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So What Now? |
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We are all aware of the horror of the Tsunami when it first hit, and the huge international operation to help the survivors find loved ones, to be housed and fed, and to salvage anything from their past lives that they could. Now, after more than a year, there is still an emergency situation, although now the problems have changed from finding food and shelter to the long-term psychological and social problems caused by the dramatic events of December 26th, 2004.
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Many organisations, governmental and NGO, helped the survivors to rebuild homes, provided them with food and money to live off, and helped set up schemes to enable the survivors to earn money for themselves. One of these, the Duang Prateep Foundation, set up a temporary shelter to house orphans, and have now finished building a permanent home for children affected by the disaster. |
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It is organisations like this who realized from day 1 that the crisis wasn't going to end with the victims being re-housed and fed. Thailand like many of the countries hit by the Tsunami has a very traditional, familial culture. The bonds of these local communities are incredibly strong; they provide a support system to each other that sadly we in the Western world have all but lost. Thai people are always prepared to support everybody, freinds and family alike in every aspect of daily life from bringing in the harvest to taking care of children, sharing cooking responsibilities and looking after the elderly members of the community. After spending time in any Thai community so would soon realize that it is a closely nit extended family. |
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But this system has now been pushed to breaking point, not only have many children lost their parents; they have also lost the Patriarchal and Matriarchal figures that they once looked to for help. The local people in the community of Ban Nam Keam village are especially feeling the pressure, the village once contained around 7000 people but lost almost a third of its inhabitants, over two thousand were killed. Now that many of the support organisations have left, the future is uncertain for many of those who survived. |
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It will take generations to heal the scars of losing so many loved ones, and so many people that made up the community. But there are many other problems to now face; unemployment and the social problems that come hand in hand with it. Most businesses were swept away by the wave, many of which had no insurance to provide the money to rebuild and in fact many find they have large debts on money borrowed to open businesses that no longer exist, and therefore no way to pay off those debts. |
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One of the biggest concerns must surely be for the children who have no family, no guardians to take care of them. How will they live, what will they be forced to do to survive? The sex trade is unfortunately going to be one of the few industries to benefit from this disaster. Many young girls no longer have a trusted adult to help them through life and many of these girls will fall prey to the con men offering work in the city, only to turn out to be brothel owners recruiting for their businesses. It's also sadly true that families will be forced to sell daughters or nieces of dead brothers and sisters because they have no way to take care of them. |
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So what can we do? The one thing we can't do is forget, there are still organisations helping with the long term problems faced by these children, and they need help. There are many ways of helping, offering financial donations is a way to cover the many costs of running these organisations. Volunteering your services is another great way to help; you don't have to travel all the way to South-East Asia to do it either. You could organise events to raise funds or create awareness, or you could contact organisations and ask them how you can help. Let's not forget, there's still a lot to do if we are to help these people have any kind of a future. |
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