Field Reports

A Recent Trip with the TWCCTW Group
I recently returned from another interesting and highly productive trip to SE Asia. This trip was a little different because I was traveling with Scott Friedman, Jana Stanfield, and a very talented “Together We Can Change The World” (TWCCTW) group of 10 people, including Rhonda Faught, Maria Kassova, Lynn Leahy, Jonathan Low, Rebecca Morgan, Robert Stack, and Carol Talbot. This

A Visit with Jit at Baan Saan Rak
Today, I had a nice visit to reconnect with Jit, a delightful Thai lady that runs a small, 21 child orphanage on her family property in a fairly remote outside Chiang Rai. Most of the information about Jit and her Baan Saan Rak (home with love) project is already on my website, but here’s an updated picture of Jit, with

Thai Cooking School
Believe it or not I ended up with an entire day almost free yesterday. No meetings until 5pm. So, I did one of the things I’ve always wanted to do here. I went to a Cooking School. Way cool experience. First we went shopping to learn about ingredients and to purchase what we needed. They took us to a big

A Day with the Good Shepherd Sisters in Chiang Rai
Wednesday (February 27, 2013) was a very full day … even a bit fuller than I’d anticipated. The morning dawned beautifully. Sunny skies; moderately cool. Perfect for a 45km motorbike ride to the Good Shepherd Sisters. The first half of the ride was wonderful. (It’s really pretty cool being back on two wheels again.) Then, at about the 20km mark

Our First Strategic Planning Session with the Fountain of Life Centers
Just finished up three long days (February 22-25, 2013) of meetings with the Fountain of Life Centers. They did great work on Vision and Mission … on to Strategic Goals … then identified six key measures of success … followed by quite a bit of Project work and Action planning. In spite of two languages, and their being quite unfamiliar

Give2Asia Ten-Year Gala Celebration
On October 2, 2012 Give2Asia celebrated its Ten-Year Anniversary with a Gala Event in the Grand Ballroom at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. That evening, they recognized four of their many, many funds. We were greatly honored that we — with our two funds — were included in that group of four.I was away in Thailand on that

A Visit to a Lahu Village and Lunch with the Village Head Man
On my most recent trip in October 2012 I had the opportunity to visit a Lahu Village and meet the Head Man of the village. Being particularly interested in seeing a village typical of where our Peace Children’s Home kids come from … and to discuss with the head man the wisdom of taking kids away from their home villages

Safety for Girls – Koenawin Monk School
As a long-time advocate for educating girls, it is gratifying to visit the various Monk and Nun schools to see first-hand their fine work being done in this regard. Up

Visit to a Lashio Nun & Monk Schools
Today was a busy day in Lashio. In the afternoon we visited the Nayar Thiri Nun School. There, in the interest of safety, 40 girls from the local villages become

A Day With The Kwan Hlar Village Youth Group
Today was a delightful day in the Mon village Kwan Hlar. I was invited there because their youth group (a few of whom I had met while working in the

A Visit to Poon Mon Village
Yesterday we visited the Lahu village of Poon Mon, located about 14 miles north of Lashio, Myanmar – up close to the China border. These people were relocated here in

Pain Sar Village Visit
Today we visited Pain Sar, a Lahu village located 26 miles north of Lashio, Myanmar. Highly agricultural, this village of 52 households and 320 people is struggling mightily to improve

Khone Suu Village Visit
Today we visited Khone Suu Village, in the dry zone south of Magwe, Myanmar. Getting there was quite an adventure. I’ve driven on some pretty bad roads in my time

Visit With Life and Hope Association
I had a most interesting conversation with the Venerable Lorm Loeurm, Executive Director of the Life and Hope Association in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Located on the grounds of the Wat

A Visit to Kwan Hlar Village
A couple of days ago we visited Kwan Hlar village, the home of our friend, Nyen Shwe, a very dedicated and hard working young Mon man living and working in

A New School for Lakhana Village
When I visited Lakhana Village last summer I met with the village Women’s Group. They were absolutely determined to have a “post-primary” (junior high) school so their children could continue

A Visit to Nath Maw Village – Myanmar
Nath Maw Village is a small place on Giant Island, located in the Thawlwin River. Nath Maw is accessible only by a ferryboat across this very large river. The current