Nakhon Si Thammarat

Count your blessings.  What a humbling day!  We accompanied the humanitarian couple to ceremonies recognizing the Church as contributors in helping finance material costs for the re-construction of homes destroyed by the flood of 2011. This is what we do as public affair missionaries, documenting ceremonies and writing articles.  These ten homes were inhabited by disabled people, mostly elderly.  The government branch of the Ministry of Social Services had exceeded their budget, so they asked if the Church could assist. The couple wrote it up as a project, and it was approved by church headquarters.  We visited 5 homes each for the next two days.

Picture of damaged home

 The home are NOT your typical homes.  Most of the homes did not have indoor plumbing; they were located back in the woods; they were approx. 10-ft by 12-ft and housed anywhere from 2-5 people.  One room for living, sleeping and eating!  Most cooking is done outside. They were all constructed of bamboo and wood studs with tin roofs.  They were replaced with concrete block walls, concrete slabs, heavy fiberglass corrugated roofs, framed with wood or steel depending on the construction of the house to which they might be attached.

Clearing to build foundation

Finished home - 12 x 14 with indoor plumbing

Her home

  The cost was an average of $4300. Some cost no more than $1000 in repairs.  At the ceremonies, various people stood to speak like the builder, a family member and, of course, the politician showed up.  This sweet lady had her home entirely destroyed. The ceremony was inside her house, and she was crying and sobbing the whole time.  No one had ever done something like this for her.  All she had was her neighbors.


 

  There was always a sign picture.  If you look behind us, you can see a dark blue sign over the door.  The sign we are holding says the same thing, "This house built with support of the Ministry of Social Services and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"












 The community and family provided the labor, and they turned out to see who it was that provided the funds to restore their lives.  Not fluent in Thai yet, we can only guess what the speakers said, but body language told us that they were very grateful. 








 


They always had something to drink like water or soft drinks. They had various food. One place had corn on the cob from their fields.  Others had cookies, breads, fruit, and green custard on white bread (yum).  So we kinda snacked all day.  We learned later that the social services provided the refreshments, so we minimized what we ate and drank so they could use it for their own dinners.  But that corn was good!!











 At each house, they had chairs set up for the "VIP". Some had canopies to protect us from rain, or provide shade.  Interestingly, both days it rained, but only when we were traveling.  Once we got there, the rain quit and the sunshine came out.  Five times for two days.  More than a coincidence, don't you think?  Either way, it was hot and humid.  Of course, it's Thailand.




 
 

 



 


 







 The best thing about all of this is how grateful they were.  They could not express their gratitude enough.  One lady just kept holding on to Sis. Manning.  One disabled sister had died 10 days before we got there, and they held her picture.  Some were crippled from birth defect, accident, and disease.  Most of the elderly needed cataract surgery.  Some we can help more with wheelchairs and surgery.  One man was in the advanced stages of tuberculosis which had migrated to his bones and would require very expense medication, not only for him but for all those who had come in contact with him as caregivers.

 It's not just the elderly who are impacted by devastation.  There are children, too, who are disabled by poverty.  All of the children seemed happy with nothing.  All of us could learn a lot from doing with less.

Count your blessings

 The elderly lady in the middle painted her face white to pay honor to the white angels.  There are no members in this area.  Sisters Manning and Noorda are the only members. Does this look like a Relief Society gathering, or what?  Very supportive of that little lady in the middle whose home was re-built.