I am living at Bor Hin refugee camp, with the
tsunami survivors. Chris is here with me, living in
Cyrille's tent. Cyrille is quite a guy, but he had
to go back to Canada. I learned a lot from him in
just a few days. He has a magical way of
communicating with people. I cannot do the kind of
thing he does, but I have tried to start my own
little initiative. I spoke to the village Chief's
daughter about giving English classes to the
children in the afternoons. Since I only work from
8:00am to 1:00pm, this would fit well with my
schedule. And they even have a little school built
out of bamboo and leaves.

Cyrille worked making wood floors for the huts.
Previously the refugees were living in mud. The
villagers call him "Long Sai", or "Uncly Cy". They
call me "Khun Kraau", but I have no idea what it
means. Cyrille has made a huge difference
here. He collected some money and used it to buy
wood to build furniture and floors. The Thai don't
know much about woodworking. But Cyrille taught them
to do floors, and now they've done a lot of them
with their own teams. He's made a huge difference in
their lives. Chris is another Quebecker, from
Sherbrooke. He's a cabinet maker. The Thais call
him "Boong Bim", because he's a big fellow

with long hair, bandana and a goatee.
Apparently "Boong Bim" is the name of a Thai
comedian who is also big, long-haired, and sports
a goatee.

Bor Hin is near village 8 of Ban Sak district,
the Thai area hardest hit by the tsunami. The
destruction is unimaginable. Dozens of atomic
bombs couldn't even do this. There are cars lying
around that were thrown like toys. A boat tossed
2 km upland. People in the camp have told me
terrifying stories. One Thai guy was running from
the tsunami - it came within 100 meters
from him as he was running for his life. He said it
sounded like thousands of helicopters. He lost 5
of his friends in just a few seconds. He found the
body of one of them later, buried in the sand, with
only his foot sticking out. Many, many stories like
this. One young man lost at least 20 of his friends.
There was a family of 28 people near village 7, but
only 4 remain.

Yesterday I was invited to the funeral of the
wife of the village 6 chief. He lost his wife
and daughter. Buddhist funerals last for 5 to
10 days, depending on what the family can afford.
I was the only "falang" (big-nose) who attended.

Living with the Thai survivors has been the most
incredible experience imaginable... I eat with them,
drink with them, sleep in their huts... They are
so cool. But there is one man, Khun Amnat, who I
worry about. He lost his wife, and has a disabled
son. He seems very depressed over the experience.
I don't think he is coping well. However, Chris
and I have decided to go over to his hut every
morning for coffee and a visit, before work. I think
this does him some good, especially since Chris
is a fun-loving hip French-Canadian with positive
vibes. Khun Amnat is reading a book about
Christianity. He told me he goes to a Christian
church to "meditate", after meditating at a Buddhist
place. Interesting.

As for me, I work in a community kitchen started up
by Mrs Nong, a lady who's restaurant was wiped out
in the tsunami. I cook Thai food, and she's my
teacher. We serve volunteers, students, and the Thai
army. There's a contingent posted at our place. Our
kitchen is stone-age, and yet we serve up for a lot
of people. All the water we use comes from a barrel.
I do my dishes on the ground. I use a stone mortar
and pestle instead of a blender. Toilet is a hole in
the ground. Showers consist of a big bucket of
water, and a little one to douse yourself with. Hot
water? You must be joking! Lizards, fire-ants,
monkeys, and elephants? Hell yes! I love the
lovably kooky women I work with. One of them
reminds me of a little wild animal or cat. She makes
the strangest sounds. And she laughs at anything I
do or say, especially when I accidentally crack my
head against a post. She keeps saying "Khun
Krrraaauuuu kaaaa pooooommmm" which means something
like "Mr. Kraau is handsome". Hahaha. Her buddy Boo-
ee asked me "you have dahling?" (are you married?)
No, I said. Then she immediately asked me if I was
like men instead. Hahahaha. It seems the Thai
understand only 2 things about a man my age: either
he's married, or he's gay.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in the movie "Apocalypse
Now." The army guys are posted at our place and
we play pop tunes as we work... feels like the
Vietnam war era. I got the nastiest burn ever from
a motorcycle tail-pipe. The army medic fixed me up.

Mrs Nong told me that to be really healthy, I have
to give up 1) smoking 2) drinking, and 3) ladies.
I told her that 2 and 3 are not as hard to give up
as 1. Then she said 3 is easy, because all the
ladies have been taken away by the tsunami. A
strangely funny but seriously tragic joke, at the
same time.

I feel that I am getting the desire to do work
in impoverished places. This experience is giving
me a taste for it. There is a group of Catholic
missionaries doing a project somewhere in the
area.... I'm going to seek them out and see
which direction they can steer me. I'm interested
in the toughest, poorest of the dirt-poor places
on Earth. There is a actually quite a bit of
such poverty surrounding this area.

I was approached by a Buddhist monk (from the
Institute of Buddhist Studies) with an offer to
arrange for a long-term visa for this purpose. I
plan to follow up on that contact.

More later...

Ted.