Thai cave boys' heads shaved before ordination ceremonyEleven enter temple for nine days to show thanks for rescue and honour navy Seal who died during operationHannah Ellis-Petersen Tue 24 Jul 2018 09.19 EDT
Eleven members of the football team who were rescued from a cave in northern Thailand have taken their first steps to being ordained as Buddhist novices, a gesture to honour those who took part in their rescue.
The boys, whose ages range from 11 to 16, will live in a Buddhist temple for nine days, the same length of time they were trapped in Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai before they were discovered by a team of divers.
Their coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, who had already lived as a Buddhist novice for a decade, will be ordained as a monk. One of the boys, 14-year-old Adul Sam-on, will not be ordained as he is a Christian.
The boys’ families had made the pledge to ordain the Wild Boars footballers to show thanks for the efforts that went towards saving them and also to pay respect to the Thai navy Seal, Saman Kunan, who died in the rescue operation.
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https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/24/boys-rescued-from-thai-cave-become-buddhist-novices
