Jay and Jena Vee Smith: Trip to Thailand

We have finished our first visit to a country where humanitarian missionaries serve that have been assigned to us as area welfare specialists. Our specialists in Thailand are Elder Ray and Sister Judy Caldwell. They are most recently from Snowflake, Arizona, but have travelled throughout the world when Elder Caldwell worked for the Canadian Government. This is also their third mission for the Church having served in Mozambique (first couple missionaries to that country) and in Tel Aviv, Palestine as the

Branch President for the Church. They have been in Thailand since November. They were very gracious hosts as we met with them over a five day period. Our purpose was to help them with the paper work that is required on huminatarian projects. There are two types of projects. (1) Major Initiatives that include Clean Water, Neonatal Resuscitation, Vision, and Wheelchairs, and (2) smaller Area Initiatives that meet local needs to relieve the poor and needy near branchces of the Church. These include projects such as quilts for orphanages and new babies, equipment for disabled training schools, playground equipment for handicapped schools, hygiene and sanitation refurbishing etc. These projects are all partnered with local organizations that help provide sustainability and involve the recipients in activities to better utilize the equipment and materials being furnished and to make them more self reliant. The big project in Thailand is bringing clean water to 29 villages in northeastern Thailand near the Myanmar border. These villages are very remote, but consist of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. In the dry season, they have little water and in the wet season the water is often polluted. The project will bring the water from streams and springs by gravity-flow pipes into the villages, especially to the schools. Restrooms will also be built at the schools to accompany the clean water. The Royalty of Thailand under the Princess Charities is a partner on these projects. Local contractors and students from an engineering school in the area will do the work.

Thailand was formerly known as Siam, and we all became somewhat acquainted with the country through the movie, "The King and I". 95% of the citizens are Buddists in religion, and thousands of wats, or temples, are found throughout the country. Our trip was limited this time to Bangkok, the capitol. The projects are over a days drive away. There are fewer buses here than in Hong Kong, but lots of taxis and motorcycles. Traffic jams are common. We spent most of our training time at the Church Service Center Building that also houses the Thailand LDS Mission. We stayed at the Amari Watergate Hotel, a very nice hotel in the center of Bangkok. We had a 30-45 minute taxi ride to the center each day.