the_numbers Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Bangkok Metro ran an article a few months back on Por Tek Tung. The other foundation is based out of Wat Hualumphong. It is certainly the younger of the two with Por Tek Tung over 80 years and running out of the heart of Chinatown. Interesting stuff... Telegraph did a piece as well. The places look for donations or cash any way they can get it. The grisly accident photos are taken so families from upcountry can track down and identify the bodies. Alot of times this does not happen til months after someone is killed, and has no form of ID on a Bangkok roadway. The photo record gives the Thai family some closure. The foundation cremates the unidentified bodies along with a modest Buddhist funeral - Por Tek Tung. I don't know much about the other. Best, the_numbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 >>>>Just dreaming, but would n't that be wonderful if the gangs of kids so prone on getting violent for the fun of it, would come down and help a bit? seems they have a lot of spare time.... As i said, just dreaming . <<<< nops, you aren't. a lot of the younger volonteers have been from that scene. some very good friends of mine there have such a past, but doing a lot of good now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 >>>Go have a look if your stomach can stand it.<<< been there many times, rather interesting, especially at night... another morgue is at the thammasat university hospital in rangsit. >>>>Didn't know the volunteers don't get any compensation. Perhaps they count on being able to rescue someone well off occasionaly and being compensated by the one rescued. Or am I off the mark here.<<<< i have never seen anyone expecting any compensation. of course they are happy if they get some help, but that is never expected. often, in case of a poor group, they might get some help of a local godfather or politician. they might get some help with the fuel which costs about 200 to 500 baht a night, or they can repair their cars for free at a local garage. but that's more or less it. another way they can create a bit of income is by driving a corpse upcountry to the homevillage, generally for very reasonable amounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 >>>The grisly accident photos are taken so families from upcountry can track down and identify the bodies. <<<< every corpse has to be photographed and properly ID'd with fingerprints and all. that's thai law. that is done in bangkok by the yellow clothed employees of the foundations. the records are kept with the police as well. >>>>The foundation cremates the unidentified bodies along with a modest Buddhist funeral - Por Tek Tung. I don't know much about the other.<<< actually, no. the unclaimed corpses are collected once a week from the morgue and buried for some time. every couple of years they are exhumed, the bones are cleaned and stored until about every ten or so years they are given a massive communal funeral. the poh teck tueng has their own graveyard at samut sakhorn, the ruam kantanyu gives the corpses to another foundation in chachoensao or chonburi, i believe. there are actually many farang in those graveyards for the unclaimed as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted September 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Hi fly A very interesting documentary,i hope i get to see the full show soon. They made a point of them being volunteers and not paid..as such. As you say they may get some funds from the families. They also repeated ""Merit"" And the hours they worked, the young girl that was the focus would get home at 5-6am and have to go to school. She did not bat an eyelid at anything that happend that night. An amazing young lady. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 she's been doing that since a long time. also, the really long nights are usually friday/saturday. on normal nights they go home at around 2 am, and when nothing happens she has a nap on the back of the truck. also, they are not out ever day, they take turns with the ruamkantanyu - one day them, the next the ruamkantanyu. that regulation was part of the peace between those two foundations, from the old days where they had the constant fights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted September 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Hi Fly ""fights"" unbelievable...but true i think stray mentioned this as well . She is only 13 so she was very young when started. They showed some daytime shots(i guess weekend) and they had brown uniforms on and were cooking and handing out food. I have been to Thailand many times and never seen them,do they have a donation system set up to help them? The doctors were talking about training...anything happening on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 >>>The doctors were talking about training...anything happening on that?<<< they are constantly attending courses, mainly in the policehospital, but also by foreign organisations. the poh teck tueng also have their own ambulances, which are called when an injury is serious, but not life threatening. the wait might be a bit long though depending on location. in lifethreatening situations there simply is no time to call an ambulance - the injured has to be brought to a hospital ASAP. but my personal experience is that more patients died because hospitals refused treatment for lack of money than by mistakes in transporting them. of course the hospitals like to blame the poh teck tueng volonteers. but one has to look at thai law and daily reality. thai law explidetly forbids the volonteers to do anything else than first aid, even a often lifesaving IV is not allowed to be put on by the volonteers (in shocktreatment and wounds which cause huge bloodloss). daily reality is that nobody other than the two foundation's volonteers are as fast at the scenes. in some areas is a smaller, new foundation active, the watchila volonteers, but they do cause a lot of problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUZIBANDIT Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Not taking the piss, a serious question: How do they deal with the whole ghost issue, like the ghost of the deceased following them home? This is my girlfriends question, but I am interested in that belief aspect as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted September 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Hi fly They touched on (the city does not have ...forget the word they used) emergency service. Adequate? efficient? You mentioned that doctors may be more to blame for some deaths rather than the rescue teams lets say eagerness? And money...they are doctors,do you mean they want funds from the rescue team/victims family...before treatment? Sorry..i know zero about the medical system in bkk/los. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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