Dear Fellow Warmshowers
I am Baoling or Jennel, wife of Francisco Villa, the Chilean cyclist who passed away on 21 Feb 2015 following a bike accident in Nakorn Ratchasima (Korat), Thailand. Two weeks later, on 7 Mar, my husband's body was cremated in Watpa Dharma Uttayarn in Khon Kaen. Though I was discharged last Sunday (15 Mar) from Srinagarind Hospital, I still cannot walk comfortably. Luckily, my friends in Khon Kaen recommended a cheap one-room apartment near an affordable childcare for my 16-month-old son, Lukas, so that I can recuperate before I return to Singapore eventually.
Some of you came to my husband's funeral. I thank you on his behalf. I hope the funeral gave you some idea of what kind of person Francisco is (It's hard for me to use 'was', just as I don't see the need for the prefix 'late'). I gave a speech regarding the circumstances of his death and that I regretted not saying 'I love you' to him more often.
I would like to do a talk and photo exhibition of my husband for him. I was told there are a lot of photos, reports and interviews of my husband online. It's possible there are many I haven't seen. I've been busy with updating my family and friends, and practical matters like insurance claims, compensation settlement, post-hospital accommodation and now caring for Lukas takes up the bulk of my time.
Doing an exhibition means revisiting our bike-travel and the time we spent together. I think I'm more or less ready for this. Francisco's birthday is on 4th May 1967. This exhibition will be my birthday gift for him. But more importantly, I want to look through everything - photos, videos and journal (my Spanish is still limited) and find ways to 'transform' them into something that would make sense and mean something to Lukas when he grows up and is able to understand what happened. So, other than the exhibition, I'd also like to make a website and a video tribute for my husband. And I think it best to do all these before I'm swamped by the need to find a job and raise my son as a single parent.
Objectives of Talk & Exhibition:
1. Show my husband's spirit of adventure and love for travelling and meeting people from all over the world
2. Show how my husband's personality and charisma has touched so many through what they told or wrote to me after learning about his death.
3. Something tangible for Lukas to remember his daddy for
In short, let his spirit live on and continue to touch lives!
Sapinun Songsangchan (Naam) of Thai Cycling Health Association is helping me to find a suitable venue. She was one of the organisers of my husband's Friday vigil (27 Feb 2015) at the Art & Cultural Centre in Bangkok. As far as I know, this could be one possibility. Another possible venue is the Bike Expo in the coming May. The choice depends on rental and dates available. Mr Tiwarat, the driver responsible for my husband's death, gave 100,000B as compensation. Instead of suing a poor man in court for higher compensation on the basis of income loss, I'm thinking of asking him to pay for all expenses related to the exhibition.
As I've never done an exhibition before, this newie needs a lot of help and I thought of Warmshower members.
Expertise/ Skills/ Help:
- photo-editing for exhibition purpose (still finding time to learn how to use GIMP)
- video-editing (I've only used Windows Movie Maker)
- exhibition organisation and planning
- venue design, setup & preparation - lighting, reception, refreshment etc.
- publicity
- accommodation in Bangkok
Let's come together to make this birthday gift for my husband and this memory 'box' for Lukas!
cheers
Baoling
Jennel
[email protected]
66 096.12323.68
Khon Kaen, Thailand
