Toys For Thailand

Dear Friends,

Toys for Thailand is one of the charities that Imo and contribute to. It really makes your heart feel good when you realize that we had a small part in this ceremony so far away. We have purchased bikes for the orphan children from the Tsunami of 2004. For $50.00 you can purchase a bike and then children can work as that is their means of transportation. If you are interested we can put you in touch with our good friend Sasha Bilar. Sasha is a dear friend who lives close to us but spends every Christmas in Thailand helping to build schools that are desperately need. This year we helped her raise funds to build toilets and purchase new beds for the boys at the orphanage and that is one of the things she is doing this year.

Below is an email we just received about their Holiday trip. I hope to join Sasha in the new future on one of her trips to see the children.

FORWARD FROM SASHA:

Sasha asked me to pass along Greetings from Chiangmai, Sawadee and
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays are filled with love and sharing.
Sasha, Roselle and I just returned from a unbelievable trip to Mae
Hong Song MHS, where we spent Christmas and Christmas Eve with the
invisible Daoyai tribal children at the isolated school on the border of
Burma. It took 30 minutes to fly to MHS, and 45 minutes to drive to the
school, nestled high in the beautiful national geographic quality
mountains of MHS, called the Summit of Serenity.

The children were so excited to see us, they held up banners saying things like, Thank you
for your donates. Thank you for your kindness. Welcome. Bon Voyage.
Everything they could think of in English. We were treated like royalty
and shown around the school which we had helped with a substantial
donation in 2007.

Sasha asked them what they appreciated most from our past donation
and they all pointed to the water purification system that we
purchased for them. The headmaster was so gracious showing us the
organic vegetable garden that they were growing with the gardening
supplies we purchased them. It was so wonderful to see that our
donations made a difference! We bought blankets, jackets and medicine
this trip. On Christmas day we purchased a special meal for the children
consisting of chicken and other dishes, following by cake, which for
many of the children, they never had cake before.

We personally served the cake and the smiles on the children's faces was priceless, they were
so happy to get a little square of sugar and floor topped with white
frosting and a red cherry. There are no ovens at the school just open
fires for cooking, and no budget for the luxury of cake.

The kids next performed their tribal dances, did some skits and gave
us so much acknowledgement for the party we had sponsored for them.
They had a big bon fire (yes, the party was outdoors)and after the cake
and entertainment, we light 20 lanterns and sent them up to the heavens
with the children's wishes for the new year. There was a gift exchange
(each children had 12 baht which is less than 50 cents) to buy a gift,
teachers had $1. Sasha, Roselle and I also brought gifts for the
exchange. Needless to say, our gifts were a bit higher than their range
so three lucky students got our nicer gifts, goody bags of art supplies,
hat and gloves, shampoo. The evening ended with all of us dancing and
waving our arms in the air, happy to celebrate Christmas in a magical
place with the sweetest, most appreciative children. I will never
forget the JOY and the happiness that was shared on Christmas 2008 with
the Daiyai children, in the far away school outside Mae Hong Song.

Maria Miller- Toys for Thailand Group