The Brackett Foundation
enote 14 January 12, 2005
Introduction
Liz and I arrived after a long flight from wintry Hamilton, -23 hours in the air, and about 34 hours from door to door-, to a balmy Bangkok. No remorse for those of you settling into woolens, overshoes, and the long winter ahead, just an invitation to come along sometime, to visit and help us with our work.
Day One
Thet Khaing offered to pick us up and guide us to SIIT, the Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology of Thammasat University. He and the other two students we were to meet there, are the only three we support who study engineering. On the way over he told us about his work for the Burmese refugees who are suffering from the recent effects of the tsunami. He was the organizer of a program involving many students from universities all over Bangkok to contribute to the victims. He told us that he had so far collected over 60,000 baht (about $1,500), and he is still collecting more funds. Last weekend he joined a few other students traveling to the Phuket area, to oversee personally the distribution of those funds to families of Burmese construction workers. He reports that there were 800 Burmese living in Thailand lost in the tsunami, and many more missing.
We were reminded of a recent visit to a refugee family who had just immigrated to the United States. They had collected pennies, and with the additional help of their church community were planning to send $300 to the AIDS victims at Dr. Cynthia’s Clinic.
It is encouraging to know that so many of our friends and students we support are so interested to share their meager resources and to support their people. If peace and stability are ever to come to the tortured country of their origins, it will be through the efforts of people like these.
The
picture shows our engineering students. They are from left to right The
Reh, Hsar Kyi Lar, and Thet Khaing, a Karenni, a Karen and a Burman
respectively.