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Published: September 14th 2007
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Her name is Joo. It means pearl in Thai. She lost everything in the tsunami except her hope and her smile.
I found her after a day out with the kids. Marrin was being a snot, Miles antagonizing her at every turn and both of them driving me absolutely nuts. I had to talk to Marrin twice about sulking because she couldn’t have a third ice cream/chip/pop treat and Miles was blundering oblivious to every item he knocked off a stall table or off a shop shelf.
I kept driving past Soi Cee (our road) on purpose because I was too cranky to get off the motocyc and the wind felt good in my ears. I couldn’t hear the kids bickering behind me.
We kept riding past our village and into the next survivor housing village behind Phru Teow. We drove slowly around the perimeter looking at new people, new houses, and new situations. At the last turn a sign caught my eye. It was a pictograph of the sensory points on the body…a clear indication of traditional massage in Thailand. The sign was significantly out of place for a survivor village.
We stopped by the side
Demented Roosters...
The ones that crow at 4am, 10 am and 2pm.... of the road for a minute to get a closer look at the sign and the owner of the Baan came around the corner to greet us.
I had heard briefly about a massage person in the village and clearly I found her. She lives alone in a two story concrete house with just the basics, but her main floor is clean and professionally tidy. She ushered us in and immediately Miles was asking for a foot massage. Its funny how he enjoys that even though it means he has to sit still for a long period of time. He is very tactile and that really fits with the way people treat each other here. There is a lack of personal space as far as individualism goes here. Two people can sit side by side and not talk and it’s ok. In Canada that time becomes an awkward period of time before one or the other individual gets up and leaves.
Joo started talking immediately, her English is poor but she tries endlessly to make her point. I tried to tell her I would come back to have a massage another day, but in a minute flat she
Pictures of Canada
Watching the awe while Nan looks at Canada on my computer. had fisherman pants out for me to change into, drinks and choco cornflakes for the kids to snack on and the miniature TV tuned into Thai kids cartoons.
I didn’t really have a choice.
A note about Thai massage done in a village or really anywhere outside of a shop catering to tourists…it can be a social event, it is done primarily for health reasons, and it can hurt, really hurt. When a Thai masseuse is kneeling on top of your thighs and pulling your hands away from your body at a 45 degree angle…it doesn’t feel good.
So taking these facts into consideration, I might as well have been sitting in a holistic clinic. But it still feels good, don’t misunderstand…I love paying $10.00 for two hours of prodding and stretching!
Joo insisted we call her JooJoo and after my massage punctuated with impromptu breaks to grab laundry off the line as the sky dumped a load of warm rain or to chase off a dog sniffing too closely at the kitchen door, she took the kids for a lesson in how to make Thai donuts or Kanom Waan which are basically flour, water and margarine
dough deep fried and then boiled in liquid sugar until the coating crystallizes.
Umm yummm.
Joo Joo lost everything in the tsunami, her family, her shop and her way of life. She was an excellent student though and was able to write to a German family who wanted to help the Tsunami victims and they gave her enough to purchase her home in the survivor village and enough items to set up shop for her massage business. Additionally she was able to go to Bangkok and study at Wat Po at the school of massage. She says her dream is to open a business in Khao Lak where the visitors (tourists) come that offers real Thai massage, a clinic and shop that teaches about the benefits of holistic massage.
We chatted some more and I agreed to come and see her once a week when we would exchange some language lessons, English for Thai.
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Another woman here, Thet, who works at the nearby ITV village and also coordinates much of the educational programs for the children here was on her day off when the Tsunami wiped out the Hotel she worked at in Khao
Lak. She lost the majority of the staff she had worked with for years on that day.
……………………….
Nan turned to the gangs in Phuket and has come to Ban Tharn Namchai to get away from that life. He says he is using the orphanage as a place to recuperate. The puppet shows that he and the troop put on for the schools and poor villages here are not performing right now and he talks often about the boredom driving him back to the streets and to the gangs.
………………………
There are thousands of stories here. But the real story is how life has progressed, how community has reorganized and carried on, how people are finding the means to heal.
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Grandma D
non-member comment
As always I love to here the stories of real people surviving. Marrin and Miles are receiving an invaluable education on life. Love you and miss you lots.