Living Waters Phuket – Monthly Update December 2022

Summary

‘Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start’.

Nido Qubein

As one year closes and another begins, at Living Waters Phuket Foundation (LWPF), this is a time for both reflection and looking forward.

Our first year has been a rollercoaster ride. Morphing out of a desperate need for food aid in the form of life bags during the pandemic years, LWPF, has adapted and grown to meet the ongoing support required to build brighter futures, for the disadvantaged of Phuket and beyond. LWPF has come a long way in just over a year. Achieving equivalency determination status is a testament to just how far.

However due to unprecedented flooding, the last quarter of the year saw a need for emergency aid in Phuket and across Thailand. Life bags were funded, packed and distributed along with bedding and household necessities. It was heartwarming to see communities pull together in a now too familiar way but heartbreaking to see those who were beginning to get back on their feet once again lose everything.

The mission of LWPF is;

‘Providing relief via grants to support sustainable solutions to food security, education and the environment’. It has become clear over the year that education in all its forms has through necessity become LWPF’s primary focus.

Borrowing from the well known fishing proverb, LWPF literally gave the fish by including tinned fish in life bags. Now the emphasis has shifted from giving fish, to the less literal teaching of how to fish, what to do with the fish and how to do it all in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

The pandemic seriously affected every child’s education. This year LWPF has supported pre-school day centres, getting children into school and back to school and then continuing in education, through to university level, or vocational training.

Education should be a positive experience but this is not always the case. Circumstances and finances, both personal and public, can be barriers to children getting to school, learning in a safe environment and having the facilities available to learn effectively.

This year LWPF has enabled children to learn by supplying uniforms, books, Covid test kits, repairing buildings, installing solar panels, installing safe drinking water, upgrading kitchen facilities, building computer labs, building dormitories and supplying bicycles. In addition teachers have been sponsored and scholarships given, including enabling an innovative learn as you earn scheme.

Although education has almost by default become the main focus, LWPF has rather unexpectedly become involved with the provision of healthcare. Wheelchairs are being distributed throughout Thailand, specialist beds have been provided for palliative care. Neonatal warmers and resuscitators for hospitals and backboards for emergency services, are on their way.

LWPF is keen to encourage an environment where Government agencies, Non Government Organisations, charitable bodies, individuals and other interested parties work together, sharing their expertise, ideas and resources. Together we are stronger.

To achieve all we have this year, new partnerships, alliances and working relationships have been formed with many organisations. These include, Government agencies, The Church of Latter Day Saints, The Red Cross, iCare Thailand, Phuket Has Been Good To Us, Phuket International Women’s Club, United World College Thailand, Seeds Of Change and many more. In addition LWPF has received tremendous support from individuals in Phuket, throughout Thailand and worldwide. This has not been limited to financial support but by people volunteering their time and spreading the word via social and other media channels. Without this support LWPF would not be able to operate so effectively.

Looking forward to 2023, LWPF plan to build on foundations laid this year. Phuket’s main income stream from tourism is recovering but finding employees with the right skill and mind set is an issue. Ultimately education is the route into employment. The challenge now is to seek new and innovative ways of finding sustainable solutions to enable people, especially the disadvantaged, to be better able to help themselves. Not only will they and their families benefit but ultimately entire communities.