Chris and I
February 28, 2008 | Filed Under Mokan Peoples, Thai life, Thailand | 3 Comments
I thought you guys might want to actually see a picture of Chris and I. We’ve been posting pictures of the families, but not of us in the area. So, here are a few for you. The first two are from Judy. She was taking some pictures of us taking pictures. The first island family portraits. 
The second island family portrait, a little more progressive. 
Here is one of us that our friend Shopping took. More on him later. I love this picture of us taking a little break after a long day of boat rides and shooting. Not looking too bad for the third day without washing hair! Ahh! : ) 
In awe
February 27, 2008 | Filed Under Mokan Peoples, Thailand, Uncategorized | 8 Comments
I can tell you that we are just in awe of our surroundings. We have just moments at an internet cafe as we leave for two islands today, but I wanted to leave you with a few images from yesterday. The black and white are Katie’s and the color are Chris’….just like our personalities. Enjoy our favorites from yesterday. 
Lung Lek
February 27, 2008 | Filed Under Thai life, Thailand | 1 Comment
Lung Lek’s story through the eyes of Mike and Judy Christian: “Lung Lek (Uncle Lek) was living on Prah Tong Island before the Tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004. He was a fisherman and cashew nut farmer. When the Tsunami wave went through his cashew farm and property, he was able to climb a nearby cashew tree and pull his wife up the tree to safety also. Relief workers built temporary shelter rooms for the Tsunami victims and Lung Lek and his wife lived in one for 18 months. After the wave went completely over his home, there wasn’t much left to the structure but the only life he knew was on the island, so he returned to live in his shack that was barely able to keep standing. During this time, he became a Christian and he began studying the Bible and seeing a new purpose for his life. Mike and several teams came in to build him a new home. He was also eventually given a new boat to replace the one he lost in the Tsunami. He uses the boat for some fishing and to go back and forth from the main land to his island and to transport fellow villagers. During the past three years his life has slowly returned to normalcy, but the memories of the wave will never go away.” Chris and I were able to document him with his new boat. What an honor it was. Lung Lek proudly giving us a ride on his boat. Here he is with his Grandson driving. I love how he is looking out after all of the devestation he has been through, with his grandson to continue his legacy. 
Here is Lung Lek with his temporary housing before the new home was built.
What a day. We are now heading to Elephant Island to document 31 families. I know this will be an amazing experience as well as emotionally draining. Our internet is very hit and miss and our priority are capturing these families. Please be patient with our updates.