Australia's Thai community struggle to process daycare massacre
- The Thai community in Australia have come together to share in the grief felt by those in their home country.
- Bhuddist monk Ajahn Boonsom said the community with rely on love, kindness and meditations.
When Melbourne mother-of-two Nat Chucherdsak learned of the Thailand daycare massacre that left 37 people dead, it felt a little too close to home.
She spends months with her family in Thailand every year, sending her children to daycare when they're in Bangkok.
The family is due to travel to Thailand in a matter of weeks.
But she won't be putting her kids in a rural-area daycare.
Nat's children attend a Bangkok daycare centre when the family are on holiday.
"I'm nervous, I'm going to be talking to the teachers at the daycare to see if they're putting in extra measures.
"It's not that Thailand, we don't have the law. But we just need more reporting. We need more enforcement."
Children as young as two were among those killed in an attack on the daycare centre in rural northeastern Thailand in the Nong Bua Lamphu province, some 500km north of Bangkok.
It's not clear if there was a motive for the attack, which was committed by a former police officer who was fired in June for drug use.
In total, the gunman killed 24 children — 21 boys and three girls — and 12 adults. Most died from a combination of knife wounds and gunshots, according to police investigators.
He also took his own life.
'In grief for the rest of their lives'
Ms Chucherdsak said she could picture the scene of the tragedy.
"My kids normally go to daycare in Thailand when we are on holiday. So I know the routine," she said.
"They said when it happened the kids were having a nap ... and then when they wake up, the kids normally would be refreshed by the teacher [who] put on powders so they smell nice for the parents that come and pick up. But that would never happen in this instance.
"And I just felt like I hope it would never happen to my kids."
She says her thoughts are with the parents who are dealing with immense grief.
"My condolences go to the families of the victims because I could understand people who are gone they're going to be in heaven, but people who are still living they're going to be in grief for the rest of their lives."
Australian Thai community in shock
Nat's shock is shared by members of the Thai community in Australia who this weekend came together to share in the grief felt by those in their home country.
The tragedy is one of Thailand's worst-ever mass killings, which has stunned Thailand and provoked horror around the world.
Bhuddist monk Ajahn Boonsom, president of the Thai Buddhist Temple in Box Hill, Melbourne, said members of the Thai community shared a moment of silence and reflection on Saturday as they struggled to come to terms with what happened.
"It does not make sense at all. In Buddhism, rule number one is no harm to others. No killing. So that thing is against our belief, our practice."
Bhuddist monk Ajahn Boonsom, president of the Thai Buddhist Temple in Box Hill, said members of the Thai community in Australia are coming together to honour and remember the lives lost. Source: SBS News
Australian mother-of-two Mai said it's devastating.
"[I'm] very shocked. I saw some pictures that my father sent to me ... I can't stop crying."
That feeling was shared by a fellow attendee, who didn't give their name.
"I feel sad when I heard the news from the internet. And I have a kid too. I don't know what I would do if it were me, I would be heartbroken."
Thai police said that former police officer Panya Kamrab, 34, had killed at least 36 people, including 24 children - some as young as two - in a mass shooting and stabbing at a daycare centre in northeast Thailand. Source: Getty / Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images
"In Buddhism, we look inward more than we look outward. So when the incident stir our mind, we need to focus (on) what we are doing in daily life."
He said it was a time to reach out.
"We will try our best to support each other, particularly in daily life. After the chanting and meditations, we will share our love and kindness … Meditation will be something important at the moment to make ourselves more calm and to focus on daily life."
He also invited members of the community to stop by the temple in Box Hill and pray.
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha has ordered a swift probe into the massacre, and police said they will question 180 witnesses.
Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand, which has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia, with 15.1 weapons per 100 people compared to only 0.3 in Singapore and 0.25 in Japan.
That's still far lower than the United States rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to the GunPolicy.org project at the University of Sydney.
With additional reporting by AFP.
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