Rescue foundation helps island’s poorest

PHUKET: More than 1,500 of Phuket’s poorest people showed up at the Kusoldharm Foundation’s headquarters yesterday afternoon to receive donations of food and clothing as part of the annual Te Krajard merit-making ceremony.

“This year, we handed out rice to needy students from 30 local schools and gave each school a 250-kilogram sack of rice. Additionally, clothes and packages of dry foodstuff were distributed to about 1,500 people,” Kusoldharm Foundation President Benjawan Tamphanuwat said.

Kusoldhram Foundation also donated 700,000 baht to renovate the pavilion of Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon, at Saphan Hin with the cash donation handed over to Sayan Prasongsamrej, commander of the Royal Navy’s Third Area Command.

The Te Krajard (literally ‘strike the tray’) ceremony is traditionally held before the Chinese Por Tor Festival, or Hungry Ghost Festival, every year, said Ms Benjawan.

“The Por Tor Festival begins on the first day of the waxing moon in the seventh month of the Chinese calendar. It is a time when adherents pray for the souls of their ancestors and make food offerings to appease ‘hungry ghosts’ that might otherwise wreak havoc on the living,” she explained.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong