To our very special Patrons:
It has been about 15 months since the Rotary Club of Patong Beach began our Tusnami relief efforts. Thanks to your support, we can say that today, many victims of the disaster have a happier life, and a brighter future than they did in those last days of 2004. We thought it appropriate that we give you a brief summary of our activities since then, and how we have attempted to maximize the effectiveness of your donations to the various Tsunami relief programs.
The immediate needs of the victims in the early days of 2005 were for basic necessities of food, water, shelter, and a feeling that “someone cares”. To that end, we spent approximately 820,000 Baht (US$21,000), and collectively made over 40 trips to distribute these necessities to the hardest hit areas north of Phuket. The support we got from yourselves as well as many of the local residents was overwhelming. One local Thai lady, for example, whose own business was completely destroyed by the Tsunami, loaded up her pickup with food, at her own expense, and joined us to deliver it to a remote Muslim fishing village. Other early projects involved making caskets for the bodies being brought in from Phi Phi Islands. Our members and volunteers constructed over 200 caskets in about five days.
The next major need of many of the victims was for housing, either temporary or permanent. Our Board of Directors decided that building temporary housing, although more expedient, was a waste of funds, and that we would proceed as quickly as possible, (before the beginning of the monsoon season) to construct permanent housing for as many families as our funds allowed. With the help of many donor individuals and organizations, we funded the construction of twenty-three houses and the associated infrastructure for an entire village of local fishermen and their families. This village, of Ban Pak Triam, was later visited by Her Royal Highness Princess Sirindorn, and has been considered a model relief project. In addition to housing, the victims needed to get back to work (fishing). To this end, we arranged for the repair or replacement of their fleet of twenty-one fishing boats and associated fishing materials. These two activities amounted to expenditures of approximately 5 million Baht (US$130,000), and is now complete.
With the success of the fishing boat repair project, we decided to expand this activity, and funded the establishment of a longer term fishing boat repair yard at the local commercial pier, and have funded the continuing repair of fishing boats. As this project is just now complete, we will be closing down the boat repair yard this month, after having repaired over 180 boats with an expenditure of 2,000,000 Baht (US$55,000). Last week, we received a special award from the Prime Minister of Thailand for this boat repair project. There are still over twenty-five fishermen identified, who have lost their boats. As we still have donors interested in funding additional boats, we will provide any funding we receive to the boat yard in Khao Lak, who will continue building boats, on a non-profit basis, for Tsunami victims as long as funds are available.
The above represent the major, but certainly not the only projects we have been actively engaged in. Others include; replacement computers for a local school, supplying a fully equipped ambulance for a local hospital, supplying medical equipment for a local hospital, providing a drinking water system for a local school, and bathroom facilities for another school, housing for two additional families, and assisting two organizations, one establishing a day care center for children, the other, a home for mothers, victims of HIV/AIDS, and their children. We are proud of the fact that, to date, not a single cent of donors’ money has been spent on any administrative expenses or personal reimbursement to our Rotarians.
We have realized many successful projects during the past year, but realize that our efforts are far from over. We now have the opportunity to focus on longer term relief activities and have identified two areas where we believe we can make a real difference, these are: providing scholarships for children victims of the Tsunami; and assisting affected individuals or communities in establishing businesses to provide for a means of livelihood for their families. We can think of no better way to demonstrate “service above self”, than to ensure that the children victims of the Tsunami, many who lost one or both their parents, have an opportunity to achieve a good education through twelve years of school, and thus, a chance for a better life.
We expect these two projects to continue for the foreseeable future. As of today, we have provided seed funding for the establishment of two businesses, and are working on several more. We have now, 144 children enrolled in our scholarship program, which will ensure that they are able to continue through kindergarten, plus twelve years of school. The scholarship fund has set aside approximately 8.8 million Baht (US$225,000) to fund current commitments. We are still receiving nominations for this program as additional funds become available.
You can get additional up-to-date information and photos of all of our Tsunami activities on our website at www.rotarypatong.org.
In all, it has been a very busy year for the members of the Rotary Club of Patong Beach. Only through your generous support has any of this been possible. Through this letter, we hope you can share with us, a true feeling of accomplishment, and the spirit of Rotary.
With kindest regards, and our eternal thanks,
Rotarian Brad Kenny, Chairman, Community Services Committee,
Rotarian Larry Amsden, Chairman, Vocational Services Committee,
on behalf of President Arnaud C.M.C. Verstraete, Past President Friedrich "Sam" Fauma, and the 25 members of the Rotary Club of Patong Beach.