Blanket them With Love -Flood&Cold Relief Thailand

The Rainbow After the Floods

As most of our donors have been alerted in the last report on the flood in the province of Nakhon Sithammarad (on 5 December), you probably remembered that the Choosin school had faced a bout of flooding right after the Foundation had visited and given out raincoats to the children there. As a result, the school had to be suspended due to stagnant water that had nowhere to flow because the whole city was affected, and the clean-up that followed.

However, you may not have heard of the second flooding that followed. Sometimes disasters have a way of hitting those who are down. From 5th to the 11th January, the constant heavy downpour and tropical storm that hit the province was worse than the one that happened 1 month before and the suffering from the second time was worse than the first and the damage was massive.

The school director who is already in her 70s, was messaging to our Foundation, as the second flood came, recording how the water was inching upwards, and she watched in horror as the the flood waters slowly reached up to knee level and then to the chest. In some areas the flood waters reached up to the people's necks!

Mrs Kanitha wrote in her sms to us, "In my 70 years of my life living here, I have never seen a flood this high!" She also described how the whole city was like a dead town, as everywhere was under water and food was scarce. In fact the news said that the only bridge that was used for the river crossing for major transportation southwards, had been severed and there was no way food could reach the stranded city.

It was only with the ingenuity of some jetski owners from Phuket, who were able to bring in some neccesities for the people of Nakhon Sithammarad.

By the time the flood slowly subsided, hundreds of the books, important documents, and many of the computers were destroyed. For a small, private school that caters to the poor and needy, with little assistance from the government, their loss was colossal.

Because of the floods, the energies of the staff was taken up with a massive clean-up (yet again) and  retreiving whatever could be salvaged.

Our Foundation therefore made another urgent call for help, asking for 400 gifts to be given to the students and also a remote seaside village in Bak-Pa-Nang, where they suffered for longer because of high tides and run-off from the main city.

We are thankful to all donors who answered the call for help, as we were able to collect 650 gifts in time for Valentine's day, to show love to our fellow thais. In addition, rice and monetary helps were also given to the teachers and the school to help in the recovery from the devastation.

Again, thank you donors for being that Rainbow after the Floods!

Gratefully yours!