A group of Thai monks and volunteers wearing protective clothing carefully navigate the bumpy roads of a Bangkok suburb in a golf cart, towing a trailer loaded with fresh vegetables.
“Groceries are here. Groceries are here,” a monk announces through a loudspeaker.
Their mission is to donate food and necessities to vulnerable people hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Reuters
Monk Pornchai Kabmalee, 28, came up with the idea a few months ago when he saw hardship in a community near his temple, Wat Siriphong Thamma Nimit.
“I can say our truck basically has everything that a supermarket has,” he said. “I feel scared [of the virus] just like other human beings, but to me, I’m more scared of not being able to help others.”
The truck goes out on Sundays, making multiple trips and reaching hundreds, potentially thousands of people each month, Pornchai said.
As the truck arrives, residents start to gather, each allowed to pick five sacks of produce, such as tomatoes, pumpkins, garlic and chillies, along with other goods like soap, rice and eggs.
“This food will make me feel less hungry for a couple of days,” said Montri Boontheab, who drove a bus for Chinese visitors before pandemic restrictions put the brakes on tourism. “I have been unemployed for a year and I don’t see my future yet.”
The produce costs at least 50,000 baht (US$1,498) per week, which the monks’ say initially came from their own pockets.
However, as word of mouth spreads, more donations are coming.
Pornchai is not sure how much longer the temple will provide the service, but is looking forward to the day when it will no longer be necessary.
“When people are able to smile again, that’s when I’ll know that the mission has been accomplished,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in