Field Reports

Let’s Be The Ones To Finish This Great Project
In late October 2016, along with my two northern Thailand Rotary colleagues, Carol and George, I visited the Sisters of Providence for the first time. Located in the northern town of Chiang Saen, these Sisters have done some remarkable work during their five short years in the country. Led by the energetic Sr. Janda Garcia da Costa (from Brazil) and

Programs in Need of Sponsors at the Life & Hope Association
I had an extensive visit with Life & Hope Association yesterday. L&HA has two main programs. PAGE: Program for Advancing Girls Education and Sewing. PAGE: Under this program the Monks, headed by the Venerable Lorm Loeurm, support a high school education for 28 carefully selected, marginalized girls from remote villages. Their plan to expand to 35 girls next year and

Join us and help support three essential programs run by this fine organization in a very rural, poor location in Cambodia
CEDF – OpCam is a Cambodian charity registered with the Ministry of the Interior in agreement with the Social Affairs Department. Opportunity Cambodia, an Australian NGO*, partners with CEDF – OpCam and provides its funding and overall guidance. About 2007 Opportunity Cambodia opened an Education Centre in rural Anlong Samnar Commune. Today, general manager Youchheng Uch (Chheng), and founder, Carolyn

Sponsor a Year for a Child’s Education at Good Shepherd Sisters, in Nongkhai Thailand
We are seeking for several sponsors for 25 school girls available at the Good Shepherd Sisters in Nongkhai. Here’s some information about the program, in the words of the Sponsorship Programme itself. Programme Participants We wish to share with you the following statistics which show the numbers assisted by our programme over the past three years. Sponsorship funds are provided

A Visit to the Palel Myintta Orphanage
Last week we once again visited Palel Myintta. You may remember this as the small child-care facility for about 20 HIV positive kids either orphaned by the disease or abandoned by their caretakers. This is where I first met May Mi, a four-year-old girl whose grandmother had been seeking a lethal injection so she wouldn’t have to care for an

A Story of a Very Industrious Monk
I’m delighted to share with you the story of one of the finest Monks I’ve ever met. This man is named Ashin War Thithta. He is the Head Monk, called the Sayardaw, for the Kabahlone Monastery in Hpa-an, Myanmar. That is my good Myanmar friend and our Myanmar Country Director, Treasure, in the background. I first visited Kabahlone in 2013.

Coaching the Future Leaders of Myanmar
Along with my colleague, Peter Scontrino, I’ve just finished four full days coaching the future leaders of Myanmar on leadership and management skills. How, you ask, did that come about? Well – it all happened because our wonderful colleague in Myanmar, Treasure Shine, working with a local head-monk, along with the Hpa-an Education Foundation, pulled together this highly select group

Village Meeting About Organic Farming at Rak Phan Din
My good friend and fellow Rotarian, Carol Acosta, asked me to help with a meeting so that the people in a local Hmong village called Rak Phan Din could explore the possibilities of organic gardening. Sure. Why not? We had no clear idea about their real agenda, but we sorted that out during the first meeting when 35 villagers showed

San Leung Village Visit
Today we visited Lahu village of San Leung, about 40 miles south of Lashio, Myanmar. There we met with the Village Leader (a nice fellow called U-Tone-See) his village committee, and many of the villagers. San Leung has 31 households with 15 kids in the 3 to 5 age range. They have a pre-school for them but only for two

Hpa-an Education Foundation
This evening we met with the Hpa-an Education Foundation, including the current Chairman, a dedicated man called U Khin Shein. This is a group of 300 local citizens dedicated to filling the gap between what the government provides in the way of education and what is really needed. Each of the members contributes monthly to the Foundation. And, the leadership

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

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

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

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

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

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

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