By Katrina Wertz | Project Assistant
Dear GlobalGivers,
Greetings on behalf of our friends in Thailand! Your generosity to the Thailand Flood Relief Fund has gone a long ways on the ground! Though the rebuilding process is strenuous, your donations have been giving the flood victims essential resources. “For so many centuries, the exchange of gifts has held us together. It has made it possible to bridge the abyss where language struggles,” writes author Barry Lopez. This truth about international compassion epitomizes the difference you are making. The following is an update on both of our flood relief partner organizations!
Foundation for Life
This past winter, our partner Foundation for Life (FFL) noticed a new need: many of those affected by the flood lived in Northern areas that were about to be plunged into exceptionally cold temperatures and the people were not prepared. Foundation for Life therefore piloted a new goal of producing 600 knitted caps for these needy survivors of the flood. Volunteers spanning from kidney dialysis hospital patients to business professionals set to work knitting woolen caps and even fashioned their own knitting needles, which were made from chopsticks. All of this hard work culminated in surpassing the goal of 600 caps! You helped make this happen!
Dried foodstuffs, medicine, and clean drinking water were also main focuses of FFL’s resources that they made available to the evacuees who were streaming in from the flood-destroyed areas. Volunteers continued to stretch themselves to the max and even played with the children and took care of agitated dogs!
Aid also began the forward-thinking transition into the rebuilding and development stage, a crucial and important step. Youth were taught how to make biodegradable detergents to help rehabilitate the ruined rice fields, and the Foundation helped facilitate data gathering between the flood victims and researchers, who were seeking to find out how the disaster was responded to and what sources help came from. This initiative will provide valuable information for disaster relief efforts in the future.
DARE Network (Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Network)
The DARE Network (Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Network), another partner in the flood relief efforts, comes to us with some exciting and promising news on the Thai-Burmese border… they were able to rebuild their DARE Centres that were destroyed by the flood! This is a vital victory because unsteady situations in Burma indicate that the Burmese refugees need to remain in Thailand for an extended amount of time, and now they have the DARE Centres available to them as resources.
In 2012 alone, over 25,000 people participated in addiction prevention education and treatment programs at DARE Centres! Of the 1,100+ refugees who were treated, the non-relapse rate was a high success of 61.3%. These efforts are positive and staggering, GlobalGivers, because the bordering government of Burma is one of the largest producers of opium, heroin, and methamphetamines in the world and often traps the refugees into becoming substance-dependent. The onset of 2011’s terrible flood only encouraged abusive substances as a coping mechanism. Such work being done by DARE is an infusion of hope and promise for the future for each of these refugees.
As an individual devastated by a flood, someone may feel at a loss when they think about the future. But your involvement in this rebuilding effort in Thailand has changed that. Someone is now no longer addicted to abusive substances, thanks to your contribution. Someone is sitting in a refugee camp, yet they are warm because of the comforting wool of the hat you purchased for them. These things are not small contributions; they are huge in making our Thai and Burmese friends feel like they have a family that cares about them… even nations away.
By Carly Anderson | GlobalGiving Staff Intern
By Mattie Ressler | GlobalGiving Staff
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When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
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