After rescue, soccer boys pray for protection at Thai temple

The youth soccer teammates rescued from a flooded cave began their first day back home with their families Thursday by going to a Buddhist temple to pray for protection from misfortunes.

Members of the rescued soccer team pray their respect and thanks in front of a portrait of Saman Gunan, the retired Thai SEAL diver who died during their rescue attempt, in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Eleven of the boys and the Wild Boars coach kneeled and pressed their hands in prayer to the tune of chanting monks at the ceremony meant to extend one's life and protect it from dangers. They were joined by relatives and friends at the Wat Pra That Doi Wao temple, overlooking Myanmar on Thailand's northern border.

Only one member was absent, Adul Sargon, who is not Buddhist.

Duangpetch Promthep, one of the boys rescued from a flooded cave, is greeted by relatives at his home in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Wednesday, July 18, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The team has already said they would ordain as Buddhist novices to honor a former Thai navy SEAL diver who died in the cave while making preparations for their rescue.

On Wednesday evening, the boys and coach were released from hospital and spoke to the media for the first time since their ordeal, describing their surprise at seeing two British divers rising from muddy waters in the recesses of the cave. It would be another week before they were pulled out of the Tham Luang cave.

Thai Buddhist monks pray for members of the rescued soccer team and their coach during a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

"We weren't sure if it was for real," 14-year-old Adul said. "So we stopped and listened. And it turned out to be true. I was shocked."

In one poignant and emotional moment at the news conference, a portrait was displayed of Saman Gunan, the Thai diver who died. One of the boys, 11-year-old Chanin "Titan" Vibulrungruang, the youngest of the group, covered his eyes as if wiping away a tear.

Coach Ekkapol Janthawong, fourth from right, and members of the rescued soccer team attend a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

"I feel sad. And another thing is I'm really impressed with Sgt. Sam for sacrificing his life to let all 13 Wild Boars to be able to live our lives outside happily and normally," said Coach Ekapol "Ake" Chanthawong. "When we found out, everyone was sad. Extremely sad, like we were the cause of this, for making the sergeant's family sad and having to face problems."

The Wild Boars had entered the cave on June 23 for what was to be a relaxing excursion after soccer practice. But rain began, and water soon filled the cavern, cutting off their escape, and they huddled on a patch of dry ground deep inside the cave.

Members of the rescued soccer team attend a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Ekapol said the trip was meant to last one hour, simply because "each of us wanted to see what was inside."

When the hour was up, they were pretty deep inside and already had swum through some flooded areas in the spirit of adventure. But in turning back, he discovered the way was not at all clear, and he swam ahead to scout the route, attaching a rope to himself so the boys could pull him back if necessary.

He said he had to be pulled out.

In this July 18, 2018, photo provided by Chiang Rai Public Relations Department, members of the rescued soccer team show their skills before a press conference regarding their experience being trapped in the cave in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand. The Thai soccer boys and their coach began their first day back home with their families since they were rescued from a flooded cave with a trip to a Buddhist temple on Thursday, July 19, to pray for protection from misfortunes. (Chiang Rai Public Relations Department via AP)

Ekapol said he told the boys: "We cannot go out this way. We have to find another way."

The boys told reporters of their reactions at that point.

"I felt scared. I was afraid I wouldn't get to go home and my mom would scold me," said Mongkol Boonpiam, 13, prompting laughter.

Ekarat Wongsukchan, 14, said they decided "to calm ourselves first, to try to fix the problem and find a way out. Be calm and not shocked."

Coach Ekkapol Janthawong, second from left, and members of the rescued soccer team enjoy their breakfast before a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The group had taken no food with them and survived by drinking water that dripped from the cave walls, Ekapol said, adding that all the boys knew how to swim, which had been a concern for rescuers.

Titan said he tried hard not to think about food. "When I'm starving, I don't think of food otherwise it'd make me more hungry."

Adul said they were digging around the spot when they heard the voices and Ekapol called for silence.

He recounted how Ekapol told them to "'quickly get down there, that's the sound of a person, or else they're going to pass on by,' something like that."

Sompong Jaiwong, center, a member of the rescued soccer team, arrives for a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

But he said his teammate holding the flashlight was scared, so Adul told him "If you're not going to go, then I'll go."

"So I quickly took the flashlight, and quickly went down, and I greeted them, 'hello,'" Adul added.

Psychologists had vetted the journalists' questions in advance to avoid bringing up any aspects of the rescue that might disturb them. The dangers of the complicated operation, in which the boys were extracted in three separate missions with diving equipment and pulleys through the tight passageways, were not discussed.

Soccer coach Ekkapol Janthawong, center, and members of the rescued soccer team attend a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Doctors said the 13 were physically and mentally healthy. Although they lost an average of 4 kilograms (9 pounds) during the more than two weeks they were trapped in the cave, they have since gained about 3 kilograms (6 1/2 pounds) on average since their rescue. They were treated for minor infections.

Asked what he had learned from their experience, 13-year-old Mongkol Boonpiam said he felt stronger. "I have more patience, endurance, tolerance," he said.

Adul said it had taught him "not to live life carelessly."

While many of the boys wanted to be pro soccer players when they grow up, at least four of them said they hope to become navy SEALs, so they could help others.

All expressed their apologies to their families.

Members of the rescued soccer team attended a Buddhist ceremony that is believed to extend the lives of its attendees as well as ridding them of dangers and misfortunes in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Thursday, July 19, 2018. The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a cave in northern Thailand left the hospital where they had been recuperating and appeared at a news conference Wednesday, saying the ordeal made them stronger and taught them not to live carelessly. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

"I wanted to apologize to my parents. I know that I will get yelled at by mom when I get home," said Pornchai Kamluang, 16.

Ekarat said sheepishly he wanted to apologize to his parents because while he told them he was going to a cave, he told them the wrong one.

"I told them I was going to Tham Khun Nam," he said. "I didn't tell them I went to Tham Luang. So I was wondering how they found us at the right cave."

CHICAGO (AP) — The closure of Wadsworth Elementary School in 2013 was a blow to residents of the majority-Black neighborhood it served, symbolizing a city indifferent to their interests.

So when the city reopened Wadsworth last year to shelter hundreds of migrants without seeking community input, it added insult to injury. Across Chicago, Black residents are frustrated that long-standing needs are not being met while the city's newly arrived are cared for with a sense of urgency, and with their tax dollars.

“Our voices are not valued nor heard,” says Genesis Young, a lifelong Chicagoan who lives near Wadsworth.

Chicago is one of several big American cities grappling with a surge of migrants. The Republican governor of Texas has been sending them by the busload to highlight his grievances with the Biden administration’s immigration policy.

To manage the influx, Chicago has already spent more than $300 million of city, state and federal funds to provide housing, health care, education and more to over 38,000 mostly South American migrants who have arrived in the city since 2022, desperate for help. The speed with which these funds were marshaled has stirred widespread resentment among Black Chicagoans. But community leaders are trying to ease racial tensions and channel the public's frustrations into agitating for the greater good.

The outcry over migrants in Chicago and other large Democrat-led cities is having wider implications in an election year: The Biden administration is now advocating a more restrictive approach to immigration in its negotiations with Republicans in Congress.

Since the Wadsworth building reopened as a shelter, Young has felt “extreme anxiety” because of the noise, loitering and around-the-clock police presence that came with it. More than anything, she and other neighbors say it is a reminder of problems that have been left unsolved for years, including high rates of crime, unemployment and homelessness.

“I definitely don’t want to seem insensitive to them and them wanting a better life. However, if you can all of a sudden come up with all these millions of dollars to address their housing, why didn’t you address the homeless issue here,” said Charlotte Jackson, the owner of a bakery and restaurant in the South Loop neighborhood.

“For so long we accepted that this is how things had to be in our communities," said Chris Jackson, who co-founded the bakery with his wife. "This migrant crisis has made many people go: ‘Wait a minute, no it doesn’t.’”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to comment for this story.

The city received more than $200 million from the state and federal government to help care for migrants after Johnson appealed to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and President Joe Biden. The president will be in Chicago in August to make his reelection pitch at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Some Black Chicagoans are protesting the placement of shelters in their neighborhoods, but others aim to turn the adversity into an opportunity.

“Chicago is a microcosm to the rest of the nation,” said the Rev. Janette C. Wilson, national executive director of the civil rights group PUSH for Excellence. Black communities have faced discrimination and underinvestment for decades and are justifiably frustrated, Wilson said. The attention the migrants are receiving is deserved, she added, but it's also a chance for cities to reflect on their responsibility to all underserved communities.

“There is a moral imperative to take care of everybody,” Wilson said.

After nearly two years of acrimony, the city has begun to curb some accommodations for migrants – which has caused its own backlash. The city last month started evicting migrants who overstayed a 60-day limit at shelters, prompting condemnation from immigrant rights groups and from residents worried about public safety.

Marlita Ingram, a school guidance counselor who lives in the South Shore neighborhood, said she is concerned about the resources being shared “equitably” between migrants and longtime residents. But she also believes “it doesn’t have to be a competition” and sympathizes with the nearly 6,000 migrant children now enrolled in Chicago's public schools.

As the potential for racial strife rises, some activists are pointing to history as a cautionary tale.

Hundreds of thousands of Black southerners moved to Chicago in the early 20th century in search of greater freedoms and economic opportunities. White Chicagoans at the time accused them of receiving disproportionate resources from the city, and in 1919 tensions boiled over.

In a surge of racist attacks in cities across the U.S. that came to be known as “Red Summer,” white residents burned large swaths of Chicago’s Black neighborhoods and killed 38 Black people, including by lynching.

“Those white folks were, like, ‘Hell no, they’re coming here, they’re taking our jobs,’'' said Richard Wallace, founder of Equity and Transformation, a majority-Black community group that co-hosted in a forum in March to improve dialogue between Black and Latino residents.

He hears echoes of that past bigotry — intentional or not — when Black Chicagoans complain about the help being given to migrants. “How did we become like the white folks who were resisting our people coming to the city of the Chicago?” he said.

Labor and immigrant rights organizers have worked for years to tamp down divisions between working class communities. But the migrant crisis has created tensions between the city’s large Mexican American community and recently arrived migrants, many of whom hail from Venezuela.

“If left unchecked, we all panic, we’re all scared, we’re going to retreat to our corners,” said Leone Jose Bicchieri, executive director of Working Family Solidarity, a majority-Hispanic labor rights group. “The truth is that this city wouldn’t work without Black and Latino people.”

Black Americans’ views on immigration and diversity are expansive. The Civil Rights Movement was instrumental in pushing the U.S. to adopt a more inclusive immigration policy.

About half of Black Americans say the United States’ diverse population makes the country strong, including 30% who say it makes the U.S. “much stronger,” according to a March poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Many leaders in Black neighborhoods in and around Chicago are trying to strike a balance between acknowledging the tensions without exacerbating them.

“Our church is divided on the migrant crisis,” said the Rev. Chauncey Brown, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Maywood, Illinois, a majority-Black suburb of Chicago where some migrants are living in shelters.

There has been a noticeable uptick of non-English speakers in the pews, many of whom have said they are migrants in need of food and other services, Brown said. Some church members cautioned him against speaking out in support of migrants or allotting more church resources to them. But he said the Bible’s teachings are clear on this issue.

“When a stranger enters your land, you are to care for them as if they are one of your own,” he said.

Matt Brown is a member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on social media.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Richard Wallace, founder and director of Equity and Transformation, poses for a portrait at the Westside Justice Center, Friday, March 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Richard Wallace, founder and director of Equity and Transformation, poses for a portrait at the Westside Justice Center, Friday, March 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The Rev. Dr. Chauncey Brown poses for a portrait at Second Baptist Church, Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The Rev. Dr. Chauncey Brown speaks during an interview at Second Baptist Church, Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Richard Wallace, founder and director of Equity and Transformation, poses for a portrait at the Westside Justice Center, Friday, March 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The Rev. Dr. Chauncey Brown poses for a portrait at Second Baptist Church, Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)