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Photos and information about The Green Team's work with Tsunami Relief in Khao-Lak, Thailand will be posted on this page. Funds can be sent to: Union Bay Credit Union Hornby Island , BC.V0R1Z0 |
Erika's last thoughts as she leaves Khao LakIt has been almost four months since I first arrived in Khao Lak Thailand with a hopeful spirit and determined mind. In my first few days I was overwhelmed with the opportunities that were before me and I found it difficult to decide where I wanted to focus my energy. The child sponsorship project that I chose to dedicate myself to at 4Kali.org has proven to be not only the highlight of my nine month travel experience across Asia, but one of the most interesting and rewarding things that I have done in my life so far. The two weeks that I had planned on staying and volunteering quickly transformed into six weeks and before long, I had given up the desire to see other parts of South East Asia, I extended my ticket by an additional two months and made this quiet little town of Khao Lak my home away from home. My time here is quickly coming to an end and I am admittedly torn, I am anxious to return to my family and friends in Canada, yet this place has become my home as well, and saying goodbye to the beautiful people here will be a very difficult thing. I look around now, trying to remember what it was like when I first arrived and I become overwhelmed with pride and calmness. Looking around on a day to day basis, we rarely notice the little steps that are gradually making this town come back to life, yet when I really stop to look, I realize all of the progress that I have seen first hand. In only a few short months I have seen businesses that have re-opened, beaches that have been cleared of all of the debris, entire villages that have been rebuilt, fishermen with new boats, women in displaced villages who have formed collective craft businesses and secured their families’ future through the making of soap, textiles and jewelry. I look at all of these steps towards recovery and the many more examples that abound in this small area and I feel so uplifted. It is easy to get down in a place where every inhabitant can sit you down and tell you dozens of stories that will instantly bring tears to your eyes. But now this town of Khao Lak and the surrounding tsunami devastated areas are a place not only of extreme sadness and tragedy, but of light and hope. This community is recovering right before my eyes and it is one of the most inspiring things that I have ever witnessed. It has been the generosity of the international community, both financially and through the actual volunteers working in the area, that have enabled the pace towards recovery and prosperity to quicken, yet it is the friendly spirit of the local Thai people who have welcomed us into their homes with such gentle kindness and gratitude that has given us the passion to want to stay and work harder than we would have if we were earning top salaries back in our native countries. I have learned a lot from this little utopian volunteer experience, but most of all I have become aware of the generosity of others and the unprecedented hope that rises up amidst tragedy providing us the courage to pick up the disheveled pieces and move on with a greater sense of strength and clarity. Erika Krueger
The Tsunami Relief 'Raffle' Update
Hand-stitched, beaded & sequined Wall Hanging So far we have collected $850.00 from the raffle and it has all been sent DIRECTLY to the 2 Canadian women, Erika & Helen, who are managing the project in Khao Lak. To date they have 16 children sponsored with 50 or more still in need of sponsorship. For anyone so inclined, you can sponsor one or more of these children directly... but know beforehand that it is a very large commitment. The way the project works is that sponsors commit to a 10 year program. Sponsors pay $100.00 US per month for 10 years. The money goes DIRECTLY to the child's personal care and education with nothing skimmed off for administration. Anyone interested in learning more about this program should contact erikakreuger@hotmail.com.
From the Ground Up - The Politics of Laem Pom
In some ways, the Laem Pom tragedy represents a beginning for the Thai people, a beginning that I am very proud to have been a small part of. The story of Laem Pom begins 300 years before the Tsunami… a small fishing village coalesces around the abundance of the Andaman Sea . A community forms, stories are told, babies are born. Life was simple, famililial and for generations family, extended family, and community ceremoniously worked the land and the sea. It was a simple harmony; community created culture and culture was community… and then the Tsunami… all of their houses wiped out, half of their people dead, their boats and livelihoods taken away in an instant of natural catastrophe. For most of us a similar experience would have been mind shattering, altering, and therapy would be the way of the future. Not so for the survivors of Laem Pom. They gathered their dead to the temple, and searched and searched for the missing, all the while mourning the inevitable. Three days after the Tsunami the Thai government sent the Thai Military into Laem Pom to evacuate the village and re-locate the survivors. The people stood their ground and refused to leave their homeland of 300 years… “This Land is our Land”, they said with resolute conviction, “and here we will stay”. Weeks later, neither the Thai Government, nor the military could force these people from their land. As housing in the village was non-existent, and the villagers were adamant about remaining on their ancestoral land, the volunteers mobilized and with the consent of the Chief and his villagers, proceeded to build 38 houses for the remaining families of the village of Laem Pom. The Thai government and the military were incensed and we couldn’t figure out why! As it turns out, the day that the Thai government tried to re-locate the people of Laem Pom, was the same day that the Thai government had SOLD Laem Pom to a private developer of corporate resorts!!!! Now we were in a quandary… we were building houses on land now owned by a multi-national. It was a no brainer for us… this land belonged to the people of Laem Pom, “This Land was Their Land”, and the people were holding their ground against both, the government and the military, and we had to stand with them…and stand we did…ignoring the threats and intimidation, the volunteers not only kept on building but the size of the crew grew from 15 to 30 to 45 to 60. We had more trucks going to Laem Pom than any other volunteer project. The volunteers were with the people despite public threats headlining the Bangkok Post that it was time the government sent the volunteers packing. The ultimate threat to all of us, the people of Laem Pom and the volunteers, came one week before the celebration of their moving into their beautiful new homes. One of the more vocal community members was shot and killed at his family dinner table by a sniper. Another funeral… not a setback… we had all attended too many funerals and unfortunately were hardened to the fact. The next week the people of Laem Pom moved from their tin shacks into their beautiful new houses and ‘The Green Team’ arrived with 120 fruit trees, 3 per house, and a load of flowers and flowering bushes and we helped all of the other volunteers declare Laem Pom to be the ancestral home of the surviving families… "This Land was Their Land”. There was a huge celebration that day ( August 8th, 2005 ), and the government and military left everyone alone. Andy Wheatley Hornby Island/Khao Lak, Thailand
AUGUST 18TH, 2005 ANDY IN THE AIR...5 MONTHS AFTER ARRIVING KHAO-LAK ON HIS WAY HOME.. GREEN TEAM AND SUPPORTERS, Please bear with me as I have put this together within about an hour...as Andy comes home we need updated information. Please feel free to submit...Thank you for all the help and networking this cause and we are continuing. For those of you who have left Khao Lak, as Andy left today they were taking all the big trees in the town down to widen the roads. He was in tears after going there to purposefully mend the wave of the tsunami and regreen the land. The birds were so confused.. no nests, hanging on the wires… wondering ...wondering... Please do not forget that the land is not sorted and the tsunami fund is alive. Andy is on his way home slowly and we will try to get a group to go back and try again to sort this out. Regreening of the earth is a huge project.. we must persist.. those of the sisters and the brothers that can usher in the changes with peace and light and planning for future generations, please breathe deep and re-member what you can do each day to stay at peace and be in love and how we can turn the tide of the corporate engine to look again at saving this planet. Andy will be updating the site when he is rested and can. Please remember to send your photos and letters to this web page.. you may submit them or send them to us.. anyone interested can email mishae@mars.ark.com Let us make this site a world site for regreening for now.. there are so many places to re-green... keep the faith and please keep in touch all of you with each other. The candles are lit for all you travellers to land safely each night and on your feet... time to make a peaceful landing for my Thai guy... namaste Michelle
Many years ago, in one of my earliest poems, I wrote the following line: “Sometimes, my heart bleeds a river too thick to swim”. The despair reflected in the metaphor, is obvious. Today, 7 months after the Tsunami, I feel my heart has never bled so much. The coastline, from Khao Lak to Ranong (200k), still looks much the same as it did the day after the Tsunami. The ‘Green Team’ is one of only a few teams to work down here. Thousands of odd shoes, small and large, teddy bears, toys and dolls, suitcases, clothes, wallets, purses, mattresses, television sets and a slew of other personal effects, are prominent amidst this vast sea of blown up concrete and lost dreams. Underneath our steps, as we respectfully walk this tragedy, we know there is a cemetery. On beach clean up days (usually Sunday, our only day off) sometimes we find bones, or pick up a little teddy bear laying beside a little shoe, and callously throw them into our black garbage bags, moving all the while, without a thought, to the next item. Minds and hearts become disjointed; one stays the course while simultaneously the other one bleeds. It is an odd mix. ...I didn't plant a tree ...I just sat on the side of the road and cried...and received many hugs from many volunteer and Thai friends. There are pics of the planting on Phoenix's 'Word of Mouth' website. I encourage you all to visit the site. Hi Barbara, There are many angels helping get him home safely.. thank you Anna and Rosemarie..for this morning. He has 8 hours in Korea and then to Vancouver.. I am so hoping the angels get back on the job and get him home safely, and no more trouble like you had. The Earth is getting stranger. Andy said he talked to Erika yesterday before he left and her friend is pretty hurt from the accident. Hope all goes well. Give Erika my blessing and love.. actually if I can find her email I will just cc. this. Andy will be back in Comox if all goes well by 6pm Friday night.. I am thinking I might just take him into the hospital for a check up//.. I think he may be at risk for dehydration and his arm needs attention.. what do you think..??? I would really appreciate something for the website if you can get to it soon. Erika has a letter on there that I posted last month..so it would be neat to say you are her mother who went to visit..and give us your take.. Sad to say, but as Andy was leaving Thursday morning, the power was out because the bulldozers hit the power line when taking more trees down to widen the road for new highway and to start the development of Khao Lak to the next level. There goes another quaint and beautiful piece of Thailand to corporate greed! When will it stop? Help me here with your thoughts on this matter as you were there. Is there no stopping the Greed Machine? Peace thru the process..and deep breaths.. It seems so sad that Andy’s project with the Green Team, ‘From the Ground Up’ is so in jeopardy. The team and people have planted many trees and plants.. To leave after 5 months with the largest trees in Khao Lak coming down as we speak must be a blow to the Green Team like never before.. and 12 trucks of plants stolen out of the nurseries.. Please write when you can.. I will let you know when Andy arrives safely. Thank you for all you have done and are doing for this cause and the others you are involved in. I hope to meet you and Erika in October and do fundraising. From the Ground Up link is below and you can submit straight to the site if you like and possibly cc. it to me so I can track things ...bless you namaste Michelle/Andy and the Green Team Work for reforestation in Thailand. Please pass this on..things are not sorted and help is needed.
Thanks for getting in touch... Busy times and not much time.. Today I am bringing my partner back from Thailand on a 50 hour flight stint after 5 months of volunteering for tsunami relief.. He is pretty wrecked after all the death and destruction and trying to save yet another piece of paradise. So yes a vacation is coming and also a brainstorming as to how to stop the spread of this greed and cancer that has gone rampant on the land.. Hornby is trying to hold a gentle space. But as Andy left Khao Lak after fighting to plant trees and nurseries to get the small resorts up and running, the bulldozers were taking the largest trees down in Khao Lak to widen the road for yet more expansion and the people lose their land and it becomes like Qualicum and Parksville. Do we have to be an island to have islands of peace admidst it all? Well there you go.. Now you know me and who I am a bit. Andy is 50 hours on planes and airports coming home.. Who knows.. It is so sad that they took trees down and the birds lost their home again today...Andy used to hold his cell phone up when he was there so I could hear the birds and now they are shaking their heads wondering where their nest went and hanging on the telephone wires and the roofs of houses.. World upside down.. So be it... I was hoping to have time to see your place on his suggestion so we could network for each other and be the sister stepping stones up the island putting a healing package together.. My good friend has a B&B on Quadra so we can get her in the loop.. She just opened 2 months ago. www.firesignartanddesign.com Let’s do a package and all get together for the sake of peace and quiet in the world. That would be nice to meet you. Your place is beautiful…I’m just so busy trying to network the trees and the planet and bring my sweetie home safely. Please say a prayer and light a candle for safe return and health if you do not mind... Link to our thailand project is below. Thinking of getting a group rate together to go back in the winter and put up a good fight, or at least ask to leave the land to more subtle changes... Hope to see you tomorrow if it works and otherwise whenever it happens. We do not go off island much and I have parked the car. which broke down anyway so why fix it? Might as well keep it off the road for the sake of global warming and gas and oil prices...past time to stop. blessings michelle
It sickens
me to think what Sri Lanka is like... i wish i had the time and the money to go and help there... I have lots of pictures ... the pictures can help to prepare these people before they come... it is still a war zone ...we still find bodies (skeletons)... but we also plant trees... and the planting is very much needed and respected here... so they won't have a problem finding things to do or people to help them out Michelle Easterly: Dear Ian, Thank you....I take a deep breath as I read your note, and sense that in a world that has gone upside down so often there is still magic and hope and prayers answered. Bless you for your care to even look at this project. My partner and I believe this to be an ongoing project and much good can come from it. Andy is so tired and exhausted from 5 months there and it has taken its toll on many volunteers, so one must be ready for this tsunami war zone. The sadness of the people and the grief is awesome from what I understand from the volunteers and people, but somehow spirit still exist to persevere. I will be glad to talk with you. Please call me at your convenience anytime.. mornings are best for me and I am up be 8 am.. my phone number is 250-335-0908 on Hornby Island. I can fill you in with what I know and there are many others you can email and ask questions. Blessings Michelle
A POSSIBLE BREAKTHRU FOR THE REGREENING PROJECT.. Dirk, More good news! Finally, after almost 5 months of dialogue, The ministry of Marine & Coastal Resources is giving us trees, species and maturities across the necessary spectrum, as a pilot project for other coastal plantings. They will supervise the project and I will bring the Volunteers... the project is also open to Thai volunteers as well, and they have even made a poster about it ...to show what good political citizens they are. If it works they have promised to sponsor more plantings ...it is a huge breakthrough! We start on Friday… will keep you posted. Cheers Andy From The Ground Up... There is still much to do and the Green Team is at it again.. resources as small as they are. Have brought some trees to plant and the Green Team feels blessed to do the planting
Otto Rasta
DIALOG AND ARTICLE ON THE MUSEUM OF HOPE
Mirha, who left today to go back to Brazil, was the inspiration for this project. What a wonderful friend and genius she is! Her taxi left at 8 this morning and at 5 this morning she was painting! I will miss my genius friend. She is the ' Museum of Hope'... a project that she created, and a project i feel blessed to have helped her with. Again another friend goes home.
Sweet genius you, My partner, Michelle, wants to get FOTOS (Portuguese) of the Museum of Hope so she can post them on the website, especially the EAGLE AND TIGER, but also that last photograph that I had you take of the mangled concrete. I know that you won't understand most of this but maybe you can get someone to translate. I miss you so much... you are a pretty special person... and you are soooooooooo talented! Take care of those street kids back home... and maybe our paths will cross again one day EAGLE MURAL BY MIRHA FROM BRAZIL...FOR THE CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS
BENGALI TIGER MURAL BY MIRHA FROM BRAZIL...FOR THE THAI VOLUNTEERS
Michelle says: Dear Phoenix It might help us raise funds if you put the address for fundraising at the introductory box. That's done--good idea. - phee I cannot back up this project by myself and am so thankful to those who have donated, and your site really has helped get people interested and those that have donated can see what is being done…and other people like Gwenda and Don are helping with research. THANK YOU!!!!! Thru WORD OF MOUTH we have raised another $150. We are low on funds again to keep Andy there. Andy would like to stay and help the different projects as well as the regreening thru his ticket date Sept. 23rd. (Check the July 4th entry for those that miss Andy... there’s a great photo of him holding a small Thai baby that Phee edited nicely... and for those of you who gave him hell about his teeth, he has them IN... yehh). He is hoping to go on a mangrove project. The volunteers have to support themselves and it costs an average of $20 a day. We also are thinking of a Hornby trip to Khao-lak this winter since so many people go to Thailand anyway. We could help and have some fun... and who knows? Does January or February sound good to anyone? Let me know. I’m trying to find a group rate if I can get people up for it. Maybe a month or two. Vera is thinking of going from Norway. Congratulations to her…she is finishing her masters in Ficology (seaweed) so may come help with the regreening of the oceans so to speak...so there is a start. contact mishae@mars.ark.com Blessings to all... and thanks Michelle Easterly
Michelle says: Below is dialog from volunteer and photos... The volunteers went to an island near Khao Lak to work with school children. Hopefully Kim will write more on her project...and we will get photos of the little island that they went to that was quite devastated also.. thanks for all their hard work, and thank you all the people who are connecting thru Phoenix's site. Word of Mouth is helping network this cause, and we are slowly coming together too... Great timing Phoenix for the Green Team and this cause.. Thank you for your time and support.. Good old Hornby island. The Little IsIand in the Gulf Islands that COULD...and does wonders.. yeh...Hornby..
Michelle replies, Kim, Awesome photo of Andy with the baby..I am thrilled as it is now 3 months he has been gone from home and that is such a sweet photo! Thank you so much and for your kind thoughts about Michelle, Green Team member that stayed home to hold down the fort and help the team from home, so to speak. New Zealand is beautiful, I have been there twice. Where are you from there??? I am working on the funds thing from here and it does take time… glad that Andy has good people to be around because he finds it difficult as you all must some days. Feel free to write something for the website and send photos with it and send it to me and I will submit it when timing allows..I am emailing the Green Team site so you can look at it and share it with others... bless you for all you are doing there..and give my Thai guy a hug...wish he would eat more and drink more water and eat fruit… he has lost so much weight. You all take care…I will keep in touch. If you have text or photos for the site just send them to me... Hi Michelle, Andy says to Michelle... I am feeling a little better and happy Canada Day to you... I will try to go to massage today but cannot promise as I just took the last money out of the account and that freaks me out... the main reason that I was upset today is, I think I told you yesterday on the phone, that a Thai woman was killed on her motorbike when she got hit by volunteers coming back from their visa run... it was a team of Christians so thank God no booze was involved... like everything else here it takes time to absorb and it doesn't really hit you until later. My friend Sabina was on that visa run, not a Christian, just a young German traveler, and she only came out of her bungalow two days ago because of the accident. The Thai woman died two days ago after three days in hospital, and Sabina has locked herself down again... kinda the same thing I do when I'm feeling sad. Hopefully she will come to Canada Day tonight... but it is this stufff that makes me cry... I’m not worried about you, myself, the kids... just about Thailand , the volunteers... such beautiful young people, and most of them Ii've adopted as my children... so when there is pain it runs thru my mind.
Greetings, Michelle! Michelle responds: Dear Gwenda, Bless you and thanks from all the Green Team and Andy for your response. That was my prayer to have somebody help with computer skills, as Andy is the pro and i am still learning.. He does not have free access to computers in Thailand and they are very slow where he is and also go down often. Having someone help with getting the site out to other like minded people and posting the call for volunteers that may be traveling in thailand is of importance. Finding different organizations that are also in place that we might have funds channeled through so we can get tax deductable status would of course allow more people to donate. I do not have expertise in these fields and am putting out the call for help. Your response brings tears of happiness to my eyes and opens my heart.....I will keep in contact. Michelle for the Green Team Funds can be sent to: Union Bay Credit Union Hornby Island , BC.V0R1Z0 WEB ADDRESS..http://www.wordofmouth.earthmatrix.net/tsunami.html Email for The Green Team / Andy Wheatley / Michelle Easterly is: mishae@mars.ark.com or Ph. 250-335-0908
Things are not sorted yet on this beach and many others like it. 5 bodies were found in proximity to the nursery while there was excavation going on in mid-June. This makes it extremely emotional for the volunteers when they are digging up the small plants and trees to save to put in the nurseries for replanting... but they persevere. June 20th, 2005 I have emailed you once before, and in going through all of Andy 's mail to update things, I came across the letter about your daughter being in Thailand and helping with the mangroves. Thank the Buddha that she came home to you. Many others not so lucky... near Andy 's project a week ago they just found five more bodies. This is grueling work for the Green Team. Many come and go, as it is emotionally too much for those that are not trained relief workers. Andy is struggling with it also, but does not want to abandon the project. You asked what the Green Team is, so I am sending you a letter below and the link to a website that is the best we could do at this time. None of us have much money, and I do not know how to do computer things that well, so just flying by the seat of our pants with compassionate hearts to get some plants back in the ground over there where the coast was destroyed. The best I can tell you is the politics, as usual, get in the way of just plain old common sense. The volunteer center that Andy was working with pulled out their funds after the first few weeks for other projects that they found more important. Also they said they could not fund the restoration of plants and trees on private resort land (which is interesting as they are using a resort and paying the owner with funds raised from the volunteers... convoluted politics… I shake my head). Andy and I and the Green Team just feel like we need to reforest and replant for the good of all. These small Thai resorts have been flattened and the plants taken out to sea. The small resorts just maintain a living. I am sure they do not have resources to build the resorts back and reforest and replant. It is similar to my situation on Hornby . Andy and I try to steward this land. I have an accommodation that houses people so they can enjoy Hornby Island and feel what it is like to live rurally, look at native plants and enjoy the deer and the ocean air. We barely maintain a living, but do the best we can. If we were hit by a disaster, I could not rebuild and reforest these 3 acres on my own. I do not understand how these agencies think. For all to come back to balance, the indigenous native plants and the small resorts need to be up and running so that resources and the economy can prosper again. I know that everyone has different opinions...the Green Team believes in this project and needs help. Please look at the link below and please pass it on to anyone that may be interested to help us or go there and be a volunteer. Andy would love to know that there may be others like your daughter that will go to Thailand and travel but use part of their vacation to work on this project. The idea is to keep it going and get funding and volunteers, also project managers that can possibly vacation there and keep it going with their expertise... Kind of like Doctors Without Borders for the environment. Please feel free to write me back, and I hope you can pass this on to your daughter and to others who may appreciate this cause. More photos will be up next week, and more letters. I am happy to write to others if I just knew who to write to. Thank you for your concern and time. Letter to others and link is below... Regards and blessings, Michelle Easterly 250-335-0908
Michelle, Lee Maxwell and Kitty Ypma sent your note out with the newsletters which went to every camp. We will put a small information site on the web posting of the newsletter, as it could not get into the newsletter itself. It went out in a timely way and we will see who responds. Please keep me informed about who is responding and we will definitely see something more develops over time. Last week I met with the President of Siam, the largest pulp and paper company who plant millions of trees for their pulp needs, and he was asking me what we could do for reforestation in Thailand , as the King has asked them. At some point I will follow up with him and eventually this may link together. For now, I hope we find a support person to pick up the concept. Planting mangroves is what should be happening as well as other species, that is what survived. Have to go. I will pass this note on too. Dirk
Dear Dirk, I could almost cry as every step we take brings us closer to re-greening and re-forestation. I know that as soon as I pass this on to Andy, he will at least be pleased that a response and some action is started. Getting the idea out in those newsletters is extremely helpful, and other reforestation people may want to take a vacation to Thailand and volunteer here and there. Even if Andy ’s project has slowed down for now, he would be willing to help out on other projects that do have funding for reforestation if you can get him in touch with any of those. I will call him and read your letter and get his response also. If there are any funds to come our way, they can be sent to a Tsunami Fund at our Credit Union on Hornby Island in the name of Rosemary Barker , account number 609347. Please contact me for information. Thank you so much again… you are the first person to respond in days besides Peggy Faulds at the university in Victoria , so that gives us hope. Keep us posted too.. Andy will help any way he can.. Another letter to Green Team volunteers
Andy is exhausted trying to keep it together, so I am just putting out a call for help if anyone can think of companies or environmental organizations to try and contact, not just for money, but even if we somehow kept the volunteers going from other countries…like you all did… if we knew that as people went to Thailand for their vacations, they could go to Khao Lak and put in a week or even a few days digging plants and saving the nursery... the funds are needed to plant the coastline and I do not understand if and when Thailand will do it themselves. Maybe they have a plan and we do not know it. If you have any ideas, it would be great.. and if you have a minute and can email Andy a short note of encouragement, it would be appreciated. I think you all made a difference already, but for Andy who is still in it he still sees so much to do. Please feel free to write me back too at the address above, and please send photos and write text letters that I can submit for the web page. It is awesome to hear all the different points of view and stories. I am submitting another whole batch of photos and text I hope by Monday, so look at it now and then you can look at it again after Monday. Any suggestions or help is appreciated. I realize we are all busy with our lives and other projects, so thank you from both Andy and I and the Thai people and the Green Team for whatever you can do.... I am sending a link to a Green Team page that we are starting. Maybe you have other ideas like your MSN one below. I wonder if you can take the photos off the site I send you and put them up on msn also or is that redundant. I am not really a computer person. The biggest thing to do is get this letter and the website to as many people and if anyone knows how to link it to their own that would help too.... I put some photos and blurbs together about the tsunami project and so did Andy and others, so there are letters from other volunteers and photos and things going up all the time to try and keep the ball rolling and keep the project going. So pass it on please if you know any environmental people, or even as important as the funds are the volunteers. So lots of young people who travel stop in to these projects and help for a week or two and that is really helpful. So Andy is running out of money, but hanging in there. He will try to stay thru Sept.. .
WEB ADDRESS..http://www.wordofmouth.earthmatrix.net/tsunami.html Email for The Green Team / Andy Wheatley / Michelle Easterly is: mishae@mars.ark.com or Ph. 250-335-0908 Thank you and blessings from Michelle, Andy and the Green Team and the Thai people and future generations From The Ground Up - We Dig It Yes, we dig it... it's what we do... and then we plant it, but sometimes we have to call in a forensic team. You may well imagine that this experience takes a little bit of a toll on our minds. Last Saturday was such a day... it has been hard to dig the last few days. I have spent five months talking to you all from "the ground up" and I think that this month, and maybe the next few months, I should just give it a rest and let you listen to other volunteers thoughts about the projects that they are working on. Two young Canadian girls from Vancouver work on the "Sponsor an Orphaned Child" project. What follows is their perspective. thanks... Andy Thank you phoenix for the space on your website for updates: photos, letters, opinions, and how you can help... http://www.wordofmouth.earthmatrix.net/ Go to WORD UP - then FROM THE GROUND UP -donations still very much needed to continue- Tsunami Relief Fund- Hornby Credit Union
All the volunteers try to help each other out with the different projects as time and weather allows as it is monsoon season... Andy and Erika brainstorm for the many different projects as it is all for the good of all... My experience here in Khao Lak has been shaped by these incredibly tragic, yet in many ways inspiring stories. In interviewing children, teachers, parents and guardians I am learning what life is now like for those who have lost almost everything. I am involved with an organization called 4Kali.org, a non-profit foundation that was set up by two American doctors after they lost their 15 year old daughter Kali in the tsunami. It is through my volunteer work at this organization that I am able to travel to local schools, and with the help of a Thai translator, interview children whose lives have been impacted by the tsunami. Our program is focused on ensuring that children who have either become orphaned or impoverished are able to continue on with their education and that their families are able to meet their basic needs. This far reaching goal is being accomplished by finding sponsor parents who make a commitment to help cover some of the family's living costs. Everyday I hear stories of such pain and despair that I have begun to get accustom to meeting families who have lost everything-family members, friends, homes, jobs, belongings... In only three short weeks I have heard it all. The realization that these stories have become the norm, and that not one person in this area has been untouched by this disaster, has been an incredibly difficult reality to come to terms with, yet in an odd way it is an inspiring one. Their stories are ones of survival, and in coming together, this community has been able to support each other through unimaginable loss. The tsunami was not selective in its path of destruction, everything that stood in its way was shattered: lives, futures, buildings, trees, it all came crashing down and the world witnessed a natural catastrophe that knew no boundaries. There are lessons to be learned from disaster and the local people as well as the volunteers here in Khao Lak have grown from their grief. We have all experienced moments of feeling defeated, like there is far too much that has been lost, too much that still needs to be done and that complete recovery is out of reach, but these feelings undoubtedly become shattered when we achieve progress with our projects or hear of generous donations. It is the small acts of kindness and the small steps towards recovery that make this area the most devastating, yet beautiful place that I have ever been to. Like Andy's beautiful and inspiring ecological oasis down on Baan Bang Niang amid all of the destruction and rubble, we are all attempting to move forward by gradually rebuilding this community from the ground up. If you are interested in the 4Kali child sponsorship program, please visit our website www.4kali.org, or email me at erikakreuger@hotmail.com Erika Kreuger
The Original Green Team : Dave and The Nixter
A letter from 'The Nixter' to Michelle Easterly: Hi Michelle, What we were doing was bringing back some positivity and hope, everyone knows that showing the locals how it can be bought back will no doubt bring happiness and hope back to them and that all is not lost - but for some reason the volunteer centre got on a major high horse, and in my opinion forgot why they were actually there in the first place.
THE GREEN TEAM Allison & Erin - THE MEMORIAL WALKWAY What can ? say about Allison & Erin? Two beautiful young friends that came to the Green team early on. I had this idea about recycling some of the rubble into a memorial walkway. These two wonderful women took the project on and I swear to Buddha, I have never seen two people work so hard, and with one mission in mind. I watched these two women walk daily, amidst the destruction, collecting pieces small and tall, sweating beads in 95 degree heat, bringing them back to our little Oasis. There they sorted them, painstakingly sorting, piece by piece, by colour, by size, by shape. They then began the re-creation process ...creating mosaics of 'suns' and 'swirls', 'palm trees' and 'fish', etc, from all of the tiles. They then grouted each mosaic to paving stones that i bought for the walkway... two dedicated young americans, created a memorial walkway ...a mosaic that brings life back to Khao Lak, and the Thai people. Allison, Erin - you are two awesome human beings. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Allison & Erin
memorial walkway Andy P.S. with love, their Thai Dad
THE GREEN TEAM The Green Team is dedicated to the restoration of 20 kilometres of coastline bordering Khao Lak, Thailand. When the Tsunami hit, 10 metres of coastline to a depth of three metres was uprooted and spread a kilometre inland. The Green team has brought in 700 truckloads of red sand to try and restore the coastline back to it's pre-Tsunami state. We have accomplished this task on 100 metres of the coast. Then we shoveled 9 truckloads of soil and sand and coconut husk, to prepare the land for the laying of the Malaysian grass. We've also brought another site to Pre-Tsunami tropical levels. This site is tropically gorgeous and lush. We also have a Nursery at Ban Bang Niang. We collect the plants that survived the Tsunami from the rubble... these plants are then taken care of in our nursery. This is our biggest problem at the moment as the roads are now in and the bulldozers are coming. There are at least 20,000 plants amidsts the rubble... plants that will die with the bulldozers. Next problem... WATERMELON! Watermelon doesn't grow here in this coastal environment... but when the tsunami hit it didn't only burst buildings and lives, it burst watermelons that were in little restaurants. Watermelons are growing everywhere now. They don't belong here but I leave them anyway... Morning Glory is another story. It blessed the beach for miles... it held the sand and stopped the erosion. There is no more Morning Glory at the beach... it doesn't exist there anymore. Morning Glory is a traditional Thai food. It is also the most important plant on this coastline. The seeds have sprouted one kilometre inland, on/in salinated soils deposited by the Tsunami. WHAT SHOULD WE DO? We are trying to transplant them back to the beach... that is the only solution. This is what the Green Team does. Thank you from Andy ...and Khao-Lak, Thailand
note: Andy Wheatley will be sending periodic short updates telling of his experience with From The Ground Up, the tsunami relief project he is working on in Khao Lak, Thailand. This is the first installment.
THE DEVASTATION OF KHAO LAK On December 26th, 2004 a tragic event occurred. What you cannot understand without being here is the enormity of it all. Life was taken away in seconds, buildings destroyed, mangled, personal belongings strewn everwhere, and everywhere there is a reminder, a person, a token, a poster of the missing child. For one and a half kilometres inland there is very little green... all is sad as Khao Lak tries to recover. Khao Lak will recover... it will take years. The Green Team works at Ban Bang Niang. Those of you that watched CNN in the first days saw images of a Police boat thrown into the forest one and a half kilometres from the shore... that boat rests at Ban Bang Niang. If you can imagine a two story house and a 50ft metal/gunned police boat ...that boat rode the wave above the roofs of the buildings still left half standing. All I can say is that it is incomprehensible what happened here. Forget about what the Thai Government may say to the National Media. Khao Lak, as the British members of my team would say, IS NOT SORTED! American bombers in Iraq could not do this much damage with all of their modern weaponry... this is a disaster zone. Every day I walk amidst the rubble and the dead... there are many ghosts here. There are no NGO's, there is no money. There are only the volunteers and the Thai people... the brave Thai people, whose smiles cover their losses. These people are amazing Andy
From The Ground Up Tsunami Relief Project by Michelle Easterly Here is some of the work that the Green Team is doing in Khao-Lak and how the donations that Hornby has given in the past have helped. This area was just rubble three months ago. Small palm trees and plants are dug up and saved in nurseries that Andy and the team have created and then replanted in areas that can be replanted after the land has been cleaned and new soil brought in. At this time, many of the family-run small resorts are threatened by the big businesses trying to gobble up the land in the aftermath and ensuing poverty that the tsunami has created. The Green Team is trying to help re-green the land and get these small resorts working again, so that they can make their payments and not be lost to bigger hotel chains and outside corporate businesses. Imagine if some huge conglomerate took over the Thatch rather then the CEEC and the community! Andy and the Green Team send their love and thanks! Donations can be received gratefully at the Union Bay Credit Union under the name of Tsunami Relief Fund. They are still very much needed as the Thai government, Mafia and NGOs do not necessarily support the Green Team. The Green Team are trying to help the small Thai families retain their livelihood and land. Your donations are needed and appreciated. Call Michelle 335-0908 or Rose 335-0063 for more info and photos. If people know of other agencies or private philanthropists that may want to contribute please email mishae@mars.ark.com. Thank you. Blessings
Regreening Khao-lak sign: all these plants saved and replanted by the Green Team
Andy watering and yet thinner. He does not like thai food—bummer! And it’s very hot there. This is Sangs Resort. Many of these plants are dug up from the rubble, nurtured in the nursery they built and then replanted here and many other locations throughout the area such as schools and peoples houses that were also destroyed by the Dec. 26th tsunami.
Before re-greening
Having some fun while cleaning the pool in the 90 degree heat, after they had removed rubble by wheelbarrel fulls for a fund raising bar-b-que that helped to get plants, soil, sod etc. Volunteer work by the Green Team, April 2005
Bar-b-que! Andy looked all over town to find groceries to make a big stew…lots of English, Canadians, Aussies and young people from all over, mostly on funds raised by families and friends and communities like ours. You can see the barren wasteland behind the pool area. This was completely replanted by the Green Team.
Laying down sod to help prevent erosion. The Green Team in Khao Lak are also working on a memorial walkway made out of recycling the rubble into bricks. They have about 20 bricks made. Andy says the bricks are done quite artistically with scenes on them like mosaics. Photos are hard to get, but will try to get them when possible. Clint and Lauren did most of these photos and sent them from Bangkok where there is better computer access then the rural area that Andy and the Green Team are.
More destruction waiting re-construction and re-greening. Many of the rural parts of the countries harmed by the tsunami are still waiting for funds and help; that is why independent volunteers have been so important for the survival of the poorer areas.
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