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Hello everyone!

Today’s update is packed full of great information. We had a very exciting month and September was amazing!  Thailand relaxed local travel restrictions on the 01^st of September and we were able to make an appointment at the Land Office to legalize the purchase of our new building on the 3^rd of September! The following week the Land Office was flooded and had to close because of heavy water damage. There was only this short window of time where they were open and we were able to get everything done.  Thank you for all your help and the donations from many people in our community that made the purchase of the building possible.

In the week following the purchase, we handed out the first renovation contracts and currently we have two different companies remodeling. One of them is working on installing a new roof on the combined buildings.  They were the first to actually connect the buildings because they started by breaking the dividing wall between our two buildings.  Once the new rooftop is up, they will also waterproof the current cement roof to stop the water leakage. Another company is working in our restaurant. Because we are planning to increase the size of the restaurant with a breakthrough into the new building, we had to move our service counter or we could not see the area in the new building.  Because our restaurant is currently still closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, we thought that this was the perfect time to complete this project.  We are also working with our architect on the final drawings where she will also do the overlay of the new water and electric lines.  We want several contractors to bid the project in the next couple of weeks.  It is really exciting to see this finally going forward after so many years in the making.

Otherwise, sadly not much else has changed. We still have a nightly curfew between 21.00 and 04.00 with many things still closed.  We hope that by the end of the year Thailand will be open again. Vaccinations in the country are finally picking up and everyone at Tamar has finally been able to receive a vaccine or decide against it. Children are still homeschooling, so we are continuing the “Tamar School” where everyday a Tamar Staff Member is making sure that the students follow the online school.    Because this has been going since May, the children are having more and more problems concentrating and sitting at home the whole day is not good for them. The government is predicting they will open schools up on the 1^st of November, but we will see.

We are still giving out many food bags to women that have no income. The whole red-light industry has been closed since March and most people working there have received little help from the government. Our Soi 6 team is working five days per week: 3 days distributing the food and the other days contacting women to arrange it. This whole food distribution is complicated!  Based on government orders, we are not allowed to let the women wait in lines for food bags, so we must arrange individual appointments for each woman spaced in 15 minute intervals.   It is a long and slow process, but the joy in the faces of the women when they receive the food bags is worth it!

Thank you for following us and reading our updates!

Have a wonderful day from the Tamar Family.