Sometimes we experience hope when we least expect it. Last night (18th Aug) I was sitting at my desk at the Klong Toey Community centre when a wild wind, thunder claps and thick sheets of rain suddenly descended upon us. Tree branches cracked and fell down on the dark road outside. Then the electricity went out. I started for home once the rain eased a bit to see if our house was flooded again. It wasn’t, but as down our small lane-way I could see thick black smoke, bellowing up into the moving sky.

Anji called on the phone, sopping wet, taking shelter under a bridge with the kids on her motor-scooter but heard about the fire. ‘Get the dog, rabbit and hamsters, maybe your computer too. We don’t have much else, so get out of there’. The fire was still about 100 metres away, but it was close to a LP Gas shop. I went to see if we could help, but with literally thousands of people running in all directions, some with their hands full with plastic baskets of cloths, others with old TV’s and some even small fridges, it was simply chaos. The first red fire-ute arrived with a few teenagers hanging off the back, they didn’t have enough water or power or long enough hose to get down the narrow soi to the homes on fire. The fire, meanwhile, edged closer to the LPG store. Soon the real fire trucks arrived and quickly extinguished the fire. Though some of our neediest neighbours lost five homes, amazingly no-one was seriously injured and few belongings burnt.

Then I saw Rod. Three concrete power poles were literally broken in half from trees coming down on the corner of our main 70 Rye street. Rod’s ute was right in the middle of them. No damage done was done as the poles and trees fell around the blue ute and only the wires and leaves landed on it! The electric company guys came in their orange trucks and within the hour started to replace the concrete poles and take stray branches out of thin, corrugated iron roofs.

With the immediate danger of fire and gale force winds gone, there was a tangible sense of relief as well as the smoke in the air. Since the electricity was still off throughout our neighbourhood neighbours spontaneously gathered together in our common court-yard. I bought some pizza and as we ate told stories of close escapes and rumours of motorbikes flying in the air. There was the kind of nervous laugher of survivors, but it didn’t take long for discussions to turn back to normal life, like football again. ‘What will Man U do without Ronaldo?’ By mid-night the electricity was back on in 70 Rye and life continued on today as if nothing happened.

Out of the blue today (18th Aug) the option of a new home in a new, poorer neighbourhood suddenly appeared from no-where. We had been praying about a move. Our 70 Rye neighourhood now had a strong church with growing leaders at Ta Rua based in the old Mafia mansion at the end of our street. Christian neighbours were now running micro-enterprises themselves like Poos ‘helping hands’ cooking school and Bla with Klong Toey Handicrafts. When we first arrived in April 1st, 2002 none of this was there. Also, our kids have started to need more space, and as we just committed to Bangkok for another 7 years we also felt we needed a new grass roots challenge.

So while we always aimed to be like scaffolding that could be removed from 70 Rye, the storm and fire seemed to confirm to us that was hope was now firmly established. Despite what the elements threw at our neighbourhood, together, they could not only survive, but adapt and respond together for a better future without us needing to live there. While we will only move 500 meters away to the Lok 3 neighbourhood, the hope that was found together in 70 Rye will stay there with key neighbours as well as go with us to the new area. May God work through us all to help every neighbourhood facing urban poverty establish a hope that cannot be moved.     

PS. After much discussion 3 months rent was given for the new house on the 21st Aug. We expect to move into the ‘renovator’s delight’ in Lok 3 sometime late October. 

By Ash Barker