Buriram Expats
Buriram Province - General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: finnomick on August 13, 2014, 09:58:46 PM
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At 3 am yesterday -- Tuesday 12th August, one of our villagers house burnt down. Luckily lung and his 9 year old son were sleeping downstairs as the fire started on the first floor. They both got out but the house and all their belongings have been destroyed. All they had left were the clothes they were wearing. If anyone has any spare clothing, utensils or furniture they would be greatly appreciated. Anything, great or small, will be more than what they have right now. We have given them food and clothing and Ice Furniture of Buriram has given a mattress and clothing. I believe Ice furniture are trying to get more items from folks in Buriram and will bring them over on sunday so if you are in Buriram and have anything spare, please drop it off at Ron's shop. For those of you who can help, the house is in Nongnamkhun which is approximately 12 kms due south of Prakhon Chai in the direction of Ban Kruat. If you live in our vicinity you can call me for directions on 0861533991. Any cash donations are being recorded and kept by a council employee for when rebuilding can start.....
Sorry, cannot upload pictures, maybe admin can help ?
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I think I've sorted out the problem with the pictures so please cancel the request for help Admin.
A big thank you to Ron and Da who brought over more furniture today, and to those people who took clothing to Ron's shop for him to deliver. Lung Huang and his family expressed their gratitude to everyone who has helped him.
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Fim,
I don't have clothes or stuff, but I will pledge 500 Bhat to the cause.
So I can drop off the 500 baht at ICE?
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Urleft, thank you very much for your pledge. I am sure there will be no problems with dropping this off at Ice Furniture. They are starting to clear the ' site ' tomorrow of the remaining uprights which are pretty dangerous, then re-building can start. I hope it'll be blocks this time and not wood. I've offered my block - laying skills ( as such ). Hopefully we can get something up before the real rains arrive. Thanks again, Mick.
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I want to publically apoligize to Fin for not following through in a timely manner. The truth is I forgot about the pledge until Fin asked me about it.
Major embarassment on my part for not following through in a timely manner.
If I failed to follow through on any other pledges, please call me on it. I will make right.
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Uploading update from finnomick about Lung Hueng's house:
I'm going back a few weeks because some of the text and pictures seem to be missing somehow. I don't know where they went but it's not important ( maybe I sent them to the wrong place or included them in another thread ).
Following the fire and total destruction of one of our neighbour's houses, several meetings and visits happened over the next few days, these included the local council with the rescue services and the Red Cross. The building of a new house was going to begin by the end of the first week, and help was to be forthcoming from the Red Cross. As of today's date, the 7th of October, no contact has been made from any of the previously mentioned groups.
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Lung Hueng's house - 2
With the onset of the rainy season and no sight of the promised workmen, people from the village took it upon themselves to build a temporary house so Lung Hueng and his son had somewhere dry to live. Prior to this they had been sheltering under two canvas awnings lent by the temple but unfortunately these had no sides.
Following my appeal on the Buriram Expat Forum and a few phone calls, Ron and his wife Da of Ice Furniture in Buriram stepped up and very kindly donated and delivered a mattress and wardrobe plus other items of clothing that well wishers had left at their shop.
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At the beginning of September I received a call from Ron of Ice Furniture asking me to call in to Buriram. Apparently a local businessman had seen my appeal on the Buriram Expat Forum, and wanted to donate some items. So off we went, not knowing who we were going to meet or where. Enter Ruangsangthai Ltd who are a builders supplies merchant and tools warehouse a couple of kms to the north of Buriram town. We had a meeting with the owner Khun Pichai Ruangsuksriwong and his manager Bob Manthey. They had read about our neighbour's plight and were both willing and able to supply items to help with the re-building. So far, they have donated enough paint to sink a battleship...
...some very bright shirts...
...and a stainless steel water tank -- all the clay pots having cracked due to the intense heat of the fire
Still awaiting collection are some roof panels...
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When we delivered the water tank this morning there was a truck delivering sand and stone -- well, he had tried to deliver it but had sunk down to the axles...
...just going to show the amount of water that had recently dropped out of the sky. The good news though, is that the footings are being laid on the 19th of this month -- because this is a ' good day ' to do the job, and the posts will be going up on the 23rd -- another ' good day '. All the work will be done by family and villagers ( myself included -- that should be a laugh ) unless of course, the council and/or Red Cross actually turn up.
Last and by no means least, Urleft, thank you for the envelope which is still at Ice Furniture because I forgot to pick it up yesterday . I will be going over to the ' open day ' at Ruangsangthai on Tuesday of next week, the 14th, and will pick it up then.
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From what I have seen here, this is a worthwhile cause for our area.
Why did this Thai not have insurance (like all us frarangs have)? That is not the Thai way.
But God Bless the family. I wish that all the support they have been promised comes though. I don't really know, but have been told many promised support, few delivered.
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Urleft, I have my reservations as to the majority of Thai people having insurance for anything, but then money is not something in abundance especially in the farming communities.
All the pledges from business and private individuals have been honoured. Shame I cannot report the same good news from the government and other relief agencies.
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More photos..
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Just a thought, but how about compiling a list of items required and then updating it every few days with items donated removed. Some readers may have spare items or may wish to purchase an item and donate. That way any cash donations could go to the build and the house would likely be kitted out as well. Might be a way of encouraging more support and also meeting various budgets.
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Freddy, thanks for the idea -- I'll try and liase with the family. But as many of us know, dealing with the logic of the locals can often lead to confusion. They do not seem to be able to ' think ' in advance, rather ' think ' at that moment.
Normal building materials such as cement will be necessary, as will more sand and stone ( most of it going into the hole created when the truck sunk ). I will ask the misses what they have done about building blocks and door and window frames. Hopefully I will then be able to create a list.
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ธ้ำ ง สีแาั กฟั ง -- oops, sorry about that, the misses has been on. So, yesterday being the ' lucky day ' for starting the re-building saw the footings go in. The position of the house has been changed by the local ' building inspector ' because it wasn't ' lucky ' before ( ! ). The concrete posts will be going up on Thursday the 23rd ( another lucky day ).
Urleft, Lung Hueng and his family wish me to convey their thanks and gratitude to you for your pledge ( x2 ). They are all quite gob-smacked ( can't think of a better way to put it ) that people aka foreigners that do not know them are prepared to help them. Obviously not a trait found here very often with the indigenous population. Here's a couple of pics with Lung receiving your envelope......
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Freddy, Jen's spoken to Lung and his family on your behalf and they would be grateful of anything you can offer in the way of donating building items and/or fixtures ( rather than cash ). They have decided to move the ' hong nam ' so a sit-on bowl would be useful -- it doesn't need to be the flush type we are used to, just the sit-on rather than the squat variety. If you don't want to your donation to be " **** " on or in, then a door or window or similar would be good or maybe a hand basin. Floor tiles spring to mind too. Building blocks will be required but these seem to be a bit ' impersonal '. If you have any ideas, let me know and I can make sure they don't already have what you are thinking about. Thank you very much for ' getting involved '.
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Morning Roger. Sent you a PM
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Afternoon Steve aka Freddy.
I've received your message and note that you will be donating the bathroom bits and pieces so as you say, we can cross them off the list. Look forward to meeting up again sometime next week.
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Yesterday saw the first two posts going up at various degrees other than 90 to horizontal, but the local building inspector with a few of his boys were there so it must have been OK.
I don't know if the umbrella was significant because of the rain or just to keep the plumb-line man's head dry.....or maybe something to do with that building inspector.....
The Health and Safety Executive were also there to make sure the site was free of dangerous obstacles, and that all the workmen were wearing safety boots and hard hats. Still, it's good to see the building has actually begun.
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We had a welcome visit from Steve ( aka Freddy ), Noy and her daughter yesterday afternoon. They had come over with the toilet sanitaryware, tap and tiles destined for Lung Hueng's new house.
The builders had really progressed well despite the rain and they had got all the posts concreted in and the main steel structure of the roof on. I'm not sure what order things will take now, but I guess it'll be the roof next followed by the floor and walls.
Whilst collecting his items at Ruangsangthai, Khun Pichai also gave Steve an electric drill to bring over -- probably the first Lung has ever owned. After Steve and Noy had left, Lung said that he and his family were lost for words. Just how could all those people help him when they didn't even know him.
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Despite the heavy rain yesterday, construction of Lung's house is progressing well...
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...and cement arrived today for the next stage courtesy of Rod and Lek
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I'm not quite sure if Lung knows if he is coming or going......best to leave him in his state of confusion
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.....and today the roof is on
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The truck was loaded to the gunwales today with doors, windows, nails, paint and cement all donated by Ruansangthai Builders Merchants. Once more, thank you very much to Bob and Khun Pichai for their generosity and time to sort out all these items.
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Loaded to the gunwales with Khun Pichai and staff
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It's been a long time coming thanks to the length of time it has taken to get the camera fixed, but I can now post a progress picture of lung Huang's new house. Work was halted during the rice harvesting because most of the builders are local farmers but progress is being made albeit slowly.