Testimony Part 2:

Arriving at Bang Muang Tsunami camp for displaced people

So after a few more days in Phattalung I started off on the first of an 8 hour 3 leg bus journey. I had to leave early to catch the bus and didn't have the opportunity to say goodbye to all the children. I hadn't spent long with them but I had grown so attached to them in the short time that I felt like I had left something behind when I left. I think I might have cried most of the journey. I took myself by surprise and I didn't understand the reaction i was having but there was a love for the family in Pattalung that I felt almost as if they were my own family and I felt homesick. However, I told myself... "in just one month I will be back there."

Having done the road trip from Pattalung to Phuket once with Anurak and Oom I somehow remembered much of the route and got of the bus in Takua Pa to get a Songthaew to the camp in Bang Muang. The Songthaew dropped me at the main road so I got my luggage and walked up the road which would take me to the camp entrance.

I had visited the camp with Anurak the week before and my heart had broken for the people there. There were rows and rows of houses made from wooden boards with corrugated iron roofs - though this was luxury compared to what they started out with: after losing homes and loved ones in the Tsunami they were left in the camp with as little as a tent if they were lucky. The quick response from big organisations like World Vision and the openness with which Thailand received help in the wake of the Tsunami meant that people were provided with temporary shelter relatively quickly. But it was clear to see that ever life had been torn apart and people were still in shock. The mourning process for their loss hadn't even begun yet. These people were still in survival mode.

As I arrived at the camp I was suddenly struck with the realisation that I knew no Thai and I was to be living in a raised tent with Thai people who spoke no English. More besides I didn't even know what I was meant to be doing. The camp was much busier than I had seen it before. On the day I had visit before there had been another big earthquake in almost the same place as the one on December 26th 2005. Even though this part of Bang Muang was safe from the Tsunami most of the people had fled to the mountain area and still hadn't returned. Some people fled further to other parts of Thailand and wouldn't be seen again.

This time the camp was buzzing with people. There were about 2000 people living in the camp at this time. I arrived at the Phantasanja tent relieved that even though I barely recognised anyone - they at least recognised me, although they all seemed surprised to see me. I was still carrying all my teaching stuff around with me - expecting to teach at any time though feeling pretty much terrified at the prospect of it.

So this is where life began again; Bang Muang camp, Phantasanja Mother and Child care centre. I can summarize my memories of living there with a smile on my face now... but being someone who could barely be within a mile of a daddy long legs in Britain and recalling the time where I almost knocked myself out, hitting my head on the wall at home after seeing a spider in the toilet - I realize how far I've come as a result of living in the camp. Though thank the Lord for the western toilet at the back of the tent!

The typical washing facility in the camp was a big communal concrete tank of water. Most people took a bowl and scooped the water up and tipped it over their head. I washed in the same way but I was lucky enough to have a separate washing area at the back of our tent as it was used to take care of the babies during the day. We had big black bins filled with water and as long as I had my flip flops on while washing... I was generally ok well until I found that the bowl I used to tip water over my head was also the bowl people used to wash their bottoms after using the toilet (before you all start wondering... I had my own supply of toilet roll).

Each night we help a bible study for the new Christians in the camp; some of whom I recognised as a group who had come to Pattalung to church and had been baptised by Anurak. At bed time we would set up our mosquito nets,and sleep on the board floor. I have to say - I can't remember a time when I've slept so well, except when the odd branch from the tree outside would break and fall on the roof. I'd wake up with a shock thinking that a bomb had gone off. Food was rice... 3 times a day usually with fish and really hot and sour curry. The Thai people are fascinated by watching foreigners eat. I'd sit there trying to pick every bit of skin, fat or bone off the meat i was eating.The Thai people would just put the whole thing in their mouths, be it a fish head, chicken or a chunk of any other meat and spit out whatever parts were inedible at the end. Some of the things that came out of the sea that we ate, I could never tell you what they were, I just had to swallow as quickly as possible without even chewing it. My theory at the time was that if I got sick then the bonus was that I would lose some weight.... But what with everyone praying for me at home... I've yet to get sick. Not all the food was bad. Every attempt to have a break from the rice diet would normally result in the thai people lavishing me with extra sweet bread, or sticky rice with coconut milk. At this point I hadn't quite understood the cultural phemonenon of "Glen Jai".

"Glen Jai " can occur in numerous situations but a common one is with food. Sometimes food will be offered to you because it's a cultural and a firnedly gesture. A lot of the time the Thai offering the food will expect you to decline. They will then offer again. If they are quite persistant then you know that they genuinely want you to eat. If it is not offered again then you know it is more a gesture, or a "how are you" type of thing.
Anyway - when you do eat - you are rarely expected to finish your plate. Doing so will make them think that you want more. And more you will get.
I would be there eating what I was given because I thought it would offend them to leave it. And they were there thinking "wow this girl can eat !" When people are being "glen jai" a lot of these thoughts aren't spoken but are just assumed. It's hard to explain but basically if I"m being "glen jai" I tell you what I think you want to hear even if what I really want is the opposite. Most people when offered a drink will say no. However sometimes they may really want one, so you ask them againm maybe 3 or 4 times to determine what the real desire is. They will say no - expecting to be asked again. And that is just touching the surface of it.

I can remember all sorts of situations I got myself into in the early days at the camp. There was a lovely old lady who would come to the bible studies in the even. She was Bhuddist and she was very lonely. I warmed to her straight away. She would just sit there and talk and talk and talk and i would sit and nod occasionally saying "Kor toet, Mai kao jai ka" (i'm sorry I dont understand). But she would just rub my arm and talk some more. At the end of one evening she lingered a bit as if she was waiting for me. That particular night a thai girl called Julie was there translating for me. i said to Julie "why is she waiting?" As it turned out, that evening's nodding had resuilted in me agreeing to spend the nights sleeping with this old lady in her little board house instead of at the tent. I apologetically explained I'd misunderstood and that I would visit her during the days instead. I learnt I had to be careful who I nodded to in future :o)

Anyway... here's a picture of the camp to give your eyes a rest from reading. Unfortunately most of my other pictures of the camp are back in England so I'll have to post them another time.