Thaikea: From Leftover Coffins To DIY Furniture Making

Although this is my third visit to Thailand, it is my first time in Khao Lak.

So too for Tsunami Volunteer Center's media relations volunteer Jessica Moulday from Australia. Although just home from her first trip in Thailand a month before the Boxing Day tsunami, she watched in horror at the devastation of the land she'd just departed: "I don't think the urge would have been as strong if I hadn't been to Thailand myself."  She wrapped up her public relations major and a freelance media relations position with the Salvation Army and alighted here in July. Like many volunteers I've spoken with, she had to look up Khao Lak on a map.

Khao Lak, mainly a European destination previously as well as the launching pad to liveaboard dive trips to the Similan Islands, wasn't marketed in Australia. Even after the tsunami,  the Australian media world focused on Troy Broadbridge, an Australian Rules football player, who was on his honeymoon in Phuket, says Moulday, even though the majority of deaths and 78% of the property destruction in Thailand due to the Boxing Day tsunami occured in Khao Lak.

Tsunami Volunteer Center, founded by P' Nu Ring, director of parent Thai oundation The Mirror Foundation, sprung up after the tsunami as "needs-based organization" that dynamically adapts to the self-defined needs of the surrounding communities. Along with Phi Phi's HiPhiPhi, TVC quickly achieved a reputation online in volunteer forums like Lonely Planet's and through ubiquitous traveller's word-of-mouth network.

TVC has harnessed the enthusiasm of more than 4000 volunteers from 55 countries that descended Khao Lak since December 26, 2004 into an amazing set of projects that range from home construction to English instruction to handicraft microbusinesses. One of my favorite projects is this innovative one:

Following the disaster, a well-intentioned international supplier delivered a sizeable and unusable shipment of undersized coffins [often foreigners are taller than Asians] to Khao Lak. Resourceful volunteers repurposed the materials and crafted brightly painted, highly functional, lasting pieces of much needed furniture for villages and schools. By July of 2005, the operation moved into the Tap Tawaan village, allowing for full engagement of the volunteers from all corners of the world. In late October 2005, as the demand for furniture in that village slowed down, that project came to a close. A new furniture building and vocational training project was initiated in Bang Kayah. The project manager for the latest Thaikea endeaver is a tsunami survivor who has been involved in Thaikea projects since February...

Several pieces that were made for local schools were sent unpainted so the students could participate in this project. The project utilized the skills of experienced carpenters and the energy of volunteers that were new to building furniture...

In February, using starter packages consisting of donated tools, wood and easy design templates, volunteers held one-day Thaikea workshops to teach eager men and women how to build tables, cabinets, shelves, and chairs for the homes in their camps and villages and for local schools. Children were also involved in the Thaikea Workshops painting the furniture.

Volunteers on the camp teams assessed the needs of their own communities and responded accordingly. They created various designs and allowed residents to enthusiastically pick the designs they like the most. At several camps, residents fully embraced furniture building, and were inspired to created their own designs and styles.

This project enabled people of any age or gender to participate in the refurnishing of their homes and schools.