Mission of Love Waves of Hope ……….Journey continues…….

The Diocese of Suratthani, Thailand including 15 provinces of the southern Region of the country. The areas Diocese affected by the Tsunami were the provinces of Ranong, Phang-nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. The most affected provinces were Krabi, Phuket and Phang-nga, which causes 43 destroyed villages, ten thousands of people dead, and thousands of houses and boats are destroyed.

 Already on 26 December 2004, local Church personnel and volunteers began organizing their support effort in Tsunami affected areas of the Diocese.  Bishop Joseph Prathan Sridarunsilp as a Bishop of Suratthani Diocese altogether with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued on an appeal to the Catholic Faithful for pray and mourn with the victims and to support the relief effort through in-kind donations and funds. Following with Religious Congregations’ active in Thailand quickly provided additional personal for the relief effort.  The Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR) began collections of in- kind materials from parishes and community groups and transported them to the Diocese of Suratthani for distribution

 The Local Church was present with the team of up to 50 Diocesan, Religious and lay volunteers on a daily basis from early morning to late evening in eight camps in the provinces of Phang-nga, Phuket and Krabi, distribution of in-kind donations, basic first aid assistance, cash distribution and basic medical assistance.  The Local Church team have also started to visiting and accompanying the villages and communities whose population has been affected by the Tsunami in terms of losing family members or destruction of their livelihoods.

CBCT formally requested to CI to appoint a Thai Solidarity Team (TST) to help with the assessment and implementation issues of an SOA for Tsunami response programme in the Diocese of Suratthani The team visited operational Diocese Pastoral Centers involved in assistance to Tsunami affected people and communities in Krabi, Phuket and Takuapa (Phang-nga province) to do the assessment and join the hand with Diocesan team on short team assistance and long term perspective for the beneficiaries. The Tsunami Response program being proposed for funding by The CI Confederation as a Special Operation Appeal (SOA) to build the capacities of the Diocese to enable both competence and capacity to implement relief and development programs in the long term. And Also the tsunami response program will be means to help build up the operational management structure of Church in Suratthani Diocese.

 The goal of the work was to help meet the basic relief and recovery needs to Tsunami – affected families and communities  The target groups were focusing on the victims and survivor of the Tsunami both direct and indirect, the Burmese migrant workers and the vulnerable groups such as elderly, people with disabilities and single-parent families.  Six Objectives had been defined (Relief assistance, livelihood assistance, Psycho- social assistance, health care, education assistance, Community development assistance including capacity building to reach the goal of the programme.

 During the first implementation year the main focus was set on relief and rehabilitation activities contributing to the fast recovery of the people affected by the tsunami.  The activities also enable the target group to reach sustainable livelihood. Deep- rooted social and economic aspects have to be considered and addressed accordingly with long-term development activities.  The last period the transition of the implemented activities from a pure relief approach to rehabilitation and development was already initiated especially focus on the most vulnerable group.

 The attention to Disaster Preparedness has been included in the Cooperation with COERR (Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugee)  The role CCHD (Catholic Commission on Human Development) was to help Diocesan team to monitor the implementation and progress of the program of activities.  The COERR (The Catholic Organization for Emergency for Refugee and Relief Service) also assisted the Diocesan Team to present the narrative and financial reports of a high standard.  The Administration was established in the Diocesan office to provide support and facilitate to the implementation of the pastoral center through the management of human and financial resources.  The program was planning and implementing for moving toward the Capacity building and the establishment of the DISAC (Diocesan Social Action Center of Suratthani Diocese). And Since March 2007 the newly constituted DISAC of the Diocese of Suratthani is the new responsible body for the management of the SOA 07/2005. until program was finished on 2009

As a local partner (Diocesan Caritas) in the accompaniment of Caritas Germany, Caritas Italiana and Caritas Thailand  There are opportunities to develop learning across projects of the Church and bringing the network of the Church to response to the needs of the society.  Learning process of the local Church to open the door to a variety of cluster networks ;  Need Assessment process of SOA programme was done and responding to the requests from the individuals and responding to the needs given by the leader of the village which is a good starting point for long-term development of the project.  The local Church have built up Thai and International networks of social work including Associate, partner organizations, Government agencies, NGOs network.  The Church was be able to respond to the tsunami due to the tremendous support it was able to mobilize and coordinate with a range of national (from different part of Thailand) and international volunteer.

Motivational and Inspirational Support: drawing on the strength of the Catholic Church’s spiritual background and values to motivate and inspire people affected by the tsunami – a collective wave of hope for people across all religion: Muslim, Buddhist, Protestant and Catholic. Church acting as a catalyst to energize and empower people in taking action themselves and to link up with other agencies to provide relief and development support The local Church and CI had responded promptly to the needs of a variety of communities across a large geographically area. It procured a range of items and materials in an effective and efficient way from rice to boat, engines and houses. Collaborative network: the emergency response of the local Church and CI bringing people together rapidly to work on the relief and rehabilitation response and setting up new collaborative working relationships which did not exist before. Openness and Learning: Discussing openly during the programme and evaluation to share experiences critically and learn from each other – learning by doing. Beneficiaries Networks and information: Reaching out to Support villages far and wide.

Post Tsunami Diocese of Suratthani did not have any structure to response to the social needs…..

During Tsunami program,  Diocese of Suratthani has inspired by the Tsunami program and our partners to capacity building responding to the needs of the society especially those who are poor and needy in the area of the diocese of Suratthani  Since 2007 DISAC has been started the capacity building program in parallel with the SOA program In its long term commitment in the field of social-pastoral development has been set up a Diocesan Social Action Center (DISAC) as a coordination center to provide support to the implementing centers in terms of human and financial resources with a strong partnership accompaniment by Caritas Italiana..  The capacity building program of the DISAC was focusing mainly on institutional management, Project Cycle Management, community based assessment and planning, financial management and language skills.  The capacity building programs and exchanges with other national DISACs has been started and long term strategy and planning was planed.

After Tsunami program From now on DISAC are moving forward to continue its mission towards to poor and needy in the Diocese of Suratthani.  Having structure to provide the a service response to the disaster in the area of Suratthani Diocese (the south of Thailand) in term of emergency and rehabilitation to the victims.  Facilitating, animating and empowering to the local communities for doing the capacity building by their own in order to achieve the sustainability and obtain the quality of life by living with dignity and values in the community.  The promotion of the human dignity and values as well as develop the quality of life for the poor, especially those who are marginalized such as migrants and ethnic minority.  An awareness raising for promotion of protocols and strengthening for partnerships and coordination for anti – trafficking and fighting against the trafficking.  An awareness raising of social awareness in Catholic schools/Parishes through the integration of Lenten Spirit, the promotion of exposure immersion program and integration of human right in the school.  Creating of the collaboration and networking among Catholic Social Organization within the Diocese and other NGOs, GOs and CBOs.