Congratulations!

If you've come this far, you are interested in knowing what the volunteers with Refugee Relief International accomplish, and perhaps, joining us.

Welcome.

When people ask me how I became associated with this organization, I say "I donated a hospital." (Actually, I persuaded the City of Santa Clara, California, to donate it.)

There I was, in the summer of 1986, a member of the Santa Clara Fire Department, in search of a building to burn down-for training purposes. I found an 'abandoned' city building that fit the bill, and it happened to house a 1950's-era Civil Defense Hospital Unit, complete with an x-ray machine, orthopedic and surgical supplies, anesthetic gases and oxygen bottles, tape and bandages, all of which had to be removed before we set fire to the building. The City Director of Emergency Services said the CD Unit was too outdated to be of use, so I recommended they be donated to an organization I had heard good comments about: Refugee Relief International. Fine, said the Director "You make the arrangements." And so began a lasting relationship with some of the finest humanitarians I know.

Moving that Civil Defense Hospital Unit is a story in itself, but that isn't why I am writing thisÖI am going to tell you about a Refugee Relief International mission I accompanied to Cambodia and Thailand in 1996.

In March of 1996, I was assigned as the logistics manager for a relief mission. As a former Air Force Medical Service Specialist/ICU, I knew my medical supplies and procedures, and prior to my military service, I'd been a warehouseman, so it was a natural fit. I boxed, packed, weighed, re-packed, loaded, unloaded, dispersed, and kept track of the medical/surgical supplies for a three week, five-person mission to treat the sick and injured at a hospital in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and ethnic Karen refugees in western Thailand, We launched out of San Francisco Airport, enduring a long, long flight to Hong Kong, and then a fairly short hop to Bangkok. If you've never been to South East Asia, many travelers comment the first thing you notice it the heat

True, very true.

But, you also notice the sounds, sights, and smells, all combining to convince you very quickly that this is a strange, exciting and exotic land.

Moving those heavy boxes, combined with a lack of sleep and improper fluid intake in the humid tropical heat quickly caught up with meÖI remember someone saying if I didn't drink a liter of water in one minute, there'd be an IV in my arm in two minutes! I recovered from my heat exhaustion, and carefully monitored my fluid intake thereafter. If you don't feel like you have to urinate, you're not drinking enough!

We caught a flight to Cambodia a day after arriving in Bangkok, rode a beat-up, early-model 737 over lots of turbulence, and landed at the airport outside Phnom Penh. That's when I really noticed the heat, not to mention the cacophony of jets, traffic, and a strange new language I'd never heard before, called Khmer. After going to our fairly decent hotel downtown, we made a trip out to the hospital, a series of stark buildings built by the French in the early 1930s.It was as if we had traveled back in time. Cambodia is called a third-world country for good reason, but words don't do it justice. You have to go there to experience it, but I know I'll never complain about having to wait in a hospital waiting room again. It was so unreal, it wasÖmedieval.

But, our intrepid medical staff gave training seminars and the donated supplies to the Khmer doctors and nurses, and in the following days did sick calls and surgeries in their operating room, during which we were fortunate enough to have electric lights. (Not to mention the feces all over the floor from either children or dogs running in and outÖ) A tour of this hospital resulted in seeing the effects of war and landmines: handsome, fit young men without legs or arms, or paralyzed from gunshot wounds or shrapnel. There were civilian casualties as well, women and children. That's what really got to me, the kids. They're like kids everywhere: they like to laugh, play, smile, and they cry when they hurt. One of the nurses took a photo of me with a bunch I was 'entertaining' and it is included in this letter. It sits on my desk at homeÖsad commentary, because child mortality in Cambodia is high. I don't know if these kids are alive today or not.

That's why I do it. That's why I save my money and my vacation time, and have a working vacation on account of these kids. And their parentsÖI'll save the Thailand story for another time. Maybe, if you join us, you can ask Bacsi John Padgett why he does it, or the Geese, or Doc MohlerÖ all have a favorite story. And to those who ask why I don't volunteer here in the United States, I say Ö"America's got it made. If you don't believe me, go to Cambodia."

Respectfully,

Andrew M. Hyslop
Santa Clara, CA