February 2005

Beam: February 2005

Sukaroak was a building construction supervisor. He was also very much a family man who adored his two children, Beam and her younger brother Boom (both nicknames).

Beam’s mother Sumontha recalls: "Her dad wanted Beam to become an architect. He was hoping for a day when he could build something she draws".

Those hopes ended on a beach in the Bang Nieng, Thailand, on Tsunami Sunday. Sukaroak was one of several hundred people killed. His body was never found.

As if that wasn’t enough, the waves also destroyed Beam’s school.

Sumontha recalls what happened. "I went to Takuapa market with my sister. On my way back, people said that there was a tidal wave, but I didn’t believe them. I called my husband. His (mobile) phone was dead."

Beam finds it very hard to get over her dad’s sudden disappearance. In our February story, she is playing with her father’s sandals. "On that Sunday…my dad wore his tennis shoes. These are his other shoes. Sometimes he wore these to work," she explains.

"He felt that we were the most important thing in his life," says Sumontha. She shows a photo of Beam holding hands with her brother. "He said that it has good meaning. It shows the love between a brother and a sister."

Beam and Boom now live with their mother, who struggles to sort out her shattered life. Even obtaining a death certificate for her husband involves many procedures.

Sumontha has opted to bring up Beam and Boom all by herself. There has been some local governmental pressure to give her children for adoption by foreigners. She refused.

She says, "If I am still alive, I want to raise my own children. After all I am their mother. For better or worse, I want to raise them myself."

Meanwhile Beam attends a temporary school. She is intrigued by her teacher, and wants to become a teacher herself one day.

"But I can only teach kindergarten. I don’t know enough to teach higher grades," she says.