VOLUTEERING ~ FLOOD RELIEF THAILAND
In 2011 I went to lend a helping hand to the Flood Relief that had been set up at the old part of the Don Muang airport outside the city of Bangkok.
What was amazing (although in many ways unsurprising) was to see how the Thai community were all so united together in helping and pledging their support to the flood victims. The atmosphere was incredible with people of all age groups from very elderly to the smallest of children sitting on the floor working alongside each other with the sorting and bagging of food, medicines, clothing, candles plus whatever is classed as necessary for survival, and needs to be sent to the flood-bound areas. Amidst the sea of ever smiling faces and the words สู้ สู้ (sū̂ sū̂) meaning “fight” or “we’ll deal with” I took my place on the floor with these awesome mortals and started to add packs of rice to the plastic bags provided. It is sad to say that I hardly saw any foreigners from the western worlds, in fact I think I could have counted them on one hand with myself included! Ooops sorry yes I did see a small group on the top floor.. Prancing around with silly Tshirts from their company and actually doing sweet nothing – I am sure you must have met at some time in your life this breed of snooty nosed people who try to look important but actually are a complete waste of space.. uuf God who gave birth to these morons!!! Please forgive my little outburst but I really can’t stand superficial posers!
However I did meet many people from other parts of Asia, including China, Taiwan and Japan, they were all helping as much as they could and they were a delight to be with.
Another thing that took my breath away was the way the Thais worked.. my goodness they just didn’t stop! so fast, so organized, working in unison and actually having great fun at the same time… I was in my element, and I have to say that if I had a high esteem for these people before, they have most certainly gone up in my estimation a thousand fold since yesterday! There was even a seventy two year old lady helping out, she had lost her home in the floods so was staying with her daughter.. But her words were “I have nothing to do, so I might as well be here helping my people” She is an example to everyone.Then came the moments of “Pass the Parcel. This was hard work but as you can see I really enjoyed it! People of all ages and backgrounds formed two lines, starting from the lorries outside the building and stretching to the very end of the hall where the bags will be stored. Then they literally passed each parcel or bag along from one to another.. rather like a human conveyer belt. It was a very efficient way of getting all the goods into the designated place.
amidst all these going ons, were people outside serving free delicious Thai food plus refreshing iced tea and coffee, so nobody went hungry and neither did I! Everywhere I looked, happy laughing people were throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the task at hand.. What a great ambiance to be in, where hands on support extends far beyond financial contributions!
After several hours and a rather sore backside, I really should have taken a cushion.. or even a little sofa so I could have sat there forever! It’s horrible to have to face up to this fact, but I simply can’t do that lotus position.. Legs all over the place, but definitely not where they should be! plus the fact I have this dreaded fear that once I do get into that position.. I won’t ever be able to get out of it.. Between you and me .. its the one thing I don’t like about the Thais! That is that they can do the lotus position so easily and I can’t! I mean what a dam cheek! Oh God .. did I say cheek? I can’t believe I just used that word!!!
Anyway I left the hard floor and made my way to another part of the airport where they had set up tents for the people who had lost their homes in the flood! This was the moment that I actually started to take in the enormity of this situation and see what some of these people were going through.. Unfortunately until we come face to face with these problems, we can’t always register how serious they are. I walked amongst the small provisional abodes and felt how very little I had done for these people.. Tomorrow I will return again.. it’s not much but every little helps..
