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Childwatch Orphanage in Phuket When the Asian Tsunami of December 2004 hit Phuket my wife and I were on holiday in Hua Hin, about 250 miles North of Phuket Island. We had just arrived from Bangkok and were staying in a hotel overlooking the beach. The scenes of destruction we saw on TV in our hotel bedroom caused by the undersea earthquake and the following tidal waves were beyond belief. What we didn't realize was the tsunami also hit Patong beach, Phi Phi Island, Ko Jam and Banda Aceh Indonesia. People had no warning of the tsunami, which resulted in many Thai children losing their parents, and although the December 2004 tsunami was many months ago the lives of those children will be affected forever. Just after the tsunami disaster a group of us donated money via a friend, Mark Stephens, for use in Phuket. Mark has lived in Hua Hin for several years and knows how to make best use of any fundraising. He went direct to the people who needed help and ensured that 100% of our donation was used for humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, since the group made the original donation, the company in which we all had accounts has not paid us any further funds. This caused much sadness and delayed plans for further donations. AnAuctionAffair.com will be contributing towards the expenses of the Childwatch Phuket Association in Phuket Thailand. At this point I'll let Mark continue. Following the Asian Tsunami and the groundswell of emotion and sympathy that poured out from it, I felt that, being based in Thailand, I was in a good position to assist with helping raise and distribute money to where it was most needed. Within a month of Dec 26th we had donations totalling over USD 24,000 and following the visits we made in January and April 2005 to the south of Thailand we decided, on consultation with the donors from PIPS, to use the money in two areas, as the emergency situation improved and the rebuilding process started in the south. Our efforts were focused on two areas Ko Jam, a fishing village off the coast of Krabi (not far from the tourist island of Ko Phi Phi which was so badly devastated on Dec 26th) and Phuket Childwatch Orphanage, which had swelled in numbers after the tsunami. Ko Jam In Ko Jam, we purchased the sand, ballast and cement for the construction of a new "sala" (meeting room) for the fishermen, which had been damaged beyond repair along with many houses and boats. The Thai government had rebuilt the houses and provided new boats, so we offered to build a new meeting room a key component of any Thai village. We shipped the materials over to the island from Krabi (no easy task as everything had to be transported on small boats, no ships!) and funded the labour costs of completing the construction. This work was completed in April 2005 and cost a total of around THB 150,000 (USD 3750)
Childwatch Phuket Orphanage Childwatch Phuket Association is a small organization, registered in 1998. Their purpose is to help the less fortunate local children by operating a day care centre, a safe house (shelter home), a mobile teaching project and a milk-powder project. Many of the children under the care of Childwatch have lost one or both of their parents, have parents in prison, have parents without jobs and unable to support them or have been abused. Before the tsunami, funding was inadequate to provide the children with the basics to offer them a future; after the tsunami you can only imagine how much more our aid was needed. Fourteen families with 18 children under Childwatch care were badly hit by the tsunami lost houses, lost jobs etc. All of these families received emergency relief in the months following the tsunami, but as the weeks went by more children were arriving at the centre, so resources were severely stretched. We visited both the day care centre, which caters for around 60 children, and the safe house where also up to 60 children are assisted.
Children at the Safe House, Phuket Childwatch Orphanage As we visited we took notes to expand on the list of "supplies" that they had sent us, so we had quite a detailed list of necessities by the time we left for the local Tesco Lotus superstore! We were able to purchase the following items for distribution at the day care centre and the safe house:
With a few additional items of furniture purchased elsewhere, the above list came to a total of around THB 90,000 or USD 2250. But putting things into perspective, when we had an Asian Tsunami fund of over USD 24,000 this really was a good use of the funds as it provides instant assistance for the children and staff there. In addition to this, and looking to the future, we also paid for repair work to be done to both the safe house and the day care centre. This was around THB 100,000 (USD 2600) Finally, and perhaps most rewardingly, we agreed to sponsor 42 children's education for the forthcoming school year. This was meeting our aims of providing ongoing support rather than just a one off effort. The annual education of each child is THB 3000. We can sponsor 42 children for another 4 years with what we have left, not counting any additional funds that we can raise. So we can say that every cent that was raised has gone, or will go, to where it was needed. Ok...back to Phil. We will be donating 10% of our profit to the Childwatch Orphanage and in time we will display photos here showing how the money was spent! Remember what Mark said? It costs £40 (Thai baht 3000) to educate one Thai child for a year!! At this point we feel it’s appropriate to be reminded what happened that day so we’ve located several videos from youtube which you can view here. Thank you for coming here to learn of our plans. Best wishes Phil, Ew & Brett © AnAuctionAffair.com
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