Australia - Tennis, wild life and wild friends

We had a great time in Melbourne, Australia. We went to the Australian Open for 3 HOT days and saw lots of great tennis. We were also fortunate to be able to attend the 50 day memorial ceremony for our good friend Peter Swan who died of a heart attack about 2 months ago. We rented a car for 2 days and drove along The Great Ocean Road where it was surprisingly cool and VERY windy. The scenery along the way was beautiful - rocky coasts and sandy beaches - while inland it was rolling country, reminding us of England, with some beautiful wooded forests. We took a canopy walk among the very, very tall trees. We spent the rest of our time with our friends, Maeve and John, who drove us north of Melbourne to their country home. It was great to reunite with Saul, Maeve and Peter's son, who was 8-10 when we knew him in Bangkok. Saul is now 38 (he must be lying about his age) and has a son, Aguirre, who is almost the same age as when we first met Saul! We spent 3 fun days with them, reminiscing about "the good old days", but also connecting in new ways.





Australian Open Video snapshots


We had great seats at the Open, in the 1st-3rd rows back from court side, but they were in the sun, so we roasted until 4pm. The temperatures were in the high 90s but it felt like boiling! We became really good at covering ourselves with towels, umbrellas, and even newspapers! In some ways the most fun was wandering around and seeing players warm up and or just walk by. Sometimes we would see a player that we knew we had seen on TV but they looked really different in "real" life.

We are now back in Chiang Mai until March 2nd and are furiously trying to tie up loose ends. One of the projects we wanted to accomplish was to put household Bio Sand Filter in the villagers' homes so they can have access to clean/free drinking water. Most water comes from mountain springs which are polluted. Anyway, this project has taken off, mainly because of funding received from Kids Ark-USA, and I am going to Ban Pong Hi this week-end to train the villagers in the manufacture of the filters. These filters have been used throughout the world but this is the first time in Thailand. We also had a brochure translated by a friend into Thai to explain how it works. Here is the English version:


There were some disappointments during our short time here, and of course still many items on our "to do list". Our friend, Peg Lopata, had volunteered to come and do the first newsletter but due to many factors had to cancel her trip. We were also unable, so far, to only get sponsors for 5 children out of 10. I guess considering the economic situation that is not a bad result. However, if any of you know someone who can spare $1+ per day please let us know. Another project still unfinished is to put the villagers' handicrafts on the website so that people have an opportunity to buy them.

On a positive note, Kids Ark USA has been established. We have applied for 501c3 status and have already received some donations which have been used to fund several modest projects. One of them is the Bio-Sand household water filter which was mentioned earlier. Another one is teaching women in some villages how to sew. Earlier this year Kids Ark was awarded money to buy sewing machines for some villages that we work with, and subsequently the villagers requested more training for the women. KA-USA was able to contribute to that training which is still on-going. Resa, who is in charge of handicrafts, spent 2 weeks in one village training 6-8 women, and will train women in 2 more villages. KA-USA also contributed to buying school uniforms for some under privileged children. The great thing about Kids Ark sewing projects is that our cloth is donated by several large factories and then women in the HIV/Aids cooperative are able to supplement their income by sewing the uniforms. Donations to Kids Ark USA can be sent to PO BOX 291, Peterborough, NH 03458.

We have been quite slack with the blog because we have been so busy at work, but also with travels and visitors, whom we enjoy seeing - so next year we will try harder - maybe?

Tom and Bev