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Dear Friend of the Shawnee Institute, Thailand is a lovely, exotic, addictive, unpredictable place, and anyone who has spent time here knows that the good-natured chaos that underlies daily life here is what makes it that way. This quality, a sense that almost anything can happen at any moment, is both the most appealing, and at times the most frustrating, thing about living in Thailand.
Our tsunami relief effort began as an inclination to help our neighbors in Kamala. As an old Thailand hand, I should have known it would take on a life of its own. And sure enough it did. We thought we'd raise a few thousand dollars and help out a family or two. But we have now received more than $275,000 in tsunami relief donations, and our relief efforts have organically grown into something much broader than we originally planned. Our success, and therefore the effectiveness of your donations, has been remarkable.
The Shawnee Institute has used your gifts to sponsor many projects undertaken by my neighbors here in Phuket, and to fund projects that I have personally overseen. We have given direct aid in the form of water, shelter, tools, lighting, and food for families displaced or otherwise impacted by the tsunami. We have funded the reconstruction of homes destroyed by the waves. We have provided temporary housing for families transitioning from destroyed homes they rented into new rental homes. We have helped to kick-start the economy of devastated villages by getting shops and businesses back up and running. We have contributed to the reconstruction of a school in Phang Nga, we have helped restore a Buddhist temple, we have funded a water supply project in Trang, we have cleaned up beaches in Phi Phi, we have supported volunteers replanting coastal vegetation, we have donated concrete, roof tiles, flashlights, and teddy bears. The list goes on and on. In short, thousands of people have felt the warmth of your generosity, and for that, on their behalf, I thank you.
While many of our projects don't have their own websites (sometimes they consist of nothing more than a few people driving a truckload of supplies to a remote coastal village, or providing the hardware that enables the staff of a small village restaurant to go back to work), below are links to a few of the projects that we have sponsored or undertaken:
Hands On
Kamala
We have now disbursed most of the money we have raised, what we have left is largely earmarked for particular relief efforts, and I am planning to taper down the amount of time I spend every week on tsunami relief. Some of the excellent projects that we have sponsored, however, will continue their work in Phuket and coastal Thailand, so please keep supporting them (either by visiting their websites or by donating to the Shawnee Institute- we will pass on funds to our various sponsored projects as the need arises).
I would be remiss if I signed off without reminding you that Phuket is an absolutely terrific place to vacation, and that the best time of year to visit here is November-April, the coldest, darkest, time of the year in the US and Europe. By next November, infrastructure and services in Phuket will be at least as good as they were pre-tsunami. The best thing you and your friends and family can do for tsunami survivors is to come to Phuket and enjoy yourselves!
Sincerely,
Pete Kirkwood
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