in the Khao Lak area and nearly all the diving jobs are currently filled by non Thais.

In April 2008 the swimming pool, tennis courts, classrooms and all other facilities were handed over to the school to manage; Watkommaneeyakhet School now takes care of these amenities and is using them to help sustain and develop the educational equipment at the school.

This school is located between Khao Lak and Bang Niang and has approximately 157 students aged between 5 and 12 from the area. As with many schools in Thailand, the facilities here are not perfect – up until recently the school had only 6 working computers (although 11 in total) in a computer room that was previously open to the elements. This meant that the computers were vulnerable to the very dusty and often damp atmosphere of the area, meaning that they broke regularly

The Khao Lak Community Appeal has donated floor tiles, windows and air conditioning so that the computers will keep in much better condition. This is a vital addition to the school and community as they will no longer have redundant computers and will be able to take advantage of this technology far into the future!

The headmaster of the school has said “Thank you so much to the Khao Lak Community Appeal for this donation”. He awarded The Khao Lak Community Appeal a certificate for the donation at an awards ceremony held at the School at the end of the 2009.

The school has also just received the budget from the government for another 10 computers, so the improvements to this class room will really make a difference.

The Khao Lak Community Appeal currently sponsor 3 teachers; one at Bang Maruan School (a few miles north of Khao Lak) and two at Watkommaneeyakhet School in Khuk Khak.

Teacher sponsorships are important as not all schools can afford to fully staff all classes.

Teacher Au
Au teaches at Watkommaneeyakhet School; she teaches English and helps the Headmaster with any translation work he has. She is a very hard working teacher who has been there since the Khao Lak Community Appeal built the swimming pool and tennis courts. She said she really enjoys her job and hopes to continue in this role well into the future. One day she would like to be a government teacher and is studying at the weekend to pass a qualification for this right now.

Teacher Ruk
The second teacher sponsored by the Khao Lak Community Appeal is Ruk; he is the Sports teacher at Watkommaneeyakhet School. Ruk is really enjoying teaching at Watkomanneeyakhet School; he said he is very pleased that the students are continually improving. Ruk teaches Volley Ball, Kabaddi and swimming (another teacher teaches tennis). He already has a government certificate but would like to continue in this role supported by the Khao Lak Community Appeal.

Teacher Surin
The teacher in Bang Maruan is called Surin, he teaches Thai, Science, Social studies, P.E., boy scouts and English. Surin is a recent addition to the School.

After the tsunami The Khao Lak Community Appeal committed to putting 12 students who lost one or both parents in the tsunami, through education. A scheme was set up which gives the students money for educational expenses each year, and also allows them to save for higher education or future plans after their schooling .

One student, Eil, finished school early and before her scholarship had finished, so The Khao Lak Community Appeal used the remaining funds put aside for her to help her family with equipment that they could use for their fishing business. The money was also used to buy food, clothing and necessities for her baby.

Kommaneeyakhet Temple is located in Khuk Khak, a village a few kilometers north of Khao Lak, and is the centre of community life in the area. The tsunami wave did not cause any damage to the temple, but affected the lives of everyone in the surrounding villages; it was also central to the recovery efforts in the weeks preceding the tragic events in December 2004.

In the early days after the tsunami the temple also helped people that were affected by the tsunami by providing food and accommodation. In the Khao Lak area the official death toll was believed to be approximately 4567 people, however, it is believed that the actual figure exceeds 10,000. This fact alone demonstrates what an impact the tsunami had on the whole community, and therefore shows the importance of a community meeting place, especially a place of worship.

The Khao Lak Community Appeal donated educational equipment to Kommaneeyakhet Temple, which will be used for educating young people and for disseminating information throughout the community. This equipment includes a photocopier, a laptop computer, a projector, a sound system and loud speaker. All items will be a great use to the majority of people in this area who use the Temple as a central meeting place, place of worship and as an educational institute too.

An estimated 100,000 undocumented ‘illegal’ migrants, most of whom are Burmese, currently live in the Phang Nga region of Southern Thailand. They are unable to access the Thai health care system due to fear of deportation and an inability to pay the fees. Many migrants do not have a work permit and so they are denied a Thai health insurance card which would allow them to access treatment at little cost. These migrants live in isolated communities within rubber plantations, fishing villages, construction sites or sawmills. These jobs are termed the 3 D’s; dirty difficult and dangerous.

This project supports 13 Community Health Workers with a budget to carry out their work and the vital medicines that these Burmese migrants need for basic health care. The aims of the project are:

The Community Health Worker Project has been implemented in the Phang Nga Province of Southern Thailand. The purpose of the project is to provide over 1000 more Burmese migrants with access to health care, even in very remote locations. Training of the community health workers was completed in March 2009. The total budget for 13 community health workers for one year is 1,100,000 Thai Baht. The project is continually assessed and all needs of the health workers and patients are reviewed and documented.

Pratuang Patgho (nicknamed ‘Tuang’) lost his leg from the knee down in the tsunami. He is married with 3 children, but he also lost 2 in the tsunami. At the moment the family has one income; Koh Tuang works in his garden (rubber plantations) and from time to time builds furniture. Koh Tuang is also assisted by the government with only 500฿ a month (Approx. 10GBP).
Pratuang Patgho was given a prosthetic leg, but it is a very basic model and is not convenient at all times, especially for moving around the house. Pratuang improvised his mobility himself by using an office chair to move around, but these are not durable and definitely not very convenient!

The Khao Lak Community Appeal has given Pratuang Patgho a wheelchair so that he can now more around more freely than before. This will help him when he is at home and in his workshop.

Marisa’s family is Moken, this is the name for sea gypsy’s who have a long history with the sea and the majority gain their income from fishing. The tsunami was especially disastrous for many Moken people, as their boats and possessions were destroyed or swept away. Marisa’s father was one of these sea gypsy’s whose livelihood and possessions were taken away; he later turned to drink and would frequently hurt her mother and one day Marisa witnessed her father kill her mother .

Now Marisa lives with her brother who, with the help of his wife, looks after their 3 other siblings (including Marisa). The family lives in a donated house in Thap Tawan, and survive off the income from the eldest brother who is a fisherman. The brother’s wife worked in a resort until she became pregnant and was asked to leave; she now takes care of her baby and the other children.

The Khao Lak Community Appeal has agreed to help them with a monthly sponsorship for Marisa for school costs, including transport, food and tuition.

The Khao Lak Community Appeal has also bought new doors for Marisa’s house, as the donated house that they live in had weak doors made of some form of cardboard and had already deteriorated.

Palm has a serious blood disorder, Thalasemia. This means that he had to go to school in Takuapa (45 minutes away) so that he could get to the hospital easily for appointments and regular blood transfusions. Consequently living costs are high for this family.

Volleyball Sponsorship
While at Watkommanneyakhet school the Khao Lak Community Appeal sponsored the Volley ball team for a few months – during this time the Sports teachers team came first in a tournament for the Thai festival Loi Krathong.

Moken Football Team Sponsorship
The KLCA sponsored a moken (sea gypsy) football team with T-shirts during a local competition.

Thai National Children's Day
Childrens day is a day in Thailand to honour children; children are given presents and lots of activities are put on for their benefit. The Khao Lak Community Appeal often contributes to children’s day events, and always gives our sponsored children presents for this occasion. In 2006 we donated money for food and drinks to Watkommaneeyakhet school and in 2010 we donated food and drinks to the moken community’s festivities in Thap Tawan.

Guy's Operation
Guy is a little boy that The Khao Lak Community Appeal sponsors under our scholarship scheme. When he was just 4 years old he suffered from a hernia and needed an expensive operation to remove it. The Khao Lak Community Appeal paid for this operation for him which he had at Phuket Internation Hospital. Guy is now fit and healthy and as cute and cheeky as ever!

Craft Shop

The Khao Lak Community Appeal has also contributed to setting up a non-profit Craft shop in the Khao Lak area, ‘CommUnity Crafts’. The office space we have in Bang Niang accommodates this small shop which will sell hand made items for different community groups, orphanages, schools and charities. So far we have 9 groups represented in the shop:

Saori, a women’s weaving group funded by a Japanese organization after the tsunami
Itsera, a Moken women’s group
Yaowawit, a school started after the tsunami for orphans and children from poor families
Beluga, a school for students from poor families
Home and Life, an Orphanage set up after the tsunami
Foundation for Education and Development, the organization we have worked with to help Burmese migrants – the shop sells items made by the women’s group
Ban Takae Nok Soaps, a women’s group set up after the tsunami
Koh Kho Khao Beads, a cultural and economic project on the island of Kho Khao
Moken Boats, a project started with Moken fishermen after the tsunami.
We will also sell the Khao Lak Community Appeal Cook book here to help raise money for the charity.

CommUnity Crafts will be a craft shop set up specifically for community craft projects around Phang Nga; it is entirely non-profit with all proceeds going into the charities, groups and projects featured. An additional 20% is added on to all items in the shop to help with maintenance costs and promotion. Any additional money made will be put into the Khao Lak Community Appeal’s projects.
The aim of the project is to give people an opportunity and a location to sell their products. Most of the groups were formed to give people an income after the tsunami, some of them are orphanages trying to become self sustainable and there are one or two organizations selling produce to either fundraise for their ongoing projects or to teach more isolated communities a trade and how to sell and market it.

All the bamboo to make the furniture was donated by Mr. Shoo, an organization called ‘Fun for Kids’ built the furniture, and a couple of volunteers and myself painted it all and put the shop together. A sign is currently being designed by a graphic designer who is donating his time for free. This means that the total cost to put everything together has been very minimal. CommUnity Crafts not only promotes community and school groups who are working to achieve a self sustainable income, but also brings them together in one place to help attain this common goal.