Can't get there without a visa stamp! I will visit Bangladesh and five countries in SE Asia.
I am not sure what to expect with this trip across SE Asia. Six countries in almost as many weeks. And I’m visiting countries with strict restrictions. Who knows, I may be stranded in Bangkok instead of visiting projects! My goal: to try and relax and make the most out of each day.
I’m documenting World Concern’s humanitarian activities with video and photos, finding stories to help prove the value of our work. I’ll also be conducting some educational communication seminars to help the local staff.
I’ll be in some far flung places. Jungle villages with no electricity. Cyclone disaster zones. The leader of World Concern Asia said that if I am ever offered bugs by villagers, I should eat them and be gracious. I couldn’t resist bringing a bag of Clif bars, though.
The journey should last for 40 days. Sounds Biblical. Like the rain before the flood. I think God used that figure because it sounds like a long time, but not too long to where you’d go bonkers. I don’t know, though. I just left a beautiful wife and three-month-old daughter in Seattle. I already miss my baby hugging my neck.
The video monitor here on the seatback of this Boeing 777 shows that we are approaching the Sea of Okhotsk. Another few hours before Tokyo, then a connection to Bangkok. In the morning, I’ll be off to obtain a Myanmar visa. Later in the trip, I will document our child protection programs in Cambodia. I’ve been thinking a lot about human trafficking recently. I look forward to seeing what we are actually doing to stop it.
So join me over the next month or so. I look forward to showing you why World Concern makes it its mission to reach those who might otherwise be forgotten.
I was in Tokyo for three hours, long enough to check out this sweet drink in a vending machine. I presume it tastes like a strawberry flavored bird.
In Tokyo's Narita airport. This is the plane I took from to Bangkok to begin this humanitarian journey.
What time is it? It's about noon in Seattle, but the middle of the night in Bangkok, where I have checked into my room.
Hey, Jan says to try the street food. It will make you sick but it’s the best. Honestly, that’s what she said!
Wow. That sounds inviting. I will set aside a night to get sick and enjoy!
I am currently working on a research paper that talks about foriegn aid. I am very aware that America helps the world. Who helps the US? Who, which countries, participate in World Concern? In my readings of your website, I can not seem to find where the aid is coming from exactly. I understand what America stands for and I am proud to be an American. I would just really like to understand why it seems that we (America) help America and no other countries seem to aid us. Please prove me wrong and show me where aid comes from. Thank
you for your precious time. I am concerned about this World problem and I also need the information to write my paper, which if I am lucky and write well enough, may help continue aid to ALL countries.