Jan 26, 2005 - WAVES OF MERCY
by Al & Beth Liggett

If you have been reading our reports you will know that for the past few years SUNFLOWER has been sailing in South East Asia waters, and making the island of Langkawi, Malaysia, our "home base" so to speak.

	Al is helping transfer donated goods from storage in a container onto a pallet. The pallet will go to the wharf where the supplies will be loaded onto the fast ferry for transport to Aceh.

Langkawi is just about on the Thai/Malaysia border. It is about 120 miles south of Phuket, also an area we know well. Thus the recent disaster struck our backyard, and although SUNFLOWER and ourselves had no problems, many of our yachtie friends had damage, some of it pretty major.

The death and destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami of December 26th is just about incomprehensible in its scope. The west coast of Malaysia has been spared the death and despair of this terrible disaster, primarily because of its position. The surging waves simply did not turn the corner of Sumatra and smash into this part of the peninsula like they did in Thailand. This is not to say that there wasn't death and destruction on Malaysian shores. I think the death toll is about 80, and there were many small fishing villages whose boats won't be able to go fishing for a while.

Here in Langkawi, one kampong (village), Kuala Teriang, was struck by the flooding waves. An 80-year-old woman died and 20 houses were crushed. The concrete houses stood up to the wave but were flooded with mud and water; those people just lost belongings, not loved ones. Help first arrived from the neighboring kampongs. Help also came to Kuala Teriang from the yachting community, itself badly damaged when 2 of the 3 marinas were destroyed by the tsunami surge.

Jeff surveys some of the piles to be loaded - milk, vegetables, onions. Bass Harbor and one of the lovely Langkawi islands in background.

Many people at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club made donations to buy food and necessary living items. Many yachties then contributed more food, clothing, bedding and towels, shoes, kitchen utensils, tools--anything that would be more useful to these people than it was to us on the boat. One of the local Yacht Brokerage firms spearheaded this drive, and when all was boxed and ready to deliver, got a truck. Yachties pitched in to load the truck, and also went to Kuala Teriang in a small van to be present when the donations were given to the kampong. All was well received and very welcome.

	Yachties form a human chain to get the supplies and equipment loaded onto the ferry. Why did it have to be LOW TIDE?!

For many reasons, the need to help, to be involved, kept growing. This was pretty early on, before the huge international relief agencies were able to be on the scene. By circuitous routes, several people got together, mainly sailors based in Langkawi, and with their time and energy, more donations were raised, more food became available, more goods collected. It had now grown beyond the scope of relief for the local kampong. This group now focused their attention on Banda Aceh, only about 300 miles from Langkawi. They called this effort the Waves of Mercy.

Capt Hugo Crawford, a luxury yacht skipper, works as director, coordinating supply logistics, donations and communications.

	Capt Hugo in the chain gang of loaders. He is sort of managing director of Waves of Mercy in Langkawi.

Madeline Habib, with extensive experience in relief operations, had initially gone to Phuket, but now is the Langkawi base coordinator.

Shane Granger, skipper of the 115-year-old VEGA, sails with supplies and personnel for the villages where the Waves of Mercy is helping, as well as photographic documentation.

Ellen McNeil and George Latham, MD, from the yacht WIND DANCER, had first-hand experience in Phi Phi Island, Thailand when the tsunami struck. They knew their input would be valuable; George has been volunteering his medical expertise, on site in hospitals and villages in Aceh for a month now.

	CRYSTAL LADY departs from the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club with a group of volunteers from the Global Sikhs, main supporters of Waves of Mercy.

Jamie Furness, a law student on holiday in Malaysia, volunteered and has stayed on to help. Many others like the captain and crew from the FORTUNE EXPRESS, several crew members from a Mongolian-registered ship that is in the port, and many, many yachtie volunteers such as ourselves, volunteer with office jobs, "go-fer" assignments, and the ever needful loading of the supply boats.

Waves of Mercy includes two big yachts--SILOLONA and SEAN PAQUITO II--who volunteered to take the collected goods to Aceh, and to remain as support vessels for those working ashore. Aboard these yachts were volunteers, including doctors and nurses from the sailing community. There were medicines and hospital supplies, food, water, tents, body bags, clothing and much more transported aboard the 2 vessels. They sailed from Langkawi the first week of January.

As the efforts gained momentum, more vessels, personnel, and sponsors were needed. Waves of Mercy became affiliated with the Global Sikhs who had been the main contributors for much of the relief supplies, and they continue their strong support with donations, supplies and people.

June, Beth and Kate check contents of one of the pallets to be loaded on the fast ferry. This ferry makes it to Aceh in 10 hours. The captain is very careful about the loading.

Al and I worked with a loading party last week. The yachtie volunteers formed a human chain and passed each item along the wharf and down a ladder chute to the deck of a chartered fast ferry, where more yachtie hands stacked and stowed and positioned the almost 10 tons of supplies! These included baby formula, powdered milk, other beverages and drinks like Milo, rice, oats, canned goods--especially high-protein foods like sardines and tuna, blankets, towels, bedding, Ikan bilis (local dried fish) chilies, onions, garlic, batteries, torches, ponchos, and sadly, a great number of body bags.

The Global Sikhs continue their support of Waves of Mercy with supplies and people to help. Just this week the luxury yacht CRYSTAL LADY, a beautiful 100+ footer, set off for the WOM camps with a group of Sikhs, including doctors, engineers, mechanics, and cooks. The group was full of energy for what they would be doing.

More information about the Waves of Mercy organization, mission, people, ships, as well as photos and ongoing reports can be had at the web site: www.wavesofmercy.com.

For more info on aid agencies to which you can contribute (some local, some international), click here.

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