I have to be careful about the photos and videos I post. If I can include them in pictures I share online, I have to use obscure angles or blurs.

I’m even more selective about the volunteers who can participate in our work in Bangkok.

And I can’t let them speak for themselves, no matter how loveable and articulate they are.

Are they still worth helping?

Yes, just like Ryan who now lives in the US, they have dreams of one day not living in fear.

Dreams of being able to play outside, study in regular schools and of being reunited with family members who have been imprisoned as they fled for safety.

Help me, help them by deciding to sponsor a family’s monthly food and rent needs.

-Dwight

The same is true of the things we decide to give our time, money and energy to no matter how worthwhile.

As much as I love working with kids and families, when the emails pile up and the donations don’t seem to be coming in, fatigue sets in. I’m fortunate that it’s a holiday weekend in Thailand and to take advantage of not having Saturday school today, I’m relaxing and playing catch up on the week’s work.

It’s important to take a time a remember what’s important. Today I’m doing just that with photos of one our resent Saturday School sessions taken by volunteer photographer Kim Wied (more photos available on our In Search of Sanuk facebook page).

Being taught by the high school volunteer students of KIS International School.

Inevitably laughter erupts. Sanuk ensues.

“Let’s celebrate, learning time is over and we can play!”

But faithful volunteers make sure the learning continues in small ways, despite the change in environment.

Exchange of critical hula hoop theory between volunteers and kids.

Of course, there’s a few naturals in the crowd and many big smiles.

Be inspired to build bonds with people in need and reflect on what’s most important this weekend!

-Dwight

She receives about $70 each month to help her survive living in Bangkok. She’s unable to work and often struggles with finding a sense of purpose while she bides her time waiting to hear back from the UN.

“One year, nine months exactly,” she startles me with her accuracy when I ask how long she’s been in the country.

“…still waiting…”

She pauses and looks thoughtfully and confesses, “I don’t have internet and I can’t email you always to say thank you.”

She goes on to say how much the support we give means to her. She sounds especially upbeat because we were able to give her and extra $30 this month.

“That was a big help,” she grins.

Since I can’t share her smile, I most certainly want to pass on her gratitude to everyone following our project.

This month a few families received an extra gift after we received a special $746 donation from the International Church of Bangkok.

It’s also notable that we experienced more people giving online in April than any other month this year. Thank you and don’t forget we’re still on the lookout for people or groups who want to sponsor families.

-Dwight

Many of our recent volunteers have been funneled into a culture exchange activity on the outskirts of Bangkok. Instead of only teaching English, the volunteers exchange instruction in English for lessons from the community in Thai language, dance and sports.

Enjoy the photos below, remember you can see more on the In Search of Sanuk facebook page.

Volunteering can be intimidating…

Volunteering can be dangerous…

So it helps to have someone to show you the way…

Teach you a little…

Or better yet, just give you a ride…

Until you learn to dance together…

And long to meet again!

This week I’ve been restructuring our volunteer  program, so I’m able to focus my efforts on finding sponsors for the other half of the thirteen families we support. The changes include hiring help and implementing a some fees to help cover costs. If you’re volunteering with us in Bangkok or planning to, read the new guidelines for participation on our volunteer page.

Also happy to report a good time with the kids from Saturday school this weekend. They joined their high school mentors for a few hours of crafts, video games and pizza! Next week, we’re back on track with English classes, so this was a good way to get the kids excited about being a part of the project after a long break.

More to share soon on the families we’re helping and our most recent volunteering endeavor to do some language and culture exchange with handicapped kids on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Tired this week, but lots of goals in sight. Let’s keep running towards the goals we’ve outlined this year until they’re conquered!

-Dwight

Our biggest need at the moment is for sponsorship for our families. So in addition to the above graphic I want to provide some of the stories we’ve collected from families we’re helping. Here’s a little about the families of Sakina and Ping:

Sakina

If you remember January’s Children’s Day Celebration, we were presented with ten families from the Yommorat community. We wanted to help them all, but didn’t have the budget for gifts for everyone. We ended up giving food vouchers to seven families and decided we would help the remaining three neediest families with support all year.

This week we spent some time following up with those families as we promised. This is where we visited 8 year old Sakina’s home for the first time. Sakina lives with her grandparents at one of the houses in the railroad community. Both her grandparents are working at places nearby to help support their family’s income. Sakina is a sweet little girl who is quite shy and doesn’t talk very much. In the past she didn’t talk at all and now she still has a difficulty communicating with others. She goes to a public school with the help of her uncle, who takes her to school everyday. Her house, like most of the other houses nearby, is a one room house made out of what looks like random materials they were able to find. The family is trying their best to provide a good life for her but they still needed some help and support.

Ping & Yai

In addition to Sakina’s family we also visited with a family of young boy named Ping. Ping and his family stand out most because of his poor health and the kindness of another family who has been helping his. Ping, who has polio and down syndrome, is only three years old and can’t speak. His family is being cared for by a woman they refer to as ‘Yai’ or grandmother. Yai isn’t a wealthy person, she has a limited income but she would gladly give everything she has to provide help for this family. She helps looking after the children (Ping has five healthy brothers and sisters), providing them with food and anything she can, but they are all struggling daily with basic needs.

Sponsor Any Amount & New Buttons

At the moment we’re helping twelve families, but the number is sure to be higher in April. These are just two of the families we visited this past week, and they are two of the neediest cases.

Remember we’ve added new buttons to the donation page to give in small increments monthly through Paypal or you can designate any tax deductible amount if you give through 100 Friends. We’ll share more about other families we’re helping in each fundraising report. Thanks for your support.

-Dwight

March is going to be a busy month. A few days in and it’s already kicking my butt!

We’re relaunching our Saturday School this month and everyone’s excited to get going again.

In addition, we’ll also be doing a pilot project in a small community outside of Bangkok. For this project I’m organizing a cultural exchange with a small group of volunteers at the Wai Pricha Leaning Center which serves the handicapped and disabled adults and children in the area.

If our small team of volunteers does well we’ll increase the number of helpers. Our volunteering to do some fun in the community will be a launchpad into other ways to help. This includes getting one elderly woman a real toilet because hers washed away in the recent flooding!

Finally, I want to highlight one of last year’s most impactful volunteers, Shimona.

I try to encourage people to help however they can, no matter where they are. Shimona, who lives in Singapore, embodies this idea used her singing ability to raise money to give us a big boost last year.

Shimona released a Christmas album and sold so many real and digital copies that she was able to raise funds to sponsor half of our families for several months in 2011. This year she’s released another album and again a portion of her sales will go towards helping families here in Bangkok (you can play the sample above or find out more HERE).

So here’s another way to give by purchasing her album, but most importantly I hope this inspires you to find your own unique way to participate in what we’re doing.

-Dwight

In the best case scenarios, applying with the UNHCR in a place like Bangkok can take two years.

For most it takes longer and they live in fear of arrest, unable to work to support themselves.

Ryan, the subject of today’s video interview, and his family were in transit in Bangkok for five years.

WATCH: Interview with Ryan in L.A.

“People can’t just simply disappear…”

Only half of the families we support are currently sponsored.

Consider giving a regular donation to sponsor a family and share this message to spread the word about our work.

Together we can make sure more families like Ryan’s have a chance to start again.

-Dwight

PS – Thanks to Newsong, both in LA & Bangkok for their hard work putting this video together.

Dangerous Idea: Reunite these girls with their dad who has been unjustly jailed for three years..

A world away from a place, but given the opportunity to be a small part of something long lasting there.

Hopeless to provide for your family, yet never abandoned by an unorthodox crew of supporters.

Wrongly jailed and indefinitely separated from your family, only to be mysteriously freed three years later.

I can already envision the fruition of the goals we’ve identified for this year.

Each goal seems out of reach, but I’m confident only momentarily.

[See last week's FUN-raising Report & Three Ambitious Goals for 2012]

When you distill your ideas long enough to find ways for them to become attainable, you’re dangerous.

There’s no shortage of thinker or doers. The combination of the two traits, however, is still novel— still dangerous.

So while everyone else is sitting on their hands, take the steps to make your ideas to improve your community reality.

From teaching skills to culinary mastery, to being gifted with a beautiful voice— I’m relying on the help of a community of people ready help enact dangerous ideas this year.

Join us.

-Dwight

BUT There’s plenty more to do!

Here’s our February FUN-raising update and three ambitious goals I need your help to accomplish this year:

I need your support to:

1) Increase Online Giving

We’ve added some stats to the bottom of this month’s report to tell you more about what we’re doing. In addition to keeping everyone informed about how the project is going with this report, I’m also hoping to draw attention to opportunities to the strengthen our project with regular giving.

To do this I’ve added the following two buttons to the donation page and hoping we can enlist the help of at least 9 more people who’ll commit to regular giving:

In addition to giving, to accomplish this goal I’ll need your help sharing our updates and suggesting our project to others in your social circles.

Challenge friends, family, or classmates to match your giving, this could make a big difference!

*Note: I know our 100 Friends giving link is down at the moment and we hope to have it back up soon.

2) Support MORE Families

Building our base of regular supporters will allow us to reach more families. This includes families, like the three neediest from the Yommarat Community who care for kids who have been abandoned or suffer from chronic health issues.

Support for families also means:

• Rent stipends for the most vulnerable families.
• Food assistance to make sure there’s enough to eat.
• Sponsoring transportation fees so children with no access to education can study.
• Livelihood projects where we give a skill or request a service from a family.
• Miscellaneous needs, for example, the 4,800 sanitary pads we had delivered to the Jesuit Refugee Service in 2011 for hundreds of refugee women.

Together we should aim to be assisting 15 families by mid year and secure sponsorship for at least 75% of them.

3) Reunite the Broken

Our most ambitious goal is to put families back together who have been torn apart by the Immigration Detention Center and Thailand’s blatant disregard of international laws protecting refugees.

To do this we’ll need to raise money to bail out family members who have been detained. This is no small task because the minimum bail is $1,600 per person. I’m not sure exactly, how this will happen— still that’s no obstacle for dreaming up plans to stop the tears of husbands, wives and children who have been separated form each other for too long.

Thanks for dreaming big and striving for ambitious goals with me this year,

-Dwight