The following article appeared on the My Edmonds News web site today.
in Southeast Asia are in real peril from the current pandemic, way more than we are.
And then, a few people around you start getting sick. And then a few more. Some die. You’re scared.
Here in America, when that happens, we turn to television for instruction, practice enhanced personal hygiene, put on masks, stay home and go into social isolation. But imagine that village and that small child. No one really knows what to do. As a child you probably want to run, but where to? Worse, you don’t even know what you’re running from.
Sadly, this isn’t just a child’s overactive imagination. It is real. And kids are just as vulnerable as anyone else.
What can we do?
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Bill Taylor; I live in Edmonds, Washington.
A few years ago my wife Pat and I founded the SE Asia Foundation. Our aim was to help youngsters living in the most primitive areas of this largely undeveloped part of the world. We discovered that education is the key.
Now, with the worldwide pandemic reaching its ugly tentacles into even these small villages, education is even more important, particularly basic hygiene and social distancing.
I am pleased to tell you that many of the Foundation’s on-the-ground partners are actively doing something about it. They are traveling village to village, holding meetings about the virus and ways to combat it. They are providing masks, soap, and other hygienic supplies and—most importantly—they are showing the villagers how they can help themselves.
Before the pandemic, I traveled to SE Asia four times a year, each time spending six weeks living among them, helping to facilitate their education and finding ways to address many of their other needs. Today, however—because of international travel restrictions—we must temporarily do these things from 7,500 miles away; a challenge, but we’re making it work.
You will learn more about what we do, and how you can help support our work if you are moved to do so. For tax purposes, we are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and every single penny donated goes directly to the field. Nothing is taken for overhead, administration or fundraising.
For more information feel free to contact Bill Taylor at bill@seafund.org or you can call him at (425) 771-7990.
