Mercy Centre

Moken Gypsies Find Themselves at Sea in the Modern World

Tuesday, 22 May 2012 06:01

Dear Everyone,

This is the second recent news article about our work with the Moken – the ethnic Sea Gypsies – on Koh Lao, an island in Ranong Province. Both articles focus on the plight of these poor island villagers who have lost much of their past and are lost in the present. We are doing for the Mokan what we have always done for the poorest of the poor – we are sending their children to school and taking care of the moms and grandmoms. In addition, because of their precarious legal status in Thailand, we are working in myriad ways with the entire village, together with the local provincial government, to help these poor seafarers gain recognition and status as permanent Thai residents. Please read the articles at your leisure (the earlier one is posted below), and help if you can. Many thanks, as always, for all your support.

Prayers, Fr. Joe

Moken Gypsies Find Themselves at Sea in the Modern WorldSydney Morning Herald and The Age, May 22, 2012 (For slide show with commentary from Fr. Joe, please visit here. Photo above by Jim Coyne.)

Article by Lindsay Murdoch

They live in stilted shacks on a mudflat above piles of oyster shells, broken glass and rubbish, their nomadic days on the seas of south-east Asia gone forever.

Liya Pramongkit, an elder and midwife of Thailand's largest group of Moken-speaking sea gypsies, saw her people on the small island of Koh Lao dying at the rate of one a week, many of them starving mothers and babies.

"We have lost our traditional way of life as our children no longer hear the stories that have been handed down by our ancestors," Liya says, her deeply lined face showing the hardship the Moken have suffered since they were forced to leave their seafaring lives, where the only things that mattered were the tides, the fish, the storms, the moon and the sea spirits.

"Before, when we lived and died on the sea, life was much better," she says.

More than three decades working in Bangkok's slums did not prepare Catholic priest Joe Maier for what he saw on Koh Lao when he made his first 30-minute boat ride here from the Thai fishing port of Ranong, in south-west Thailand, four years ago.

"The people were literally starving to death, trapped between the modern world and the Moken world," Father Maier says. "I have never seen people as poor.

Time Running Out for Mokan Way of Life

Monday, 14 May 2012 06:06
Note: This article is about a community of sea gypsies in Ranong Province. We have been working together with these poor island villagers since the tsunami. Link to full text and photos here. Text only - below. Published in Bangkok Post, Sunday, May 13, Spectrum Section By Craig Skehan Village elder and midwife Liya Pramongkit, skin brown and furrowed as a walnut, spent her early life living as a nomad aboard handcrafted wooden boats called kabang. They were fashioned from giant rainforest logs; planking held together with vines. The kabang symbolised the human form and elements of the boat were named after body parts such as the stomach and ribs. All around them were the spirits of the sea. Whole families once lived on kabang, often for months at a time. A thatched roof would provide only partial protection from the weather. Ms Liya still sings a fittingly haunting Moken lullaby about a hungry child. So many Moken children have gone hungry, not least in recent years, as their parents' subsistence way of life has ebbed away. There was the devastating 2004 tsunami, greater enforcement of the arbitrary maritime Myanmar "border" with Thailand and the commercial depletion of marine life. Many children have died from malnutrition and disease. If there are sea spirits watching over the Moken, they must be weeping.
Read more...

Time Running Out for Mokan Way of Life

Monday, 14 May 2012 04:26
Note: This article is about a community of sea gypsies in Ranong Province. We have been working together with these poor island villagers since the tsunami. Link to full text and photos here. Text only - below. Photo above by Chawalit Kumsatok. Published in Bangkok Post, Sunday, May 13, Spectrum Section By Craig Skehan Village elder and midwife Liya Pramongkit, skin brown and furrowed as a walnut, spent her early life living as a nomad aboard handcrafted wooden boats called kabang. They were fashioned from giant rainforest logs; planking held together with vines. The kabang symbolised the human form and elements of the boat were named after body parts such as the stomach and ribs. All around them were the spirits of the sea. Whole families once lived on kabang, often for months at a time. A thatched roof would provide only partial protection from the weather. Ms Liya still sings a fittingly haunting Moken lullaby about a hungry child. So many Moken children have gone hungry, not least in recent years, as their parents' subsistence way of life has ebbed away. There was the devastating 2004 tsunami, greater enforcement of the arbitrary maritime Myanmar "border" with Thailand and the commercial depletion of marine life. Many children have died from malnutrition and disease. If there are sea spirits watching over the Moken, they must be weeping.
Read more...

Slum Fire Follow Up – Urgent Needs!

Friday, 04 May 2012 07:41

Rama 9 Fire - Homeless families

On April 24 a devastating fire struck a slum community in the Rama 9 area of Bangkok. Fifty-one homes were destroyed leaving 178 people homeless, including 61 children and 117 adults. Among the homeless are four children with severe disabilities and 11 elderly residents.

The situation is dire. Most families in this community are headed by parents who work as day laborers, earning below the minimum daily wage (300 baht - approx. US $10.) Like most slum residents, they are already over-burdened with household debt. And following the fire they have lost what little they ever called their own.

The slum community leaders and residents have asked our Mercy Centre to assist.

Our outreach and housing teams are working hand in hand with the community. In addition to providing emergency assistance with food and shelter, we are helping the community to organize and petition government welfare and housing offices in order to rebuild the 51 homes as quickly as possible.

There are obstacles all along the way. Even removing the debris left in the wake of the fire is a major hurdle that requires petitioning government authorities. As soon as we can, we will start to rebuild.

Please help us as the need is urgent. The government will provide some support; and the community itself will provide much of the labor; but our own costs in rebuilding the community, home by home, are staggering. Please see the detailed housing costs below. Our out-of-pocket costs are 54,000 Thai Baht (approximately US $1,800) per home

Slum fires create chaos, especially when they hit squatter communities, like this one, where the residents have few or no rights to rebuild their homes on the land where they have lived their whole lives.

In the past 40 years we have come to the aid of dozens of communities throughout Bangkok – and built over 10,000 homes - following major slum fires. We know how to expedite construction and how to rebuild in ways that strengthen the community and make it safer. In every instance, we have needed additional support from our friends around the world.

Please help as you can today. The community needs to move quickly if it is to survive as a community. Please contact us if you would like more details. Pictured above - community residents left homeless; below, remnants of their homes.

The Rama 9 Fire

Per home reconstruction costs: (Thai Baht)

Foundation pillars: 4,000

Wood: 37,000

Windows/frames: 4,000

Door/Door frames: 2,000

Roof/tiling: 5,000

Dry wall: 3,500

Screws, nails, bolts: 500

Toilet: 1000 Plus

Electric and Water: 20,000

Tools: 1,000

Food/Emergency Aid: 1,000

Labor: 5,000

Total Cost per home: 84,000 Thai Baht (note: 31 Baht = US $1)

Government Subsidy: 30,000

Mercy Centre’s Cost: 54,000 Baht per home (Approx. US $1,800)

Two Slum Fires – Urgent Action Required

Friday, 27 April 2012 07:15

Rama 9 community fire

A major fire occurred earlier this week in the Rama 9 slum community. One community member died; another is still missing; and forty-eight homes were destroyed. Mercy Social Workers are assisting the community – cooking food, bringing bedding, securing life’s daily necessities, and ensuring that the children are safe and healthy. We are coordinating with community leaders as well as housing and government authorities to rebuild every home lost to the fire.

In addition, earlier this week there was a second slum fire - this one in the Bon Kai slum community. Twenty homes were destroyed. We are surveying the damage, speaking with community leaders, and will update you with specific needs and requests for assistance regarding both fires next week.

Photo above: K. Prapai, a Mercy social worker, surveys the devastation in the Rama 9 slum community. Below, a food vendor's cart - and livelihood - are destroyed by the fire.

In the past 40 years, the Human Development Foundation has built over 10,000 homes following devastating slum fires.

vendor's cart - rama9 fire

Local Hero Receives Promotion

Friday, 27 April 2012 04:57

Police Promotion Ceremony

In receiving his promotion to Second Lieutenant within the Port Authority Precinct of the Royal Thai Police, Khun Aumnaj Boonyamatee asked Fr. Joe to pin his new insignia to his police uniform. Of the many formal and informal ceremonial duties that Fr. Joe performs, he says that this one gave him great honor because Khun Aumnaj is a true slum hero: Second Lietenant Aumnaj works with our Mercy legal aid teams to protect the poorest and most vulnerable Klong Toey children.

Fr. Joe at promotion cermony

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