Posted on 01/26/2005 8:44:09 PM PST by jedi150
Giving back what the waves washed away
Sanitsuda Ekachai
Ask the tsunami-hit fisherfolk what they want, and they promptly will tell you they just want their say. Dig a bit deeper, and they will tell you they want to start afresh as a community in which they can stand on their own two feet and can turn to one another for support, not as individualists to each his own.
''Our urgent need is to repair our boats and replace our lost fishing gear so we can earn a living again, but we're not getting that,'' said Ahlee Charnnam of Krabi, echoing other fishermen's frustrations.
They also want the state and private agencies to get their act together by coordinating their assistance efforts instead of swamping them with endless form-filling, interviews and projects that often answer to the agencies' different agendas but not the villagers' real needs.
What they don't want, said the fisherfolk, is to see help from the outside destroy or divide their communities at a time when they most need to stick together.
Money, they said, can be explosive when it is up for grabs. ''For our part, we must get organised to identify our needs, our priorities, so we can best use the money to help one another,'' said Mr Ahlee.
''Also, all help coming to our villages must first get community consent. For help is not sustainable if those offering it do not heed our say.''
Too bad the government and many private agencies never bother to ask. Consequently, the tsunami-hit fisherfolk are reeling under the weight of daddy-knows-best, top-down aid policies which are not only too little too late but also destructive.
Examples abound on the ground, they said during a seminar on Monday where the fisherfolk finally had a chance to voice their concerns to the public.
Despite the government's promises, many still have not received money to repair their boats, thanks to red tape and corrupt officials. For those who have, the amount is too nominal to help them set sail again.
Worse, they live in fear of relocation because the government wants to move fishing villages inland and open the beaches to tourism investment.
The government is also going all out with house-building schemes despite the fishermen repeatedly telling the authorities that they want boats and fishing gear, not oven-hot houses inland that do not suit their way of life.
Lack of coordination and chaos are understandable during emergencies. But a month has passed. The shock is subsiding. So are the public donations and the help from volunteers who must return to their normal lives. The challenge now is how to provide the affected villagers with support that lasts.
''It's not difficult to do if you listen to us,'' Mr Ahlee said.
Apart from getting back their livelihoods and housing security, the fisherfolk want to restore the coastal environment which has been damaged so severely by the tsunami.
Mangrove forests, for one, need rehabilitation because they are not only nurseries for marine life but also effective tsunami barriers. Artificial coral reefs, they say, can help their seas return to good health sooner.
Sadly, these calls go unheeded as the fisherfolk _ already bruised black and blue by the tsunami _ must watch as trawlers with their destructive fishing gear ravage their seas illegally with impunity. Their hearts also bleed to know that many damaged trawlers will also get ready government assistance so they can return to sweep the coastal seas clean once more.
If they can earn a living and can keep their mangrove forests and the seas from harm, the communities could take care of most of their widows and the children affected by the tsunami, they said.
''We may have lost our family members and our possessions, but we have not lost our life-long experience, our knowledge and our sense of community, which we want to keep,'' said fisherman Samae Jemudo.
''We know what we want. The problem is how to make the government listen to us.''
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