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Five monks, four school girls, three blokes from Pattaya,
plus casual volunteers build a school in three days!
The project to design and build the CKD buildings and
the cooperation between the local Masonic Lodge Pattaya West Winds (LPWW
1803 S.C.) and other service organisations, swung behind an idea that
stemmed from Kevin Fisher after the destruction caused by the Tsunami.
This became an official LPWW 1803 S.C. project and the members voted in
favour of acting as a focal point for donations from the Masonic community
to finance the buildings for use as schools. The word soon spread through
out the Masonic and private sectors for funds to help the children.
 Middy
and Kevin give the thumbs up for the work to begin.
The Grand Lodge of Western Australia pledged funds for
the first school building. The Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya collected
and donated to the cause, and other donations came from private
individuals.
After construction of the ‘meccano set’ building at
the Ultimate Technology and Services factory in Maptaput, the structure
was completely knocked down (CKD), loaded on a truck and taken to Phuket.
The building and supervisory team led by Kevin Fisher
and Richard ‘Middy’ Campbell arrived at the disaster site on Friday
afternoon, but the team of volunteer workers from the technical school who
had volunteered to assist in assembling the building had gone home for the
weekend. However, the five Buddhist Monks who survived the tsunami
(another four are among the missing) from the Kamala Beach Temple helped
to unload the materials and supplies from the truck.
Monks,
volunteers and children lend a helping hand in erecting and painting the
frames of the shelter.
David Lee a volunteer worker, living in Phuket, in
contact with Dave Doll during the early phases of the project helped
co-coordinating the operations on the local level, though both he and the
monks could not imagine how these piles of steel, plywood, tarps, and
other supplies could actually be assembled into a 20 meter long building.
On Saturday morning, the LPWW team under the technical
directions provided by Dave Doll started to assemble the building frames.
Master Elect Middy Campbell soon had the Temple monks laughing and helping
lay out the steel. Kevin Fisher and his crew of two monks collected
foundation bricks from the demolished buildings.
The technical school volunteers were greatly missed,
but work continued with the monks and three musketeers from Pattaya.
Before noon the frames were going into place and being erected. The
excitement was growing and passersby were stopping to ask questions and
take photos of the progress. No one had ever seen a structure go up so
fast.
The afternoon on Saturday was spent levelling the
building and placing bricks under the floor sections. Once it was squared,
the nuts and bolts were securely tightened. By the end of the first day,
the steel frame was up.
On a Sunday in Kamala Beach no one works. However, the
monks and the tired, sun burnt, but happy trio from Pattaya did not stop
and rest. At noon, four young school girls arrived and asked how they
could help. Middy soon put them to work. Foundation bricks were dug from
the rubble and reused under the floor sections by the young school girls.
 Paint
was flying onto plywood, paint was flying onto steel, the monks were
putting blue paint on everything, including themselves. Why Blue Paint?
Because blue is Her Majesty the Queen’s favourite colour that she likes
to see used in charitable projects. Even the tarps are blue.
Some carpentry work commenced on Sunday afternoon.
Cutting framing timber was organized. Middy and Kevin started to install
the doors in the end of the building bay sections.
Once the floor beams were securely shored up with
bricks, the school girls carried plywood for the flooring. A monk and a
volunteer worker started laying the floor sections. A team of military and
local volunteers from Nakon Si Thamarat arrived around noon.
Some of the new arrivals were shown how to install the
chicken wire over the roof trusses. David Lee supervised the installation
of the chicken wire and ensured that it was securely tied down to the
steel frame.
Dave,
Kevin and Middy with their new-found friends pose in front of the
completed framework.
Some of the new volunteers started drilling and
screwing the floor into place. Kevin ran from shop to shop in Kamala
getting the owners to open up and sell him more drill bits trying to keep
up to the pace the military volunteers were setting in breaking them.
Finally, one of the monks took the drill and started drilling properly and
the trips to the hardware store ceased.
 The
last piece in the frame is fitted into place by a monk at high noon.
All other work stopped as the tarps were unpacked, laid
out and pulled across the steel frame. Once squared, the tarp was securely
fastened.
The effect was immediate and spontaneous, “Doc” the
blue painted monk stood grinning from ear to ear, just rotating in a
circle and shaking his head “YES!” The abbot from the Wat came and had
tears in his eyes. David Lee, Kevin, Middy and people all stopped and
stared at the blue building standing on the demolished site of the old
school.
In two days five monks, four school girls, three blokes
from Pattaya, plus David Lee, and other casual volunteers had assembled
the frame, covered it, and had started the interior work. Smiles abounded
and the work now continued in the cool shade on a clean wooden floor.
Schoolgirls
carry plywood for the flooring.
On Monday, painting plywood continued by the monks,
while Middy and Kevin succeeded in fitting the first door. A teacher from
the technical school and 10 of his students arrived before noon and were
very surprised to see a building sitting on what was an empty lot when
they left on Friday afternoon. Dave Doll showed them what to do and how to
do it and away they went. Cutting, notching, drilling, and screwing the
wooden frames for the side walls into place.
The
shelters take shape as the tarp is draped over the structure and
floorboards are placed. (above & below)
On Tuesday, the technical school teacher and children
returned and completed the side walls. Middy and Kevin installed the
second door. The building ends were covered, and the end canopies were
set. The monks did a bit of touch up painting here and there.
A sign giving credit to the financial contributions
made by the Grand Lodge of West Australia, the Rotary Club of
Jomtien-Pattaya, and Mr. Webb (a private donor) was erected at the site.
 This
monk was an expert at using an electric drill.
At 2 p.m. on Wednesday 26 January, Phuket
administrators accepted the handing over of the record breaking building,
that can now be used as a school for the needy local children.
Victims of Tsunami need
your help now!
Middy Campbell made an inspection trip to Phangnga District to see
first hand of what was left of a school. The work continues... Please turn
to page 30 to read of how you can help.
Thanks
to five monks, four schoolgirls, three blokes from Pattaya, and casual
volunteers, the kids at Kamala Beach now have a school.
Schools devastated, Children need your help now
By Richard ‘Middy’ Campbell
We made a trip to Phangnga District and looked at, what was,
a children’s school. Regrettably it was totally decimated.
Middy
inspects the devastation of the school in Phangnga District, depriving children
of their place of learning.
Talking to the school principal Archan Surin, he
informed us that he was desperate for assistance to get the children back to
their lessons. We agreed that this was the best therapy for the
children after such a devastating disaster.
We agreed to do our utmost to provide two (20 meter long)
shelters to be divided into 4 classrooms. We informed them that the site
that was selected during our inspection, would be adequate for our shelters.
Another area was ear marked for a new permanent school building to be built in
due course.
The future for these poor children is in schooling and as
such, we left with hope and expectation that his request would be put to our
Lodge Committee for their approval.
Pattaya Mail readers, These children need your help Now!!!!!
Please help us to help them....
Contact David Garred Tel. +66 4 755 3100, e-mail:
[email protected] or David Doll at [email protected] - Middy Campbell at
[email protected].
Donations will be gratefully accepted
Masonic CKD building project fills a need in the South
In these post-tsunami days, with the immediate needs of
water, food and clothing being met, the call is now for urgently needed
shelter. Tent ghettos are not the answer, and the experience of some local
expats has been put into operation to solve the problem.
Dr.
Iain Corness interviews the good Samaritans for Pattaya Mail on TV. (l-r)
Kevin Fisher, Middy Campbell, Dave Doll and John Richardson. At right is
John Morgan, master of Lodge Pattaya West Winds.
In a cooperation between different members of the local
Masonic Lodge Pattaya West Winds and the Grand Lodges in Western
Australia, plus additional help from the Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya,
has seen prefab school buildings, built on the Eastern Seaboard, being
assembled in the South to be used as classrooms for orphaned children.
The design of the modular CKD buildings has been a
collaborative effort, with Kevin Fisher, Dave Doll (Sea and Oilfield
Services) and John Richardson, the director of Ultimate Technology
Services (UTS) producing the first of a number of these easily
transportable buildings.
With the heaviest individual piece only weighing 11 kg,
and the sections small enough to go on the back of a standard truck, these
buildings, which can be up to 18 meters in length, are easily erected in a
few hours, even using unskilled labour. The cost to fabricate each one is
around USD 8,000, and being of a size that can hold many children and
school equipment, these buildings will ensure that their vital education
can continue.
UTS’s John Richardson is also well underway with
complete prefab flat-pack stand-alone houses that can be erected in 45
minutes, and just need connecting to an outside electric power source to
make for very habitable residences for the homeless.
Those who have been involved in this Masonic project are to be
congratulated for not just seeing the need, but being able to fulfil that
need as well.
Dave,
Middy, Kevin, Stan, Peter and Sid help load the truck with materials
needed to build the shelters.
Jameson’s Irish Pub throws open the doors - officially!
Miss Terry Diner
With no pomp, and even less circumstance, Jameson’s
the new Irish pub, had its head (and feet) truly wetted last Friday night.
With the ribbon cutting done very quickly by co-hosts Rony Fineman and
landlord Kim Fletcher, it was into the pub for some serious drinking. And
the serious drinkers were there by the score, far too many for me to
mention individually.
To say that Pattaya was waiting for this venue would be
an understatement. There were so many people at the opening that friends
were ringing each other on mobile phones to find which part of the pub
they were in. After all, when you’re in the pool section, and your mates
are in the library, or propping up the bar, there was no way you could
have spotted them in the crowd. A crowd so huge that Rony Fineman was
overheard saying, “If it’s like this every night, it’ll be great!”
Even with only half the crowd such as there was on opening night, both Kim
and Rony should be happy. The car park which was designed for 65 cars had
more than 100 at some stages of the evening, but somehow everyone seemed
to be able to cope, both outside and inside the pub.
The staff were certainly kept busy with an unending
series of bar snacks coming out of the new Jameson’s kitchen, while
Molly and the service people somehow fought their way through the throng
without spilling the innumerable beers from Bob’s bar that were drunk
that night, not to mention the odd Jameson’s Irish whiskey, several
score of Guinness and even the odd wine for the odd wine buffs that came
to the opening. And with many sporting associations and other diverse
groups opting to use Jameson’s as their headquarters, the staff can
expect no respite.
With direct access from Pattaya’s Second and Third roads, plus North
Road and Central Road, one could be forgiven for saying that all roads
lead to Jameson’s!
(l-r)
Dr. Iain Corness, Peter Malhotra, Kim Fletcher, Rony Fineman, Mike
Franklin and Graham McDonald are ready for the very informal ribbon
cutting to ‘officially’ throw open the doors at Jameson’s Irish Pub.
Part
of Ed’s best side...
Peter
was seen hopping about on the photo trail!
Mistress
Susie, Ian and Ray were seen propping up the bar through the night.
Suparp,
Clayton and their group had a premier night out!
Who
‘dat?
Mike
and the ‘boys’ from Eastern Star checked out the home of ‘JIGS’.
Ray,
Graham and Woody ready for action!
Som
and Sue guard their refreshments amid the hustle and bustle of opening
night.
Smile...
you’re on candid camera!
A bevy
of beauties grace the pool table area!
8 ball
in the corner pocket! Jameson’s has two professional size pool tables
for avid players.
Kim
and Tim, a likely pair of landlords!
Aum
and Moo congratulate their former boss on opening night!
Rony
was the center of attention when receiving congratulatory bouquets from
friends and associates.
Peter,
Amorn and Thanomsak keep a watchful eye on the night’s comings and
goings.
Molly
graciously accepts more flowers on behalf of the very busy Jameson’s
Pattaya.
Nothing
like a pint of Guinness with a couple of mates!
Cheers!
Report from the South
Marliese Fritz
My husband Heinz, I and our friend Max went one day
early in the morning with his pick-up truck, heading in the direction of
Phuket. We were overloaded with clothing, shoes, pillows, dishes and pans,
gas-cookers and even a fridge, which were all donated by members of the
Rotary Clubs on the Eastern Seaboard and Marina, Sauber Club, Ursula
Rothstein of Ursula’s Antiques, Elfi of Pattaya Blatt and many more
friends.
Little
children in a relief camp.
After a 13 hour’s drive we reached Takuapa. At a
temple there we met our friend Hans, who lives in Phuket and knows his way
around. The air was horrible with the smell of decomposing bodies that
were lying at the temple. We thought we will never get rid of this smell.
Marliese
Fritz (2nd left) hands over funds and goods.
At the temple they told us to leave the cartons in a
corner and the people will pick it all up after they have a house again.
Our feeling told us not to do so; we believed that the people needed
everything immediately! We were soon on the way again to bring everything
directly to the victims of the tsunami.
A
woman prepares a meal from donated food.
Near Kao Lak we found a camp of survivors. They were
lying on plastic mats under plastic sheets being built like tents.
Soldiers were building huts. We saw that the people there had enough water
and food and medicine, but everything else was lacking. When we saw them,
we knew we were at the right place to help.
Urgently
needed goods are distributed to the people.
A village headman tried to make a list of all we had
brought and the people gathered around our vehicle, partly full of hope,
partly apathetic, and helped to unload the pick-up. After unloading
everything, we had to travel 200 kilometers on to Phuket, since it was
getting dark and there was no hotel or house where we could sleep.
A
temporary camp made out of plastic awning.
The next day we went to all the beaches of Phuket and
we were shocked to see how devastated everything still was, even though a
lot was cleaned off already. The famous Patong Beach looked worse. Wrecked
cars standing around, almost all houses destroyed.
The devastation was
shocking.
The next day we went to buy toys for all the poor
children who lost everything as well. And they didn’t even have a
comforter like a teddy or a doll to fall asleep with at night. On our way
back we drove by “our” camp again and delivered the toys, much to the
joy of the children.
On the way to Khao Lak, in bright daylight, the
devastation was worse to look at. Even though we saw a lot on television
already, the reality is much, much worse.
Soon we will be going again to bring some more things to the poor
people there and if somebody wants to help with donations they can contact
me at Tel: 06-1493010. Again we will deliver everything directly to the
people in need.
Dusit Resort Pattaya donates to the Camillian Centre
Through meeting at various Skๅl meetings,
Christina & Malcolm from the Charity Club of Pattaya got to talking to
Stefan Heintze, resident manager for the Dusit Resort here in Pattaya.
 Christina
Boden (right) from the Charity Club of Pattaya hands over boxes of bedding
donated by the Dusit Resort Pattaya to Georgina Phelan at the Camillian
Centre.
During one conversation they mentioned the work they do
for the Camillian Centre in Rayong. A few days later Christina received an
email from Stefan saying that the Dusit Resort would like to know if they
would like some bedding for the Camillian Centre.
The answer was, “Yes, please!”
So, last Sunday Stefan and Toy, Dusit Resort
housekeeper, met with Malcolm and Christina and helped to load up the
truck.
The Charity Club of Pattaya then took the bedding up to
the Camillian Centre where Georgina Phelan and Father Giovanni were
waiting.
Father Giovanni said he would take some of the bedding
down to the people in the South as the Camillian’s have sent some people
to help care for 500 needy people in the worst hit areas that were caught
up in the tsunami, so not only did the Dusit Resort help the Camillian
Centre, but they also have helped the people in the South.
If any other hotels have any spare bedding, please contact the Charity
Club of Pattaya, Christina 095454185 or Malcolm 097441040, or email [email protected]
Georgina,
Christina & Father Giovanni
Father
Giovanni and Georgina Phelan are grateful for the generous donation.
Malcolm
(left), from the Charity Club of Pattaya, says thanks to Toy & Stefan
for their generous help.
Stefan
Heintze, resident manager of the Dusit Resort in Pattaya, takes time out
of his busy schedule to help load the boxes.
Correction
In the Friday December 17 - December 23, 2004 edition
of the Pattaya Mail, the article titled, “Personal Directions: How to
create your own gold rush” was erroneously attributed to Christina Dodd.
The article was not inspired by Todd Natenberg. It was actually authored
by Todd Natenberg, president of TBN Sales Solutions, and author of the
book, “I just got a job in sales! Now what?” A Playbook for
Skyrocketing Your Commissions. Visit Mr. Natenberg’s company at
www.IJustGotAJobInSales.com. You also can reach Todd in the United States
at (773) 755-1306. The Pattaya Mail regrets the error.
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