In March, 2005, three months after the physical waves, the tsunami swept me up the Andaman Coast of Thailand and into the tiny town of Khuraburi to help. I was a database programmer assigned to help track recovery efforts.
I will never forget the first days, the swarm of volunteers from all over the world who, along with me, had poured into the district to try to clean up the mess, heal wounds and help people put their lives together. Korean, Swiss, Canadian, secular, Buddhist, Catholic, colours and faiths all over the map, a noisy buzz of goodwill envoys.
To me, one NGO stood out above all the other 40-odd groups. This was a group called North Andaman Tsunami Relief (NATR for short). It had an army of enthusiastic volunteers and an impressive array of relief programmes in more than ten different locations. Food and water distribution, medical aid, school repairs, toys and books, and scholarships for 200 children. Squid traps, bridge replacement, a water tower, toilet construction. Working with orphans. On and on. And NATR paid special attention to projects that would get the tsunami victims back on their feet, supporting themselves. Volunteers built a furniture workshop and established community centres where production and marketing skills were taught.
Impressive. Well done. And through it all, the NATR community functioned like a happy family. Europeans, Americans, Thais and more. Camaraderie in the office and in the field, and dinners and gabfests together after work, many of which I sat in on. I was inspired at the rare sight of idealists able to make ideals become realities, and the satisfaction it brought to them.
Of course, disaster relief should be a temporary job, shouldn't it? Mine was. Within six months my part was done and I was on my way back to my cushy job in the US. The Korean medical team had long since left. Boats had been replaced, squid and crab traps rebuilt. There had been an earthquake in Pakistan and a hurricane in New Orleans, and in Thailand everyone's donor base was drying up. Many NGOs had left our area, others were preparing to leave.
This had been the original concept with NATR: do the job that needed to be done, then leave the rest to the newly revived communities themselves. Volunteers could declare victory and go home. The communities that had been helped, though, still had needs that were hard for them to fill by themselves. Was it enough to restore the area to something like its original imperfect state, or did the need go deeper? Island people who had made their livings on the sea had been relocated to new villages on land, many never to return to their original homes. New people had moved out to the islands, people unfamiliar with the old ways of life there, and in need of new solutions for new post-tsunami challenges.
In 2007 there was a passing of the NATR torch to another entity: a newly minted social enterprise named Andaman Discoveries (AD). The next day the remaining staff and volunteers went back to work in the same offices, with the same ideals and the same donor list, but a different mission: help villagers in the nearby tsunami-affected areas sustain themselves in new ways, especially through development of a new network for "responsible tourism".
Now, nearly seven years after taking this new direction, Andaman Discoveries (AD) seems to have proven itself. Continuing many of NATR's signature programmes, such as scholarships, working with orphans, and supporting community centres, AD has expanded its scope and vision. The emphasis is on "social entrepreneurship", and while activities still include building, restoration and encouraging new livelihoods in communities, no longer are donors the primary source of income. The idea is for programmes to pay for themselves. Along the way, AD has picked up a few fistfuls of awards, besides being honoured with three Thai royal audiences. Among the honours are the SEED Award from UNDP, Travel Leisure's Global Vision Award, the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Green Award, and becoming a finalist in the BBC World Challenge.
So what are they doing so right?
Just an example: in October I had the opportunity to tag along on one of AD's volunteer projects. This one was, typically, in partnership with three other environmentally-minded organisations, and involved a group of young volunteers coming from overseas. They were boated and trekked to a village on a remote island and put in homestays with local host families. Days were a mix of learning about local history, culture and ecology, and work on community projects, with an occasional chance to swim and play around in the ocean. Meals were eaten together, sitting Thai-style on the floor, and prepared by locals in the local styles - the main dish one evening featured fresh clams dug up from the tidelands by the villagers that very day.
We helped paint the community museum, and added to the displays. We built recycling bins and spent a day cleaning up the enormous amount of manmade trash that the Andaman tides wash up from the ocean. After a few days there, it was off to another island, helping prepare a local Buddhist temple for a seasonal ceremony, clearing brush, swimming in pools under cascading jungle waterfalls, then spending half a day fixing a road, filling in potholes the monsoons had left in the asphalt. The last night, the villagers put on a going-away party for the young volunteers and staff, featuring local songs and dances, and a choreographed spear fight by local martial artists.
Such experiences have tremendous value for all the participants. First of all, they bring people from opposite ends of the earth together and enable them to experience each other as human beings, demystifying preconceptions and creating international understanding. New friends are made. Language abilities are expanded and improved on both sides. Secondly, the volunteers learn about the history, culture and ecology of the areas they visit. And finally, physical improvements are made in the "host community". Beaches are left cleaner than before. Needed maintenance is done, and new additions are made to community resources. The volunteers, who may come only once, get an experience they will never forget. The local community itself benefits every single time, and there is a cumulative effect whose value grows year by year.
As someone who has watched these communities for six years now, I can see the positive changes that have come in the communities AD has targeted. "Responsible tourism" is a popular catchphrase, but perhaps not all groups using it to describe themselves can live up to the concept it embodies. Andaman Discoveries does, though, and in a big way.
Peter Montalbano is a writer and musician based in Bangkok.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/12/15/turning-recovery-into-sustainable-development/
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