Friday night, October 10 - Bangkok

A full day of meetings with lots of Bangkok traffic in between.

We have the common site visit afflication of engaging with each organization and wanting to find a way to fund them all. The Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) intervenes with documented and undocumented immigrants with legal assistance. They work to educate the Thai population about the situation of immigrants to make them more helpful and understanding, and to educate the immigrant population to help them understand their rights and the requirements of Thai law. They offer training both in the legal issues and skills to help immigrants gain employment - computer skills and language skills. They have set up libraries to disseminate the information which have become community centers where other social services and training can take place. Mr. Myint Wai is Burmese and has a great deal of credibility with both the Thai government and the Burmese population.

Pattanarak has the very holistic mission of improving the living standards of displaced populations. Mr. Seri Thongmak worked for the Thai government in forestry for several years near the Burmese border and became very familiar with the area and its people and problems. Again, he is one with credibility on both sides. His approach is to train others the lessons he has learned over the last 10 years in development and conservation and sustainability. He has learned that people must help themselves. He is inspired by the Mohamed Yunos model and wants people to learn to save and not just rely on loans. The Pangea project if funded would involve a community micro-credit and a community owned store for essentials, such as rice.

Sydney and I will write up our detailed notes and share them with you all when we get back. But, now it is late and we've had just a little bit of Singha beer at a lovely riverfront restaurant along with some remarkable Thai food. Tomorrow will more tourism for Sydney and JoAnn, and on to Chiang Mai for Bob and Maryann.

Hi to everyone at home in Seattle. We are safe and happy and enjoying making wonderful new contacts here in SE Asia...

Maryann