• Struggling for survival |
REMEMBRANCE Widows and orphans left out in the cold The Dec 26 tsunami took lives and ravaged property indiscriminately - but the subsequent waves of aid may have left a sizeable group of victims out in the cold. Women with children or babies on the way seem to have been particularly hard hit, especially those without official marriage certificates or legal status. At a meeting held in September by the Women and Children's Network (under the auspices of the Foundation For Women and the Foundation for Children), the following concerns were raised: Unavailability of gender statistics on the tsunami victims (better data on individuals could also prevent duplication of assistance); Inadequate support, especially for those who reside outside designated relief centres, and for Burmese and other migrant workers who lack legal documents to prove their entitlement to aid; Children under three and those born to tsunami widows after the event have often been omitted from the list of people eligible for financial assistance. At the moment, the Ministry of Education is only offering a one-off grant to school-age children whose parent or parents were injured (15,000 baht) or killed (25,000 baht); In many instances, the monopoly exerted over existing channels of funding by those with good connections, and the squandering of aid money by heads of households (often male), has led to a rise in domestic violence; The lack of mental rehabilitation and/or therapy programmes for victims. So what do the women and children really want? Chortip Chaicharn of the Foundation For Women (FFW) says the most urgent issue is how these two vulnerable groups can sustain their livelihoods in the long run. Would it be possible to give scholarships to orphans and those who lost one parent to enable them to complete the highest educational level available? Could mothers be given grants and occupational training until such time as they are able to stand on their own two feet? such schemes were initiated they should also take into account the complex demands of single parenthood, Chortip said. A number of widows, the FFW staffer said, are already finding it very difficult to work and take care of their young ones at the same time. Being given the chance to resettle near their own kin and, if possible, among the community in which they have grown up, would have great practical and psychological benefits for these women. It is not known how many women (or men) who lost spouses in the tsunami have since remarried. Will there be major differences in how these widows and widowers raise their charges? Certainly, there are likely to be a number of demographic and social changes whose effects will become more apparent in the years to come. In retrospect, though, the tsunami has had a few positive effects, Chortip said. Some issues once hidden or ignored by the authorities have now been brought out into the open, most notably the second-class status of ethnic groups like the sea gypsies and Burmese workers. And although the wave of humanitarian aid which engulfed the tsunami-hit areas has revealed the extent of greed among certain grown-ups, many children, she said, have yet to learn the true meaning of charity. ''Yes, we are worried that children might have been exposed to instances of abuse and start to emulate those [bad] examples. But we've been organising activities where we teach them the importance of protecting the environment and of sharing what they have with others who are similarly in need.'' Information was sourced from interviews and from the website of the Foundation For Women (www.womenthai.org/eng). |
-- Go to top of the page - Go to first page -- Back to Bangkok Post -- © Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2005 |
|