Dear Friends,
I am very happy to report, in spite of our concern, we raised more funds this year, $268,000, than ever before. The chart below shows our fundraising history from our beginning in 1997. This achievement allowed us to do our work in Asia this year with confidence that we could meet all of our obligations, and perhaps look for more opportunities to aid people in need.
| • B K Kee Grant, for our work in Mizoram State of India | $42,026 |
| • D H Ross Grant, for Boarding Houses in Thailand | $10,000 |
| • V W Cabot Fdn. Grant, General Operating Support | $10,000 |
| • International Fdn. Grant, for schools in Burma | $5,000 |
| • Brackett Family Fdn. Grant, for schools also in Burma | $5,000 |
Continued growth from grants may threaten our character as a public funded organization, and we should direct our efforts more to you our public. The category OTHER, includes churches, other organizations, and matching funds.
The following summary of income and expenses for 2009 shows we raised $39,248 more than we spent last year. Those funds will be kept over for expenditures next year. We have tried very hard to keep overhead low, and this year we spent only 1.6% of our total expenditures on overhead. We are able to do this not simply by our own efforts, but with the help of many generous professionals who have volunteered their time in our service. However, as the size and complexity of our organization grows, we come under increasing pressure to spend more money for administration, professional services, and the like, and that contributes to rising overhead.
| INCOME | EXPENSE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Gifts | 145,931 | Grants in Thailand | |||
| Trustee's Gifts | 39,550 | Scholarships (LI+SG) | 104,394 | ||
| Grants Received | 72,026 | Projects | 65,619 | ||
| Endowment Gifts | 10,000 | ||||
| Direct Public Support | 267,507 | India+ Burma Grants | |||
| Dividends & Interest | 1,287 | Leader Interns | 20,818 | ||
| Income from Endowment | 3,214 | Projects | 21,050 | ||
| Other Income | 1,410 | ||||
| Total Direct Grants | 211,881 | ||||
| + (-) Sale of Securities | (118) | Other Program Costs | 8,116 | ||
| Total Program Expenses | 219,997 | ||||
| Management & General | 1,925 | ||||
| Fundraising | 1,630 | ||||
| Overhead (1.6%) | 3,555 | ||||
| Xfer to Endowment | 10,500 | ||||
| TOTAL INCOME | 273,300 | TOTAL EXPENSES | 234,052 | ||
| INCOME - EXPENSES | 39,248 | ||||
| VALUE OF OPERATING FUND | $293,997 | VALUE OF ENDOWMENT | $214,135 |
Trip to Asia 2010
We arrived in Bangkok on January 12 at 10 am, and got settled in the Bangkok Christian Guest House. The following day we met with Janice Sarntikarn at the Bangkok Bank to explore the possibilities afforded us by internet banking. We did set up an internet banking capability there, but we later learned that there might be a better service at Kasikorn Bank. Liz is currently using that capability to asses its convenience for us. Janice invited us to her apartment in Bangkok to meet her family that evening. We were picked up by their driver and had a fine supper with Steve, her husband, and her daughter and two young men who were visiting. We learned that Janice and her husband had just recently returned from a trip to Egypt where he, an amateur photographer, had the opportunity to take many fine pictures.
The following day Jan. 14 we left for Calcutta on our way to Aizawl, India. We looked forward to having Chris accompany us for his first trip there. We had our usual trouble finding a decent place to stay, but finally settled at the Tollygunge Club, which had a private golf course right in the middle of Calcutta. The following day we made it to Aizawl, and met Chris on the next plane, and took a cab together with him to the city. He was impressed, as all first time visitors are, with Aizawl. We had plans to meet with the officers of the regional CWOs on Tuesday of the coming week, but they all showed up the following day which was Saturday. This event caused considerable disruption in our schedule, but we had a brief meeting with them and sent them back with instructions that we would find a way to deal with their needs later. Later on we figured out that the central office of CWO had fallen down on their job and did not forward any communications the regional officers had with us, but they did apparently tell all of them to be there to see us.
Eventually we hired Chin Chin, a young woman as Regional CWO coordinator to travel to each of the regions, collect a report, and give scholarship funds to each region. She has since returned with her work finished. Finding the best way to support poor young children in the outlying regions of Mizoram, is still a work in progress. From Tuesday through Thursday, Jan. 19 to 21, we made our side trip to Champhai and Zokhawthar. We met with No Kap, and his Champhai Chin Education Committee, the Champhai CWO, and Laldimpuii and her Zokhawthar Chin Education Committee. These meetings all went well. On the way back, we stopped by a new school that was being built for refugees and migrants from Burma, but did not meet the director of the school project. On our return to Aizawl, we had more meetings with students, the Chin Education Committee, and the Aizawl Chin Education Committee, and left Aizawl to Bangkok on Jan. 24.
Back in Bangkok we met the Shirleys and were disappointed to learn that Barbara was simply too ill to travel with us to Sangklaburi. She and Dave did interview some of the Bangkok applicants, and we met with some of our continuing students there. Dave was able to accompany us on the Sangklaburi trip and he interviewed students in Kanchanaburi, and in Sangklaburi. On the way we stopped at the Bamboo School of Catherine Riley-Byan near Sai Yok. We had had some relationship with this school by virtue of sending students graduating from Pi Lo Ki there for high school education. We planed an alumni party in Sangklaburi on Jan. 30, but it was attended by only one of our students, Moo Moo. Others were contacted but could not, or would not come. We did have a very good visit with Joobjang, who is now teaching science at a school in her Mon community.
We returned on Sunday to Bangkok and met with Myint Wei and Joe Seranni of DEARBurma to discuss our interest in the library centers they are starting in several towns where large numbers of migrants are working. These programs appear to have great potential to bring resources to help the people there. We have committed a small amount of money this year and Chris will monitor the situation to see how well it performs. Feb. 1, breakfast with Katheryn McDaniel, the mother of Phillip who served in the Kwai River Christian Hospital for many years, and we learned a little about the scholarship program the offer to nurse students. We were told that it’s available only for students at Payap University, and we remain confused as to whether Sureeporn, Kanda's sister, is getting money from them to attend Mission College. We met with Nanda, Simeon, Felix and Myint Wei and Joe Seranni again, then left to Chiang Mai.
The next few days were taken up with reviewing new applications, and delivering them to TReps. In addition we brought Hoppy and Judy to meet Shona, and saw Sa Shine working there. We had a great alumni meeting on Friday, over a dozen ex students were there, including Julay, Thoo Lei Paw, Jollsy, Sha Bwe Moo, Ye Htut, and Dasor. We discussed everything from politics to marriage after the honeymoon. We also met Sha Bwe Moo later to discuss his IDP school and he brought us a video of Karen doing the bamboo dance at the animist school. We also visited the Hod boarding house, and tried to get the upper level students thinking about school beyond high school.
On Tuesday Jan. 9 we departed for Mae Hong Son. The following day we visited Kyaw Hla Sein's school, the leaders of the Karenni Teachers Project, and had another fine alumni party with about six graduates. The meeting with Kyaw Hla Sein was crucial because the previous year's meeting was not good, and some events during the year caused concern about our continued support. The meeting went very well, all of the documents we requested were shown to us and we were very pleased not only with our discussions there, but also with the volunteer English teachers. The meeting with the Karenni Leaders was sobering. The program itself was going well, but the status of the people remains very difficult and the leaders saw no prospect of change aside from a change in the government in Rangoon. The alumni meeting was a supper at the Fern restaurant in Mae Hong Son, It was quiet but interesting. The Reh, our engineering graduate from Thammasat, is teaching in the camps, Purity and Ti Boo are working for IOM, the International Organization for Migration, and Mary is, I believe, working for the Jesuit Refugee Service.
A bus to Mae Sariang, an evening with Hser Ti Moo, followed by a long sonthau trip got us to Mae Sot in time for the morning celebration of Children's Day at Dr. Cynthia's. This year we stayed at the Pannu Guest House, a marked improvement over the Pornthep Hotel. Over the next few days we had a number of interviews with study grant applicants and my few remaining leader-interns. We met with Eh Thwa and a couple of her back-pack medics who help us with delivery into the IDP areas. We got good, complete reports, but they were somewhat lacking in a human element, so we suggested that Eh Thwa collect some personal stories or incidents that could help a reader connect with the lives of the people there. We also met with the Mae Sot Study Grant Committee, MSSGC. This committee, composed of Naw Tamla, Maw Tee Paw, Tomy Kana, and Ta Ka Baw, is our first attempt to get local help from Karen on interviewing and selecting applicants for study grants. I was very pleased to see how well they worked together. Maw Tee Paw, our accounting major, was the first to notice the committee had misunderstood our instructions and got them back on the right track, Ta Ka Baw in conversation gave the impression that he intuitively knew what we were trying to do. Tamla, her caring self, was always pushing for the lesser candidates, and Tomy always helpful offered his home and transportation for us. It is a good committee and we are very pleased with their work for us.
The next evening, Thursday Jan. 18 Aung Win Shwe and his wife Shelia, took us out to supper at a good Thai restaurant up the hill east of Mae Sot, not far from the Rajapaht. We had some of the best fish I've eaten in Thailand, and they insisted on paying for everything. Then a very big and delightful surprise to all of us, they gave a donation of 10,000 baht to the Foundation for our work! (That's about $307.) This is the first time anyone from our ‘target population’ has contributed a donation. The following morning we met with Dr. Cynthia to discuss the school, and its program. We continued to push for more integration into the Thai school system, and she seemed more amenable to that idea. She advised us to talk with the people at the CDC especially Nant Day Si. That afternoon we visited Tamla's orphanage at Mea Hla camp. The children sang a song for us in Karen. When we had it translated it turned out to have a fairly bleak message about longing for their home, and people leaving them. Part of it is in enote 61. The main problem with the orphanage concerns food. Over half of the children have come from nearby places to get education at the camp. It can be argued whether or not they are truly refugees. Tamla wants for the children to have their choice made later, but to do that she/we must pay for their rice. That will be a significant cost. We also met with Saw Po Lay and Saw Bisset about the projects they have with the IDP schools.
The following day we traveled to Maw Kwee and attended the school closing ceremony. The villagers hope to raise some money by raising some vegetables in the off-season. They would need some money to prepare an irrigation system for the field, which we were happy to supply. I am somewhat concerned about the long-term survival of this village because their main source of income their farms, are no longer available to them. We also stopped on the way back at Tamla's to receive the report from the Kler Day schools just across the river in Burma. Things went well this year and we will continue our support there giving the teachers a small increase in their stipends. We were very pleased to note that Dee Dee, a past teacher at the Kler Day school promised to repair the Tee Ler Doh school which is in need of a roof.
The following day Sunday Jan. 21, we met with a number of students. Mayreerat came by to tell us that she finished school without using the funds we gave her for the second semester last year, and wanted to return them. Whereupon she dug into her purse and counted out 12,500 baht which exactly covered the amount we gave for that term! Not exactly a donation but for one without a job it shows a considerable dedication to honesty and to our work! Thank you, Mayreerat. That afternoon we were invited to Piyawan's house to have lunch and visit her parents. Her father was away driving for his boss. We found the house surprisingly opulent. This was certainly not a poor family. She took us to a boarding house nearby and we were entertained by a boy singing a traditional Karen song while accompanying himself on a jungle harp. It was very lovely and quite interesting. A group of girls also sang to us. The community has a large Roman Catholic Church.
We met with the CDC staff to discuss how we might help the school move toward a curriculum which would support their high school graduates going to Rajapaht. After some discussion we offered to support two students from the CDC if they could manage to attend Rajapaht next year. We would leave the details up to the staff of the CDC working with the officers of the Rajapaht. A day or two later we visited the Rajapaht, with the help of Tomy Kana who drove us there and translated for us, and told them about our proposal. We are not optimistic that anything will be done this year, but hope that with the prize waiting the relationship will be encouraged. On Friday Feb. 26 we had perhaps the best alumni party of all. We took over Canadian Dave's Kitchen and fed about twenty people including five from the foundation with anything they wanted from beer to ice cream. They loved it. It cost about 4500 baht which is about $140. Barbara and Alyson left the next day and shortly after that Liz and I returned to Chiang Mai for a couple of days to have closing talks with Chris and to meet Sai Yee Tip who is our liaison with the Loi Tai Leng Shan school just north of the Thai border in Shan State. We talked about teacher training which we might support and Chris taking a trip there to see the school. It seems after a number of years trying, Chris might actually be able to get there this time.
The following table shows projects supported in 2008 and those continued in 2009.
| Project Summary | Support 2008 | Support 2009 |
| Boarding Houses | $11,977 | $13,066 |
| IDP Schools | $24,624 | $24,865 |
| Other Schools | $22,338 | $22,107 |
| Teachers | $5,444 | $5,582 |
| India Projects | NA | $21,050 |
| TOTAL in US Dollars | $64,383 | $86,670 |
The next table shows the distribution of our university students according to school type.
| Leader Interns School Type | Stds ‘08 | Stds ‘09 |
| Universities in Thailand | 46 | 42 |
| Teachers Colleges now with university status | 54 | 59 |
| Medical and Nursing Schools in Thailand | 9 | 3 |
| Religious Schools in Thailand | 3 | 3 |
| Universities and Colleges in other countries | 18 | 22 |
| Medical and Nursing Schools in other countries | 3 | 13 |
| Total Students | 133 | 142 |
We granted $85,584 to our Leader Interns in Thailand, and $20,818 to those in India, including the one refugee medical student from Aizawl studying in Armenia.
We supported forty-two students in high school and vocational schools in Thailand in our Study Grant Program. The total cost of this program was $18,455.
A teacher with his students in the IDP area of Burma
Doh Moo, who helps us support the Tay Mu Der schools in Karen state Burma, is shown in the brown T-shirt in the rear. The teacher is to his right along with his students. In our view these schools are on the front line of a battle to preserve the Karen culture against the on going civil war inside Burma.
We take this opportunity to thank all of our donors without whom this work would not be possible. We also wish to thank our refugee project directors, who are also volunteers, and who have committed themselves to working closely with us to ensure the integrity and success of our projects. To our many refugee friends who have understood our commitment and who have shared their lives with us, we wish a happier future for them and their families.