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Random Musings

.social media fund raising*
by joycekim
August 6th, 2008

UPDATE:  Thanks so much to the following donors so far! You guys are quick!

those of you who follow me on twitter, facebook or this blog know that i spent a good part of july on the thailand/burma border volunteering at an orphanage there that is home to many burmese refugee children and abandoned thai children.

i was expecting some pretty tough conditions there - after all, it is an orphanage. i spent my time teaching the children english, learning about their lives and wishing there was a functioning toilet (!) :) the time flew by faster than i expected. and on my last days there, i spent a lot of time wondering and worrying about their futures.  they are in a tough situation - undocumented in thailand, limited access to schooling and medical care, lack of enough indoor space for the children to sleep comfortably.  but if the children had not found a place in this home, then they could have likely ended up in sweatshops in thailand or the sex trade for some of the young girls. if they were sent back to burma, they could be killed or used as child land mine sweepers - a disgusting practice.

my experiences motivated me to commit myself to running my own fund raising campaign.  they are applying for grants for some of the educational and health programs which are potentially fundable. however most foundations will not fund capital campaigns - which means no money for building buildings and the kids are sleeping on the ground, all crowded together.

so here is my plan: i am going to use all my social media and social networking tools to raise $10,000. this money will be used for the expansion of their building.  i will be using facebook, twitter, google groups, wordpress, digg, etc to see if i can reach this goal.  here are my flickr pics from my trip if you want to see.

i have rebuilt their website on wordpress (so they can update it themselves) and rejiggered their paypal to they can give US donors charitable donation receipts - (side note: it was fun building my first website - if you see major mistakes, let me know). and now its ready for all the amazing donations that all you lovely web 2.0 people are about to send over!

DONATE TO BAAN DADA HERE!


i will regularly post updates on donations and donors here. so come on, be charitable and take a moment to give to some really great kids that really need our help. thank you!

List of Awesome People who Donated - Thank you so much!

8/7: We are at $2000 raised thus far! Amazing!

8/8: wowie, wowie:) $4222 as of today!

8/11: gosh, i really love you guys, i really do.  we are at $6300.

8/14: the grand total now stands at $6542:)  over 65% of the way to the goal in 1 week!!!

8/20: we are now at $7872! and i spoke with the folks at Baan Dada, they already bought bricks with the first batch of money sent over:) real bricks! not the mud ones that they used to make by hand and use for walls.  just over $2000 more dollars to go!

8/24: Yay! Over $1000 came in this week in donations. Total now stands at $8972. woot!

.off i fly*
by joycekim
July 9th, 2008

itinerary for the next few weeks.

Today - depart from LAX and fly to Bangkok (via layover in Taipei - nihao!)

2 days in Bangkok, showing my sisters around, saying hi to school friends, visiting amazing buddhist temples.

July 13 - bus to Kanchanaburi Provence, Sangkhlaburi will be the nearest town to Baan Dada, where we will be volunteering for 1 week. i will try to post as much as possible from there.

July 20 - bus back to Bangkok, then plane to Siem Reap where we will be checking out Angkor Wat for 2 days (i am SO ready to get all tomb raider out there;)

July 22 - head to Phnom Phen where we will check out some more historical sites (such as the Killing Fields museum) and we will be visiting a human trafficking victims’ shelter and colleagues of family friend Aaron Cohen aka “the slave hunter” (amazing human rights activist).

July 24 - back to the US.

Phew, that is an action packed schedule.

.going to baan dada*
by joycekim
June 20th, 2008

next month i will be heading to the burma/thailand border with my sisters to go volunteer at an orphanage.  baan dada is a small orphanage that houses a little over 50 children.  you can read more about them on their website and in the blogs of some past volunteers - here and here. many of the children at this particular orphanage are not ethnically thai. they are of the karen ethinic group, which is a minority group in burma.  the karen people fled political persecution in burma and now live in refugee camps on the thai side of the burma-thai border.  these children are not considered thai citizens and are not given full legal rights in thailand - as one of the bloggers above put it, they are “invisible.”

since i have not yet been there, i cannot speak specifically to the current state. but reading about other volunteers’ experiences scattered across so many personal blogs and websites, i am able to get a good sense of the community they have built and the good work they are doing.  while i am there, i think we will be helping care for the kids, teach some english and art classes, help with smaller building projects, etc.

i will try to keep everyone updated on my journey and experiences out there. i am trying to organize some supplies for the trip - the dada who runs the home has asked for money for supplies for the kids (supplies are cheaper for them to buy in thailand), medical supplies and computers.  i told him computers i can definitely help with!  if anyone wants to donate to these kids, or maybe has a connection at a big computer hardware company (dell, you out there?!?!?!), then please contact me. i would be happy to bring things over there.