Living in a war zone (Part 1)

Much has happened in the past week, there is no way to replay it all, to explain the intensity, or describe our emotions. So I'll give you a quick recap.

FIRST- My house mates and I relocated three times due to the threat of violence in our neighborhood and the unpredictability of a raging civil war in close proximity. We evacuated our building in the Nana, then became somewhat stranded on the 22 floor of a friend's condo. Since we were without power, water, Internet communications, we temporarily relocated again. (Quite an adventure hiking up and down 22 flights of stairs during a power-outage, in the Bangkok heat, while breathing in all the fumes from burning tires and buildings!)


Shortly after we resettled an announcement came on our cell phones (via our news update system). The Red Shirt leader had surrendered! REALLY? This was Wednesday the 19th. The odd things was that within an hour or so of that announcement, we witnessed Many more acts of violence in our city. Multiple explosions were set off and fires were started. Banks were set a blaze, world class shopping malls burnt to the ground, utility buildings, public and private property, transportation stations were all targeted. From our view point, black clouds of smoke filling our sky and from our windows we could see a large building totally engulfed in flames.


During this up evil, Annie made contact with one of our NightLight girls. Her family members were able to escape the riot area and take refuge at our NightLight building. We also had another NightLight girl bring some of her family members to our home. It was nice to be a "safe oasis" to this young mother, her 6 month old baby and a 4 year old boy.

We are glad we stayed and didn't evacuate the Bangkok area during the rioting. Although it was pretty stressful, we wanted to remain close to our neighborhood and the NightLight girls just in case they needed help.

We are all safe and things have settled down some. Thank you for your prayers and financial provisions. Those resources allowed me to help to others, especially since all major banks were closed for a period and many ATM's were empty. Most of the local people live one day at a time, with little to no savings. Now that many businesses have been destroyed, there is little work available. At this time a mandatory curfew for all people in Bangkok is still in effect.