Empower
Lisa Lindley Joined: January 31st 2009
Logged in: January 25th 2011
Logged in: January 25th 2011
In May 2009, I am travelling to Uganda for 3 weeks with my good friend Fiona. We intend travelling to Lira and Gulu to offer support to the Empower Trauma Rehabilitation Program for children who have been abducted by the Lords Resistance Army.
Please go to www.thefrontline.org.au for more information.
Travel Blog Posts
hi everyone, abbey here. My perspective of Bangkok we had a wonderful farwell dinner last night at Ian and Judy's place in Chiang mai. *pause* Today we flew out to bangkok and caught a taxi( with a very confused non english speaking driver) to Jacks school, which ofcourse with our knowledge of geography in Thailand and the drivers lack of english made a very stressful and long trip. It was delightful to see a familiar face at last when we arrived at the gates of Bromsgrave International School. It was wonderful to see Jack. He gave us a tour around the school grounds, he looks very well. We then headed to the school hall to have lunch with the international boarding students and some of the teachers. Sadly we had to leave with a few quick ... read more
the last day at the dental clinic today. had an amazing farewell dinner last night at maesot, similar to the spirit house in yandina, but bigger and more elaborate gardens. unbelievably y.ummy food. bit of a downer last night, pity. i woke up this morning with a head cold and dr norli woke up with temperature, freezing cold and nausea. she will have blood test in chiangmai tomorrow to check for malaria and dengue fever. she saw 11 patients, and then basically collapsed. we cleaned the clinic, did stocktake and packed up with Norli asleep on the dental chair. we are on the way to chiangmai now and will arrive later tongiht. in answer to questions, yes prue, we give the kids a local before treatment so they are not in any pain. the kids in ... read more
Hello everyone another great day today. It is hard to imagine the conditions in the camp, the people are not allowed to leave and there are checkpoints along the way just to make sure they are not leaving. The camp is built on the side of a steep mountain, so when it rains(as it is now - rainy season) the water just pours down the hill, wrecking the paths and spreading the sewerage. This morning Kyie and I ran up the hill, just as a challenge to ourselves. We made it, just a bit hot and puffed!! I had the best morning as finally got to step into my own comfort zone and do some trauma rehabilitation training with about 50 social workers/evangelist/pastoral care workers - all refugees from Burma themselves. I had a fantastic translator ... read more
Hey everyone, thanks for all your messages and prayers. We are really enjoying our time here, and have fallen in love with all the children. They never ever cry or even flinch, when the get a needle, or drilled, or tooth pulled out. They are so polite. We usually have over 10 kids in the waiting area, and we have been entertaining them with picture books, drawing and songs - They are so patient and cute:) Abbey, Rachel and Grant (young couple from Gold Coast) teaching at the camp, all went to the wrist tying festival, and they tie cotton around each others wrist to remember their relatives. All up 160 000 Karen refugees in the camps, the one we are at is the largest. They are not allowed to leave teh camp, though occassionally some ... read more
Hello everyone we had another great day today. we are enjoying the walk up the hill in the Maela camp! Not anywhere near as hard as we thought. the history of the camp is very interesting, has been here 20 years and there are 50000 people living here, all on top of each other. The UN gives them all a ration of rice and fish paste a month, and that is all. the Thai people do not allow them to grow their own vegies, as they want to monopolise the trade - though they dont actually have any income or money to spend. we are working at the Christian School which has 460 kids in it, and we are mostly seeing those kids who have teeth which are causing pain. Norli, the dentist is mainly just ... read more
Today was our first day at work in the refugee camp. Dr Norliand Abbey were amazing with the kids and did a great job. We saw 16 kids today, fillings and extractions mostly. The kids were so brave, only a few tears and VERY CUTE!!!!! WE gave them toys after their procedures and word got around camp.. we saw a few kids with "pretend toothaches." The School Principal and Deputy Principal were with us all day and speak great English. They translated for us and a local school girl Ech Ko Say helped in the sterilzation room. The People are all so beautiful, gentle and friendly. Looking forward to meeting more of them tomorrow xoxo Kylie, Lisa, Abbey and Dr Norli... read more
Hello everyone thank you for all your lovely messages and prayers. we are all well and looking forward to heading up to Maela refugee camp today, to set up the dental clinic. Hard to know what to expect until we get there. Yesterday we arrived in Maesot, interesting town, lawless it appears... We first went to a local toyshop and bought 90 little toys for 20 baht each, which is about 80 cents... these we will use to bribe the children who have never even seen a dentist before. We enjoyed buying the little gifts:) After that we headed out for dinner and had some interesting thai curries, chili loaded! Had dinner with a young couple from Gold Coast who are only 19 yrs old and taking a year off Uni to do some volunteer work ... read more
We have spent 2 days in Chiangmai. Yesterday was our adventure day. Norli and I went on an elephant safari, bamboo rafting (they forgot to tell us we would need our togs!) and we went to a waterfall. Lisa and Abbey went on a jungle flying fox adventure. They showed me the photos and I was freaked out just looking at them. They were at the top of the jungle flying from tree to tree like superwoman!! TOday we are travelling to Maesot where we will be based for the next week doing our dental work. Looking forward to seeing a new part of Thailand and meeting more beautiful people. The Thai people are truly lovely and gentle people..... except when you don't buy their stuff at the night market........ Having so much fun thanks for ... read more
departed Brisbane yesterday at 2pm and 12 hours later arrived in chaingmai. straight to hotel and to bed! had a lovely day today with Kylie, Abbey and Norli. Took a tuktuk around town for an hour, organised shirts to be made for Matthew and went to the gem factory. I managed to control my spending impulse. off to dinner tonight with ian and his wife, and then preparing for trip to Mae Sot and the refugee camp. We are all well and healthy, abbey slightly suffering from sinus attack on the plane. love to everyonexxxxx... read more
Dental Clinic
Dear Family and Friends I am starting up my blog again before we leave for Maela Refugee Camp on the border of Thailand and Burma. This time I will be travelling with my 15 year old daughter Abbey Lindley, my colleague Kylie Martin from Sunshine Coast Childrens Development Centre, and also Dr Norli, a dentist from Cairns. We will leave on Wednesday 18th August and fly to Bangkok, and straight through to Chiangmai. The goal of this trip is to offer dental care to the refugee children in Maela Refugee camp, which is about 6 hours west of Chiangmai. We will be based in Maela and travel up to the refugee camp every day. Ian Aitcheson from Effective Aid International will be our guide. My role is to co-ordinate the team and to organise the dental ... read more
