Leading on the Frontline

10Have fun

How a magician taught me the value of fun and laughter in the midst of grief and death in post-tsunami Thailand

‘Sawadee ka. What is your name?’ I asked the 12-year-old girl at the front of the queue. She limped up to me and stood there, saying nothing. Her face was expressionless. She lifted up her sarong to reveal multiple deep gouges in her legs.

‘What happened to you, then?’ I asked gently.

The young Thai man who was with her replied, ‘We are not sure. She says she was trapped under some trees. Then a car scraped over her. Now she doesn’t speak.’

‘Are you her brother?’ I asked.

‘No. We cannot find her family. I found her.’
Once I had dressed the girl’s wounds, she leaned over and put her arms around my waist. We both found comfort in the hug. During the course of the morning I tended to many other children. Many, like this girl, were mute with grief and shock. I had heard there was a children’s tent somewhere in the camp where volunteers were working with the children who had been orphaned or whose families needed support. I decided to set out at lunchtime to find it.

‘Tim, I’m going to take a break if that’s okay,’ I said, wiping my hands. ‘I thought I’d go and see what they’re doing in the children’s tent.’

‘Good idea. I’ve heard they’re doing wonderful work there. It’s hard to know how to comfort the kids.’ He told me he had treated a little boy who had been found clinging to a piece of wood that had lodged in the top of a coconut palm. He had watched his four-year-old ...