This month our team joined an adventurous bunch of volunteers to the village of Pala U Noi. The village was assessed and we found that they require 6 water tanks in order to provide the whole community with clean drinking water. It is often easy for us to forget that we take for granted something as simple as clean water and it is always a shock when we come across people who don’t have access to it. But this wasn’t the only thing the assessment uncovered…
The village is located 90 minutes walk away from a clinic, however a staggering 80% of the community are unable to afford to pay for any treatments. Because of this we have made the decision to continue to support the people here with remote medical clinics until we can arrange a sustainable, long-term solution. Also part of the community are three midwives, none of which are qualified – two of the three are men who work as manual labourers! Again, as part of our long term goals we would like to assist the community by providing some basic training.
Thankfully all of the children who are grades 1-6 are attending school which is great news. More concerning is that half of the children who should be in grades 7-12 are not attending school because of funding. Funding for each child is only 1200baht a year, and there are only 7 children who require this sponsorship. We are hoping that our supporters will pull together and help put these bright young children through school. If you are looking to make a real difference to the lives of these children then now is your chance, I know we can give them a future they deserve!
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- Our nurse and translator with a patient.
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- A young child waiting to be seen at the remote medical clinic.
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- Local pestle & mortar to get the rice out of husks.
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- Lady with severe burns.
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- Father & baby treated.
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- Patients waiting to be seen.
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- Broken bone not set for 4 weeks.
Our remote medical clinic saw a total of 45 patients this time around and, with the help of our translator Net (who was fantastic, thanks Net!) we were able to make a big impact. We saw a baby of 1 week old who had oral thrush and was being given condensed milk. We are now sponsoring this baby and supplying powdered baby milk. We also saw a Mother stricken with what we expect is Parkinson’s, various patients with severe burns from boiling water, patients with broken bones that have been left untreated due to not having funds to get checked out.
On top of all this our poor 4×4 got stuck in thick mud and we had to get out and push for half an hour. The entire team was still smiling though and the volunteers didn’t seem to mind at all. Finally we gave out toys and donated clothes that were greatly needed and were met with huge, grateful smiles from the community. As always we all had a great day and feel as though we have made a positive impact on this small community. Well done everyone, you make us so proud!
Ps – We really need another second hand truck and we will be hoping to raise some money for one soon. More info coming soon!
