The story of a coach from a Thai cave who taught children to meditate and thus saved them

For more than two weeks, the whole world has been following the fate of 12 boys and a football coach from Thailand who got stuck in the Khao Luang Cave during an excursion. Being held hostage by the elements (the cave was flooded during the rainy season, and the guys could not get out of there on their own), the teenagers suffered for a long time from a lack of food, water and medical care. There was no light, no warmth, no understanding — will they save you? The hope for a happy ending was fading every day, and only thanks to the self-control and endless courage of the coach, the children managed to keep their last strength and survive.

Now that the worst is over, the world has learned the story of the coach of young football players. And she deserves special attention and respect.

His name is Ekalop Chantavong. He is 25 years old, and now he is a real hero for the whole world — the people of Thailand named him the messenger of heaven for helping the kids not to go crazy, for taking the main psychological blow on himself, for giving the last water and food to the children.

Ekalop hails from Myanmar (a state on the border with India). At the age of 12, during the epidemic, little Chantawong lost his parents — then most of the inhabitants of his village died. But the boy himself survived. His grandmother took him to her, and was raised mainly by his aunt. When Ekalop and the children were found by rescuers and the hostages of the cave had the opportunity to write letters to their relatives, it was to aunt and grandmother that the young coach wrote:

Did you pay attention to the calmness of the message, the concern for relatives and even a light joke? It was this behavior of the coach that preserved the team spirit among teenagers, saved them from panic and tantrums at the most terrible time.

This was practically not reported, but when the children and the coach realized that they were stuck, the 25-year-old Ekalop behaved as competently as possible. First of all, he divided all the food and water supplies into equal shares — this was supposed to help (and helped) to hold out on minimum provisions for the maximum period. The coach himself ate practically nothing, giving food to the children. Therefore, when rescuers found the missing group, Ekalop turned out to be the most exhausted.

Ekalop taught the children to meditate. He himself learned this skill in a Buddhist monastery. After the death of his parents, the boy lived with the monks for some time and even prepared to become a monk himself. But my aunt came and told me that my grandmother needed constant care. Then Chantavong decided that his small family needed him now more than the Buddha, and left the monastery.

However, Ekalop did not stop meditating — every day he found time for spiritual practices, and therefore, when he became a prisoner of the cave, he taught the basics of meditation to the children. The idea was simple — firstly, teenagers needed to be distracted from the horror in which they found themselves. Secondly, meditation would help everyone save energy, which was already worth its weight in gold due to hunger and thirst.

And it worked. The children were no longer crying, but they were focused and calm. When, after nine days of searching, the divers were finally able to find the missing group, they were shocked - the teenagers were calmly meditating on the rocks. Time seemed to have stopped in the cave.

It is likely that it was thanks to meditation that all 12 boys were able to be near their relatives again and return home. The fact is that during the rescue operation, each child had to swim four kilometers (with the help of professional divers). It was necessary to swim through narrow passages of caves with zero visibility around. Such a journey took from four to five hours — the children were rescued one by one, and they all coped with this test brilliantly.

The coach was saved last. What was this brave young man thinking about when he found himself alone with the cave? Was he thanking heaven, giving free rein to his feelings, or was he still calmly meditating, sitting on a cold big boulder? Perhaps we will find out about this when the story of Ekalop Chantavong and 12 teenagers from the football team make a movie (and they will definitely make it). But already now the story of a young hero coach is rapidly gaining popularity. One Thai artist depicted Chantawong sitting in the lotus position and holding 12 small kittens in his arms. It is impossible to think of a better illustration for depicting a hero of the whole world — kind, caring and honest.