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Professional photographers and filmmakers trained students to take photos and make short films.
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The project helped them heal by expressing their feelings through different media.
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They photographed the destruction that the tsunami left in their communities.
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The images gave a glimpse of their culture: colourful fabrics are tied around trees and boats as offerings for the spirits.
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The children were proud that their photos were exhibited in their communities and turned into postcards.
In a short film called "The Desk," a young girl, played by Thanitch from Ban Nam Khem village on Thailand's coast, says she likes the new school that was built after the tsunami, but she often finds herself wandering back to her old school, longing for a past stolen by the giant waves. It's a simple, beautiful story, less than three minutes long, told by child tsunami survivors in Thailand as part of a Plan-sponsored media project.
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Professional photographers and filmmakers went to the tsunami-affected communities in southern Thailand and trained 120 students, 10-15 years old, to use cameras, write scripts and cut and edit film. Learning new skills boosted the children's confidence while helping them heal by expressing their feelings through different media.
Children focus on challenge
The children took photos near the sea of piles of rubble left by the tsunami, as well as images depicting a beautiful, hopeful present: a beach sunset and a drape of colourful fabrics – tied around trees and boat hulls as an offering to the spirits – set before a bright blue sky.
Another film, "Gift's New Mom," is based on a true story and tells of a girl orphaned by the tsunami who receives presents and letters from her new foster mother, but has yet to meet her. "I've never seen her face, but I imagine she's very pretty, kind and generous," says the girl, played by Sunisa from Ban Nam Khem village. The script and her acting express disappointment that she has yet to meet her new guardian, as well as a longing for someone to take care of her.
"What I think benefited the children most was that they worked on a hard project to completion," said Pornsak Sukongkaratanakul, an independent filmmaker who trained the children. "We set up an event, we had a competition, and the children were very happy. They really focused and wanted to create. The fact that children were able to make a movie with such little training is incredible."
Telling the world what happened
The films were screened in their communities, and the photos publicly exhibited and turned into postcards. The children went back and organised media clubs in their schools, bringing with them the cameras they had been trained on.
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Their pain and struggles were clearly transformed through this project into joy and pride, evident in clips of unused footage. In take after take, even as they walk through villages that have been completely rebuilt, the child actors and narrators can barely hide their smiles and contain their excitement of being on camera. Behind the camera, meanwhile, the young film crew laugh in glee, as they call out with authority, "Camera rolling!" and "Cut! Cut! Cut!"
"It was an amazing opportunity. We learned how to use digital and video cameras, and how to organise our thoughts into something that other people could understand," said Suriya, 12, from Kamala village in Phuket. Walking through his village and his school, Suriya pointed out reminders of the tsunami. "We took photos of these places and made postcards out of them, too. Now we can tell the outside world what happened and what we have been doing."
