By Don Hardy and Rebecca Hill

After serving as volunteers at this mission hospital on the Thai/Burma border, and coming to understand the tremendous medical needs there -- needs amplified greatly by the brutal destruction of tribal minority peoples at the hands of Burma's military dictatorship -- we feel that more people need to be aware of this facility and the situation it faces.

Working in the jungles of Thailand nearly 23 years until his return to America in late June 2002, Dr. Phil McDaniel is a third generation American doctor who dedicated much of his life to providing greatly needed medical care. Following in his footsteps, other American doctors, along with Thai Doctors Sakda Nedek (“Dr. Sakda”) and Anchalee Tanthawiwat, treat people afflicted with the world's most resistant strains of malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, AIDS and all manner of routine illnesses and injuries -- and causalities of the Burmese civil war just a few miles away. They do this with little money and extremely limited medical equipment, lacking even general anesthesia. Practicing medicine under these circumstances is a challenge.

We knew nothing of this tiny medical outpost in the jungle when the Expedition arrived in Thailand. We quickly came to realize the magnitude of suffering and the many lives dependent on this facility. We felt compelled to become involved.

With our own money and funds collected from sympathetic friends, we delivered blankets, clothing and related items to people in tiny jungle villages, many of whom have never received medical care. Later, we provided funding for the first ever isolation ward in the hospital, in order to protect staff and other patients from the many cases of highly contagious TB and other diseases.

Then in late 2000 we sent the following e-mail.

Dear Family and Friends:

If you have been following our website, you know we have been spending time with orphans and families along the Thai/Burma border. Many of them have fled the violence and turmoil in Burma (officially called Myanmar) and are now struggling for survival in the mountainous jungles along the indistinct border.

Since visiting with children and adults suffering from malaria, land mine wounds, TB, and even leprosy, we have sought the most effective and appropriate ways to help these innocent victims of circumstance. We have been traveling throughout Thailand, seeking the best prices for blankets, mosquito netting, used clothing and other basics for these people who have almost nothing. We are doing this with every penny we can spare, and hope that others will choose to help.

Before asking your support of these facilities and programs, we needed to be convinced that one hundred percent of all donations contributed would be spent wisely to help the most needy, with no bureaucratic overhead. That is indeed the case -- for Americans, all contributions are federally tax deductible.

If you'd like to make a donation, send your check in any amount made payable to: International Ministries, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19481-0851. It's important that you write in the memo section of your check "For Kwai River Christian Hospital Only," to assure that your funds are forwarded only to this facility.