Inspired by Church aid following tsunami, sea gypsies turn to Christ

For sea gypsies, an ethnic group once regarded by the outside world as under-developed and poorly educated, the tsunami has brought major change. Fear of the waves has made some of them abandon their traditional island habitations and settle on the mainland, where they have had to start from scratch.

``It's partly because of our fears and worries about the future. Not returning to the island doesn't mean we've forgotten our identity or our ancestors. But our lives never progressed there so we want to try to change our lives,'' said Aroon Klathalay, a sea gypsy from Phra Thong Island who moved to Ban Bang Daed in tambon Thung Nang Khao, in Phangnga's Khura Buri district.

Accompanying him were 45 sea gypsy families who are hoping for a new life. Their resettlement was supported by Buddhist monks from Wat Samakkhitham in Khura Buri who allowed the use of the temple as a temporary shelter. Mr Aroon's group has now bought a new plot of land, stretching over 25 rai, at Ban Bang Daed and shared the land equally.

They have followed the monks' instructions to deposit the cash donations and have set up a 300,000-baht community fund to give 10-baht daily allowances to their children. They set aside 16,000 baht a week for food for the entire community. They also have a vocational development fund.

Mr Aroon was determined to push for better lives, education and occupations.

Meanwhile, a number of sea gypsies have taken an entirely new path by converting from paganism to Buddhism to Christianity. While such conversions have been criticised as a way of receiving material assistance from Christian groups, Pok Pramongkij, a 57-year-old female sea gypsy from Ban Laem Took Kae in Muang district of Phuket, insisted that she converted to Christianity because God ``saw'' her.

``It took three days [after the tsunami] for the province to come to help us. The authorities came to survey the damage when we were away from our home and concluded that our houses were only partly damaged and that we should get 20,000 baht each in compensation. But we actually got less. Some were paid only 4,000-5,000 baht.''

Mrs Pok, her husband Joei and their 16-year-old nephew had to live in a temporary shelter, with a roof made from a plastic sheet, for a month before World Vision Foundation and several other Christian agencies came to their rescue.

These foundations distributed construction materials to locals for mending 290 damaged houses at Ban Laem Took Kae. But the items were barely enough for everyone. Some had to buy the construction materials to complete the repairs.

Mrs Pok said she suffered stress and frustration every day since her family could only afford to buy food, not construction materials.

One day, missionaries from a Phuket church came to the village to teach English to local children and encouraged her to go to a church, pray and ask God for what she wanted.

``I went to church one Sunday and prayed that `if God sees me, please inspire people to bring me construction materials'. On Tuesday, good samaritans brought me cement and wood. It's strange that they were from a different church, not the church I visited that Sunday,'' Mrs Pok said.

She firmly believes that God heard her prayer and sent people to help her. The whole family has since converted.

After her conversion she read the Bible in her free time, which helped calm her. ``I no longer feel frustrated or unhappy about my unfinished house and unkind words about giveaways and payment from the church. I go to church not because I want giveaways. I go there because I like it,'' she said.

Although her family are now good Christians and go to church every Sunday, they never forgot their identity as sea gypsies and still take part in all traditional events, including the boat-floating rites, held at Ban Tha Chatchai in Phuket in the sixth and 11th lunar months to pay respect to their ancestors' spirits.

Moei Ravee, a senior medicine man who leads the rites, said there was no discrimination.

``All, both living people and the spirits of dead people, can join in the rites. Even those who converted can join because it is our duty to pay respect to our ancestors' spirits. Believe me. No matter what religion we belong to, it can't cause conflict if all remain grateful to our ancestors.''

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