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Debi Dobbs embraces her son, Jacob, as he enters a surprise party
Saturday in honor of his return home from Thailand, where he helped
with disaster relief after the tsunami.
BEN SKLAR/The Times-Union
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Last modified Sun., June 19, 2005 - 12:00 AM
Originally created Sunday, June 19, 2005
Student readjusts to life after tsunami
Paxon grad was an exchange student in Thailand when he decided to help relief efforts.
By BETH KORMANIK, The Times-Union
Only four months after arriving as a Jacksonville
exchange student at the resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jacob Dobbs
woke up to a deadly Indian Ocean tsunami.
The Arlington student stayed in the region,
volunteering after the disaster that claimed roughly 220,000 lives. On
Saturday, he was surprised by family and friends at a welcome-home
party.
Thinking he was going to give a speech about his
experience to exchange students gathered at the University of North
Florida, Dobbs instead heard, "Surprise!"
Dobbs, 19, a graduate of Paxon School for Advanced
Studies, arrived in Thailand in August as a Rotary International
exchange student. That December, the region was devastated by a tsunami
and the ocean-based earthquake that started it.
Dobbs twice was spared the tsunami's wrath, first
when a camping trip on the beach was canceled and then when he
overslept that morning for a visit with friends on the beach. He also
was fortunate that his host family lived on high ground.
His parents, Debi and Phil Dobbs, immediately
called their son after hearing about the disaster and reached him on
his cell phone.
Jacob Dobbs didn't want to leave the country, and his host family wanted him to stay.
"I don't think my conscience would let me continue
with my exchange or go back," he said. "If you're put in a certain
place at a time like that, it felt like a duty to stay there."
Dobbs speaks Thai, Japanese and Spanish, skills he
used to translate for the many tourists who lost passports and money in
the tsunami. The main goal was to get the tourists off the island to
the Thai capital, Bangkok, and back to their home countries.
"I was really proud of him," said Rob Overly,
Dobbs' uncle and a Rotary member who oversees some international trips.
"He was doing things he was trained to do in Rotary. He was an
ambassador over there."
The death toll on Phuket wasn't as high as other
places, Dobbs said, about 300 to 400 people. But he soon left there for
a place where many more people died. On the mainland in Khao Lak, he
helped set up a relief center at a resort and translated autopsy
reports from Thai to English. It was difficult to identify some
victims, especially those who only left dental remains.
With one host family, he lived next to a factory
that made caskets for tsunami victims. Noise from the drilling and
sawing during the night "haunted me," Dobbs said.
The tsunami revealed cultural differences. After
the disaster, foreigners worried about the spread of disease,
especially as dead bodies piled up waiting to be buried. The locals
worried about ghosts. One of the first things many Thai people did
after the storm was to buy charm necklaces to ward off ghosts.
Dobbs returned to Jacksonville on Wednesday and has
spent his time trying to overcome jet lag and culture shock. He has hit
the mall, cooked Thai food for his family and is preparing for college
at Florida International Univer- sity.
Describing his trip, Dobbs offered this understatement: "It changed my life."
beth.kormanik jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4619
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