The Rotary Club of Patong Beach - Tsunami Relief Trip Report

Report Date:   22 March 2005

Tsunami Relief Trip to:   Kuraburi Longtail Boat Repair Project, Kuraburi Boat Pier

Rotary Members on Trip:   Bradley Kenny, Larry Amsden

Dates of Trip:   20 March 2005

Reason for Trip:   Check progress and update members and sponsors on project

Trip Report:   We arrived at the Kuraburi Pier just before 12 noon.   The two Rotary banners for this project, one on the main road and the second in front of the repair site are both very visible and in good shape.  

Upon arrival at the pier we noted to our surprise since it was a Sunday and normally a day off, 5-6 workers at work repairing several boats.   After a short period of time, the repair supervisor met us and gave us a briefing.   He noticed our Patong Beach Rotary logo's and right away commented, “Mr. Jeroen, Mr. Jeroen, Rotary Patong, very good, very good”!   He stated that there has been a total of 60 boats repaired since the start of this project.   We noted that there were 8 additional longtail boats at the site in line for repairs, and the foreman saying there was more not at the site.   Curious to note, one boat driver actually was there sleeping in his damaged boat so as to be sure to maintain his place in the repair line and the fact that he had nothing else to do and wanted so badly to get back to work as quickly as possible.

We had the opportunity to see a finished boat getting the final touch with the stenciling on the bow of the boat reading, “Under the Patronage of The Rotary Club of Patong Beach”.   All boats repaired at this project are painted red with the stenciling, so in the future, it will be easy to spot our repaired boats through out this region.   Also as a side note, when we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant, sever locals and foreigners noticed out Rotary logo shirts and came over to say hello   and comment on the success of this project which is very well know in the area.

Our special thanks goes out to Rotarian Past President Jeroen for an excellent job overseeing this project.