Children at the Beluga School for Life in Thailand

Currently, the Beluga School for Life is home to children with very different personal histories. There are children whose parents died in the tsunami, and others whose parents have lost all their belongings. Many of these children lived on the street prior to coming to the Beluga School for Life. Through this aid project they have found a new home, with or without their remaining relatives.

Although different reasons led the children to the Beluga School for Life, they are connected through a common factor: a kind of poverty that is hard to grasp by Western standards.

A picture is worth a thousand words...
Impressions from the everyday life of the children and guardians. Moods and emotions, moving moments.

 

Kaow
Nanthakorn "Kaow" Kandpnakong, born 1996, Christian

On December 26th, 2004, Kaow was playing with friends in Tablamu, a fishing village on the beach, in front of a small house. His parents had gone to the market in the morning to sell fish. Kaow suddenly heard an increasing number of people screaming and running from the shore. A neighbor called out to him: "Run, run!", and Kaow then saw the wave approaching. He ran for his life. He tried to climb onto a pick-up truck but it was so overcrowded that it was unable to drive. Kaow kept running. Another truck gave him a ride. He was taken to his grandmother in the village Thungmapreau. There his parents later found him.

His parents had lost everything: the house, the boat, their livelihood. In order to protect their child, they brought him to the BSfL in Na Nai. Kaow visits them on a regular basis. He attends fourth grade, enjoys singing, play-acts onstage and wants to grow up to be a fisherman.

Saw
Penporn "Saw" Yoodung, born 1992, Buddhist

When Saw was seven years old, her father died. Her mother later married a fisherman from Tablamu, where they all lived together. When the first of the three tsunami waves reached the village, Saw and her mother ran inland. An overloaded pick-up truck was unable to give them a ride. Then the first wave hit them and pushed them under water.

Saw was able to swim, her mother was not. Both were washed against a large banyan tree and were able to latch onto the branches together with numerous other people. Between the first and the second wave they ran further inland. Then a car took them to safety.

Saws mother became increasingly ill and when she was finally brought to a hospital it was already too late. Two months later Saw's mother died as a consequence of the tsunami.

Saw now attends eighth grade and has found many friends at the Beluga School for Life. She does not want to leave again and wishes to learn as much as she can. As she particularly enjoys painting and creative arts her wish is to grow up to be an artist!

Noi und Maeow
Pranee "Noi" Kaewpongsai, born 1932, Buddhist
Wichat "Maeow" Kulnachai, born 1989, Buddhist

Noi is the grandmother of Maeow. Maeow's biological father disappeared long ago and his mother lives far away in another province with her new husband. Until the tsunami disaster Maeow lived in the fishing village Tablamu together with his grandmother Noi. Back then, Noi walked through the village every day to collect, sort and then sell garbage - plastic, paper, cardboard, metal - for small change.

In the night from the 24th to the 25th of December, Noi had a dream in which her deceased mother appeared to her. The next day she told her neighbor about this. He advised her to go to the temple and to sacrifice something in honor of her mother's soul.

On December 26th, Noi and Maeow set out early in the morning to go to the temple located further inland. Noi was carrying various presents for the soul of her mother: something to eat and practical things which a traveler in the otherworld might need. A monk transmitted the presents to the soul of the mother in a ceremony. Noi and Maeow prayed and then started their way back home. Near the village they saw a big wave coming. It was the third wave of the tsunami. But they were safe. When they later arrived at their village, they saw many dead bodies. Their home and all their belongings were destroyed.

They finally found a new home in Na Nai. Noi has become a recycling expert and organizes the waste disposal in the village. She keeps the houses clean and loves to weave beautiful baskets.

Maeow attends ninth grade. He paints, sings and likes to cut hair. He furthermore enjoys cleaning cars and motorcycles. His preferred career choice, however, is to be a cook.

Noi says that she still gets sad if she thinks about the tsunami. She does not want to go back to the shore ever again.