• Struggling for survival
• 'Washed up' fishermen turn carpenter and build their own boats
• 'Tsunami village' rises from rubble
• Inspired by Church aid, sea gypsies turn to Christ
• Foreign aid crucial
• Body ID center looks future
• Shoddy housing doesn't make a home
• Outside volunteer carves new career in housing
• Counting the costs to the environment
• Underwater tourist trails
• Turtle hatchery at risk after waves
• Where the money went
• Covered for everything but the wave
• Corporations learn that caring counts
• Starting again from scratch
• Swedish survivor gains perspective after wave 'turned my life upside-down'
• Reasons to smile
• Justice will prevail, investor believes
• Courage and resilience ease personal pain
• Help wanted
• Second chance to get it right
• Tide turns on tourist demographics in Khao Lak
• Light on the horizon
• One day at a time
• Widows and orphans left out in the cold
• Art for the heart
KEEPING THE DEAD
Swedish survivor gains perspective after wave 'turned my life upside-down'
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| ''Life is so short,'' says Lena, who is rethinking herture. |
On Kamala beach on a cloudy day, a woman in a bikini listens to music on a beach chair under a colourful umbrella. She seems like any other ordinary tourist in Phuket. That is until you talk to her, then you will find out how her life has been turned upside-down.
This soul-searching journey has come to an end for tsunami survivor Lena Sundkvist as she has found her second home in Kamala.
The 47-year-old Swedish woman was on her motorbike on the morning of Dec 26 after finishing breakfast at a beach restaurant and was on her way to meet a friend.
Luckily, a man took her to shelter on the hill in his pic-up truck. All of the people who ran for their lives were told not to come down as there might be another tidal wave. They stayed up there overnight, scared of animals and the forest.
It was her first trip to Thailand. Ms Sundkvist had arrived on Dec 19 with some friends. They were renting rooms near a mountain, but usually had breakfast on the beach.
''There were two German guys having breakfast near me and they both died. If I didn't have an appointment, I would have been dead already,'' Ms Sundkvist recalls.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, she decided to stay and joined several community activities, feeling very close to the Thai people from whom she had received help from.
Ms Sundkvist was unhappy with the way the government of her native country handled the incident. She said, Swedish tourists did not seem to receive any assistance from home.
''Most embassies, but not the Swedish one, had their people in Phuket within 24 hours. But it was only the Thai people who helped us. All the Swedish people, even those who have never been to Thailand, know that Thai people were helpful to us,'' she said.
She went back to Sweden on Jan 15 but could only stay there for 10 days because, she says, she no longer felt at home. ''I locked myself in the house and didn't speak to anyone. I couldn't forget the screams and the voices every time I closed my eyes. It was a hard time. I was all right physically but not mentally, so a therapist advised me to come back,'' said Ms Sundkvist, in shaky voice.
She came back to stay at Kamala and has been staying in a beachfront room for almost two months. She does not know when she will go back.
The tsunami has changed her perspective on life. She now thinks it's not all about work. She has already quit her job that required travelling around Sweden for the entire year to examine company performances.
''The tsunami has turned me upside-down. I think people should now live their lives while they can. Life is so short.
''You never know when it ends. Why take so much time to work to buy a big house, a large TV set? I don't want to work with a lot of stress like that any more as we can live a simple life.''
Ms Sundkvist and her friends are thinking about living in Phuket, where she doesn't have any stress and can meet people who understand the disaster they faced together.
''There are many warm people here. I go out and meet a big smile from everyone. It means a lot.''
Though she has had several proposals, she decided to stay on Kamala beach for a while to learn about setting up a business in the country.
She believes that her two grown-up children would understand her desire to settle down for the rest of her life in Kamala.
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