The Shawnee Institute's tsunami relief project in Kamala aims to assist those who lost the most and to establish a lasting legacy of aid. We feel that by rebuilding homes for people whose homes were completely destroyed in the disaster, we are doing just that. If you would like to support our ongoing relief work, please click here.

Of the 35 or so legally built homes in Kamala that were destroyed in the waves, about 10 are being rebuilt by the government, and a handful are being rebuilt by a couple of other relief organizations (the government will not grant permission to rebuild squatters' homes). The Shawnee Institute, thanks to your donations, has fourteen houses under construction, and depending on funding, we'll do even more than that! Below is a drawing of the standard house that we are building for our beneficiaries (the "Shawnee" house):

The "Shawnee" homes, with two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and indoor bathroom with proper plumbing are cozy, attractive, sturdy, and appropriate to this culture and this environment (while it is not clear from the drawings above, in keeping with local tradition, the houses will be raised about 1.5 meters off the ground on stilts, to provide some relief from heat and insects and a measure of protection from any future inundation). They are made of reinforced concrete with tile roofs, and we are proud to say that they represent in every case a significant improvement over the homes that were lost.

The people of this village are deeply and sincerely grateful for the aid that you, as a supporter of the Shawnee Institute, have provided directly to them. I have received numerous requests from the villagers to place a plaque in their homes, in English and in Thai, to commemorate their appreciation of your generosity. I am having the plaques made and I will post a photo here when they arrive. The billboard you see at the top of this page was erected independently by one villager (Khun Namthip Thonghom) in front of the home we are rebuilding for Mr and Mrs Thonghom and their two children. Other villagers have requested that we attache a plaque to their homes commemorating the work of the Shawnee Institute and the generosity of our supporters.

For more on the our progress in individual cases, please click here!

If you would like to support our ongoing relief work, please click here!

Here's a shot of the Shawnee Institute (Thailand) team hard at work:

[We are the three in the back, from left: Pete Kirkwood, Matt Siptroth, and Pattarin Thamrongkiatikul. Our other faithful team members, Tim Szymcek (Thailand), and Monica Restrepo (USA) are not pictured here.]