Why We Do What We Do
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2008
1
13
42
Trip End
Jan 16, 2009
Fairbanks,
Alaska,
United States
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Partners Relief Aid & Development is a non-profit organization based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The organization was founded in 1996 by Steve & Oddney Gumaer for the purpose of offering aid and assistance to refugees and displaced peoples. The couple had met Burmese refugees face-to-face during a backpacking trip in Thailand, and were strongly motivated to do whatever they could to improve the lives of the refugees. They began by fully supporting a refugee child --- which cost only $30 per year! Their contribution provided food, medicine, and education for the child. One child turned into two, and then Steve began asking friends and family to support a child, also. Today, Steve & Oddney have been joined by many partners all around the world to enable Partners to support orphanages and schools in several villages and refugee camps, as well as funds agricultural, livestock, and weaving projects to assist the refugees in ways to support themselves. Partners also aids the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP's) caught in the midst of war inside Burma. Steve & Oddney reside in Chiang Mai, Thailand with their three daughers: Elise, Noel, and Kristen, and continue to actively administer the staff and operations of Partners.
Flexible and well-prepared short-term volunteer teams can be of great assistance to Partners with such things as building projects, medical clinics, and teaching programs, just to name a few. The teams can cut weeks of time from a building project for the Partners staff, offer professional medical training and treatment to villagers and camps, or bring some fun to orphans with a Vacation Bible School (VBS) program.
Both the team and the staff gain in forming relationships and working alongside each other. In addition, the team will gain a broader 'world view' while being engulfed in a new culture. The team will also learn first-hand a new definition of faith through their personal and corporate experiences. Each individual will experience a life-changing adventure, and, often, the experience of the trip itself will be used by God as a stepping-stone for the next plan that God has in mind for their life.
It is our heartfelt desire for each Alaska Team to be a blessing to the staff of Partners, as well as to the refugees and villagers we are priviledged to encounter.
