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Monday , December 3 , 2007

Nightmare still stays, Doung Rudee starts new life at therapy center

Posted by Tevy , Reader : 738 , 08:55:25

This is the story I have writen when I participated in a Journalism training program organized by an Indochina Media Memorial Foundation from June to July. I had visited many places. One of them is the Saori Center, a weaving place to help women particularly those who are Tsunami victim. BANG MUANG, THAILAND—Wearing a yellow T-shirt with a white hat, 28 year-old, Doung Rudee is sewing a bag carefully. She smiles and looks very happy but no one know that she is still carrying a nightmare of the massive wave flooding her grandmother away. Doung Rudee has been working at the Saori Weaving Center, Bang Muang district, Phang Nga, for two years. This center was set up by a Japanese Buddhist monk named Acharn Mitsuo Gavesako on February 2005, two months after the Dec 2004 tsunami. The Saori project provides weaving skills, and aims as an occupational therapy for people who suffering from tsunami. A coordinator of the Khao Lak Saori project, Srirat Wiratcharassin, says Saori is one of the centers opened to help employing the Tsunami victims. The dark grey color and the same style of weaving were done by most of the Tsunami victims working at the center. They keep doing the same thing though they were recommended to change. They are normal villagers, they don’t have an artistic idea on how to make the weaving more interesting, says Srirat. The Saori center provides free lunch for all the workers. Each of the 30 employees receives 160 baht a day. If they do extra work and make more products, the center will pay them more money based on number of pieces, says Srirat. For Doung, she says while putting her right hand under her chin, “the salary is not enough but I can do extra work at home and get extra money,” she stops for a moment and continues with a bit smile, “I don’t like this job but I have no choice.” Weaving is partial nightmare treatment besides an hour everyday spending on meditation. The two treated strategies are helpful for the victims to release their emotional distress but not for Doung. Before three months of the destructive wave, she happily worked as a cashier at a resort in Baan Nam Khem, the village that hit the most by the Tsunami. She says she could earn more money at the resort than at the Saori center. Her happiness was sent away by the killer wave known as Tsunami. The total death toll of the six affected southern provinces is 5,395, based on the United Nation Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery. Doung said when she heard people shouting, she came out of her house, which was about 70 meters from the seashore in Baan Nam Khem. The big wave was coming, Doung quickly run back home because she has two sons and a grandmother waiting her at home. Carrying an 8 years old son on one hand, and another hand with a little 1 year old son, Doung could not bring her grandmother who was not able to walk. If she decided to take her grandmother, no one would survive. “I know she wants to say something but she couldn’t,” Doung recalls while changing her mood and bending her face down. “I left my house and went with my two little sons, she (her grandmother) just looks at me with smile,” she adds with tear inside her eyes. Doung ran with two of her three sons in hands across the main road. Many cars, hotels, houses, and restaurants were moving and destroying by the wave. She decided not to go further as she could not run because the wave flowing her up already. She was fortunate to catch the balcony at the second floor of a building. She tried to send her eldest son up to the roof to be safe. “My son was nearly lost. I could touch only his fingertip,” says Doung with smile. She stops for a while but keeps smiling with white teeth and continues “I hold my other son in between my legs. I did not know how I could do that.” After the water flowed down to the seashore, she came back to her house but everything was destroyed. She, then, was very hopeless. She assumed her grandmother died because she could not find her, and her second son who went out with her cousin might be killed by the wave. While walking along the road in the village, the villagers told her that her second son was safe. Her life is bright up since hearing that. After tsunami, the hotel she worked for was destroyed. “I decided to work here (the Saori center) base on my friend’s recommendation,” says Doung while putting her right hand on the bag made of a green, yellow and red woof—a material used for weaving—near the weaving machine. She is now staying at the temporary house in ITV village—this village is raised by the former ITV station—with her younger brother and two sons. Most of the weaving ladies at the center are unskilled including Doung. When they come to work at the center, they start to learn from each other. They can make clothes, bags, or flag by freely weaving woof. “I don’t know how to do it (bag), I learn from her,” Doung says moving her head to the left hand side and pointing to another lady named Suda. Suda, a 45 year-old lady with glasses, said while sewing a stripe red and yellow bag she wants to help training other unskilled women for two or three years. Working at the weaving center is not her goal. “If I have enough money, I will extent my rubber plantation,” she stops sewing and claims. All the weaving products at Saori center is sold to Phuket, Samu and Maya Gotami Foundation—the initial funding of the center. “The situation of the marketing is better in high season,” says Srirat, Saori co-ordianator, “I want the products to be sold out more because there are many workers here.” Many weavers depend on this job for their living including Doung. Though the salary at the center is not enough, Doung is still trying to work as hard as she can to earn money to support her three sons and a younger brother. However, working at the weaving center is just her temporary goal. She cannot forget the time she worked as a cashier at a hotel. With a smile, Doung Rudee says, it is low season, she will go back to work at that resort—the resort was rebuilt after the Tsunami—in high season.

This is the story I have writen when I participated in a Journalism training program organized by an Indochina Media Memorial Foundation from June to July. I had visited many places. One of them is the Saori Center, a weaving place to help women particularly those who are Tsunami victim.

BANG MUANG, THAILAND—Wearing a yellow T-shirt with a white hat, 28 year-old, Doung Rudee is sewing a bag carefully. She smiles and looks very happy but no one know that she is still carrying a nightmare of the massive wave flooding her grandmother away.

Doung Rudee has been working at the Saori Weaving Center, Bang Muang district, Phang Nga, for two years. This center was set up by a Japanese Buddhist monk named Acharn Mitsuo Gavesako on February 2005, two months after the Dec 2004 tsunami. The Saori project provides weaving skills, and aims as an occupational therapy for people who suffering from tsunami.

A coordinator of the Khao Lak Saori project, Srirat Wiratcharassin, says Saori is one of the centers opened to help employing the Tsunami victims.

The dark grey color and the same style of weaving were done by most of the Tsunami victims working at the center. They keep doing the same thing though they were recommended to change. They are normal villagers, they don’t have an artistic idea on how to make the weaving more interesting, says Srirat.

The Saori center provides free lunch for all the workers. Each of the 30 employees receives 160 baht a day. If they do extra work and make more products, the center will pay them more money based on number of pieces, says Srirat.

For Doung, she says while putting her right hand under her chin, “the salary is not enough but I can do extra work at home and get extra money,” she stops for a moment and continues with a bit smile, “I don’t like this job but I have no choice.”

Weaving is partial nightmare treatment besides an hour everyday spending on meditation. The two treated strategies are helpful for the victims to release their emotional distress but not for Doung.

Before three months of the destructive wave, she happily worked as a cashier at a resort in Baan Nam Khem, the village that hit the most by the Tsunami. She says she could earn more money at the resort than at the Saori center. Her happiness was sent away by the killer wave known as Tsunami. The total death toll of the six affected southern provinces is 5,395, based on the United Nation Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.

Doung said when she heard people shouting, she came out of her house, which was about 70 meters from the seashore in Baan Nam Khem. The big wave was coming, Doung quickly run back home because she has two sons and a grandmother waiting her at home.

Carrying an 8 years old son on one hand, and another hand with a little 1 year old son, Doung could not bring her grandmother who was not able to walk. If she decided to take her grandmother, no one would survive.

“I know she wants to say something but she couldn’t,” Doung recalls while changing her mood and bending her face down. “I left my house and went with my two little sons, she (her grandmother) just looks at me with smile,” she adds with tear inside her eyes.

Doung ran with two of her three sons in hands across the main road. Many cars, hotels, houses, and restaurants were moving and destroying by the wave. She decided not to go further as she could not run because the wave flowing her up already. She was fortunate to catch the balcony at the second floor of a building. She tried to send her eldest son up to the roof to be safe.

“My son was nearly lost. I could touch only his fingertip,” says Doung with smile. She stops for a while but keeps smiling with white teeth and continues “I hold my other son in between my legs. I did not know how I could do that.”

After the water flowed down to the seashore, she came back to her house but everything was destroyed. She, then, was very hopeless. She assumed her grandmother died because she could not find her, and her second son who went out with her cousin might be killed by the wave.

While walking along the road in the village, the villagers told her that her second son was safe. Her life is bright up since hearing that.

After tsunami, the hotel she worked for was destroyed. “I decided to work here (the Saori center) base on my friend’s recommendation,” says Doung while putting her right hand on the bag made of a green, yellow and red woof—a material used for weaving—near the weaving machine. She is now staying at the temporary house in ITV village—this village is raised by the former ITV station—with her younger brother and two sons.

Most of the weaving ladies at the center are unskilled including Doung. When they come to work at the center, they start to learn from each other. They can make clothes, bags, or flag by freely weaving woof.

“I don’t know how to do it (bag), I learn from her,” Doung says moving her head to the left hand side and pointing to another lady named Suda.

Suda, a 45 year-old lady with glasses, said while sewing a stripe red and yellow bag she wants to help training other unskilled women for two or three years. Working at the weaving center is not her goal. “If I have enough money, I will extent my rubber plantation,” she stops sewing and claims.

All the weaving products at Saori center is sold to Phuket, Samu and Maya Gotami Foundation—the initial funding of the center. “The situation of the marketing is better in high season,” says Srirat, Saori co-ordianator, “I want the products to be sold out more because there are many workers here.”

Many weavers depend on this job for their living including Doung. Though the salary at the center is not enough, Doung is still trying to work as hard as she can to earn money to support her three sons and a younger brother. However, working at the weaving center is just her temporary goal. She cannot forget the time she worked as a cashier at a hotel.

With a smile, Doung Rudee says, it is low season, she will go back to work at that resort—the resort was rebuilt after the Tsunami—in high season.

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comment 6
Tevy date : 06/12/2007 time : 09.20
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tevy

Manhunt, I used to ask those teachers. They said some of the children draw the image of view surrounded. I forgot to mention that the school was in the hill, it was surrounded by a nice green trees such as mangosteen and durian. I think it is a nice place for children to start new life.

What the teachers are concern is the silence of some children who just keep drawing things that they themself do not understand what it is. This maybe a huge result of the destruction even in 2004.

Lalida, you are right. I think the teachers at the school are trying their best to help guiding the children toward a good future.

comment 5
Lalida date : 03/12/2007 time : 22.41
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/fairness

Tevy, moment of fear, sadness lingers in life time long specially loosing the closed ones. We can only help them the best we know how, on top of that we also should teach them how to let go.

comment 4
Manhunt date : 03/12/2007 time : 22.04

Tevy - Eerrr....What did the kids draw?.. Dr.Khunying Porntip with red spiky hair!

Please tell me Tevy as my mind has run wild

comment 3
Tevy date : 03/12/2007 time : 17.18
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tevy

Manhunt-the tragedy of the dead couple is very shocking. I cannot imagine the time the five children looked at their parents drowning in the water.

While I was participating in a training course in Khao Lak, I visited a Yawawith school (I'm not sure about the spelling). The school aims to help educating children particularly those who lost their parents or relatives in a 2003 giant wave.

I asked the director and some of the lecturers at the school, they said within the education and skills provided, they hope to ease the children to start their new life happily. Of course, they cannot forget their unhappy past!

The children were taught different skills up on their interest. Some just enjoy drawing, singing, playing sport or planning trees. Can you guess what they are thinking while drawing picture?

comment 2
Lalida date : 03/12/2007 time : 12.57
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/fairness

The Tsunami it's a warning and lesson for all of us, If we continue to abuse the world we lived in, It's will retailate it self. Problem is, many still haven't sense it. Greed will destroy our world one day and it's not far away.

comment 1
Manhunt date : 03/12/2007 time : 10.07

Tevy - Thanks for sharing when the anniversay is just around the corner. I can understand the harrowing nightmares Doung encountered which will haunt her a lifetime. She might also not be able to overcome the immense guilt for not being able to rescue her granny. When such emergencies arise, our mind tend to be in chaotic state and would act fast without weighing anything. Her granny would definitely not blame her for this as Doung could only save her 2 sons at that moment.
I have a true story to share too. This happened to my business partner's sister who drowned in the tsunami waters with her Korean husband. They drove up in a 4 Wheel to Phuket with the whole family of 5 teenage kids with the youngest being a 5 year old girl. Their car developed gear-box problem but instead of turning back, the couple was too eager to press their luck to make that fateful trip. On that 26th morning, the whole family hiked to a little enclave where there's a private unknown beach inside. They had to trek through some cave-like entrance to reach the pool of water. Some of you might know where this place is but I have no idea. When tsunami struck, its waves rose so high from outer areas and hit the inner pool area 3 times. The parents watched in horror at their 5 swimmer kids struggling deep in the waters. Both parents could not swim at all but dived into the whirlpool to grab one by one out to safety with all their might. The final tsunami waves hit this couple and they were tossed around till their heads banged the rocks many times and drowned. This time their 5 children screamed and watched in horror, seeing their loving parents had to die after saving them.

At the morgue tables back in my country, I bravely stood by the bodies of this loving couple and observed the black bruises and big swelling bumps on their heads, faces and limbs. They were apparently knocked out several times, resulting severe concussions and drowned. The 5 surviving children are back to school but still receive individual counselling as the nightmares failed to be erased. Like Doung, they hold so much guilt and regrets till today.

Life goes on. Back to work! Happy Working!

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