Karen at Hua Hin still need a lot of medical attention

Now that we had somewhat strengthened the internal and educational people of the Karen children in the village of Pakayor, it was time for the medical side.

About 400 Karen refugees live in Pakayor, a stone's throw from the Burmese border, of which an estimated 60 are children under the age of six. The question was: what kind of health problems do these children have?

There is only one possible answer to this: we must examine it on site by a 'medical clinic'. We had no idea how many parents and their children would report on Saturday 25 February. By 'we' I mean: retired accountant Hans Goudriaan, Lions member Rudi Jansen and author of this. We found a former Amsterdam general practitioner, living in Cha Am, willing to examine the children. For understandable reasons, he prefers not to be called by name. Ultimately, Thai authorities are not so happy with aid to the Karen. The doctor was assisted by a French chiropractor, Emma Wigglesworth (director/nurse of the British Education Center in Hua Hin) and some volunteers from the Australian NGO Connect3e (.org, a nice website). Connect targets the Karen Thailand supported by 'Embrace, Educate and Empower'.

Hans Goudriaan had bought some large bags of medicines, as well as items such as mosquito nets and bandages, with money donated by the Lions Club IJsselmonde and the readers of Thailandblog last year. After all, you never know what to expect. And because children and aid workers are also hungry, we brought 120 trays of fried rice. Both the medicines and the rice went in like a cake. The doctor identified one case of malaria and one serious eye condition in a mother. These cases were referred to a hospital. Furthermore, the expected cases of diarrhea, cough, fungal infections and worms. The children also received information about washing hands, taking a bath and brushing their teeth. A young interpreter made sure that the aid workers understood the Karen and vice versa.

Then the party went to a Karen village that was much deeper in the jungle: Pala U Noi. Again we had to cross a small river three times and down an extremely bad path (where I lost a mudguard). Pala U Noi is a collection of shabby huts. From the surrounding jungle, mothers and their children flocked to the hut church where the Amsterdam doctor and Emma held consultation hours. Of course there was no question of any privacy, but there was no need for that either.

It is clear that this village needs our help even more than Pakayor, which is already quite self-sufficient. Here were women in their early twenties who had already given birth to four or five children. Sex education and the availability of contraceptives and the pill are a prerequisite here.

Emma cs had brought a few packs of used children's clothes. There, beaming children proudly went home afterwards. Despite the difficult accessibility, we hope to alleviate the needs of the Karen here in the coming months.

In the Netherlands you can transfer donations to the bank account of the Lions club IJsselmonde, ING 66.91.23.714 stating Karen Hua Hin. Hans Goudriaan is a member of the audit committee and therefore has a good overview of income and expenditure.
In Thailand please send your contribution to: Siam Commercial Bank Hua Hin account 402-318813-2 in the name of mr Johannes Goudriaan (local Thai bath account).

Donors are requested to mail their transfer to Hans Goudriaan ([email protected]) and to which account, after which (immediately after money has been credited) he will confirm your deposit. Unfortunately, it is not possible to open an account in the name of Lions in Thailand.