From Tom Vater in Thailand:
Many thanks to all people who contributed to the Moken fund to help the sea gypsies of Thailand help themselves and remain dignified human beings with their own distinct culture and character in the wake of the tsumani that devasted their villages and destroyed their boats. Should you have any more money in your pockets, here is the link of the UNESCO Andaman Pilot Project.
Most Moken have returned to their island, Ko Surin. After lingering in the camp for a few more days following our visit last week, the wife of the Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon dropped in on the sea gypsies.
Dunung told the lady that the Moken were going out of their minds and needed to go back to Surin.
Well, the Moken found the right person to talk to – they were put on several boats and sent back to Surin.
What’s more, the supreme head of Buddhism in Thailand (the Sangkarat), has stated that the Moken should be left alone and must be free to choose to go where they want. Endorsements don’t come from higher sources in this part of the world and this did much to silence greedy NGOs and politicians concerned with nationalist agendas.
130 of the community of 200 are now back on Surin, some others have traveled down to Takua Pa, a near-by provincial town and a few have chosen to go to Ko Rah, an island just in front of Kuraburi. These stragglers are too scared to go out to Surin right now, which is a long way from the mainland, but once they get some positive feedback from their relatives, they are likely to follow. The great news is that the refugee camp in the local temple at Kuraburi has been desolved.
The Moken are now in the process of clearing a new beach, but have not yet got any houses or boats. The Thai government and private donors like you have provided them with clothes and food for a few days. The National Park has allowed them to fell trees in the jungle for building materials.
It’s great, it’s a new start for this community.
Aroon is visiting them Thursday, to hand out a first batch of money – mainly for tools so that construction of a new village can begin. We have figured out that a long tail boat with engine costs 60.000 Baht, around 1500$US. Engines are easy to get but boats are hard to come by in the wake of the tsunami as most boat building businesses in the region were washed away. A local contact of the Moken is scouring the coast for new boats, but it likely to take time before the sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea become mobile again in any real sense.
Many many thanks for your donations and, if you can, please give generously – the Moken symbolise and embody a spirit of freedom and independence unheard of in ‘the real world’. Many thanks to all those who let us use their websites to launch the appeal.
Tom and Aroon