In August this year, I (Fiona) celebrated 10 years of living & volunteering in Thailand.  I was very fortunate to be joined by many friends from around the world to celebrate with me and help build a playground in the Moken Sea Gypsy Village on Koh Payam.

The biggest kid would be Patterson…

This would not have been possible without our dear friend Emory from Berlin, who held a fundraiser and raised over 100,000 Baht for this and other projects on Koh Payam.  Once approval has been given we also plan to build a playground in the village incorporating a half court basketball court as well, that was kindly donated by Kylie Robertson and family.  That way all the kids across the island can enjoy the art of play.

The smiles tell the story

What was most enjoyable to see was the cooperation between the men of the village and our guys.  Clearly the Moken people have rope tying skills we are unaware of; they happily showed us the best and safest way to make it strong for their kids.

The women were very curious & the kids were loving having so many people to play with !!!!

Check out our gallery for more great pics.

Thank you everyone !  Lets do it all again in 3 years time.

Lily & Jill preparing lunch for all of us as well as the kids

Some of our dear friends who made the journey to support us thank you all so much

Even a small one for the little kids great idea Kazzie & Patterson

This is how we got all the equipment, people and materials there !!! amazing job guys

Climbing frame coming together

Dr. Sam and Kuhn heading down Aow Yai Beach in the rain

On 12^th December, Dr. Sam and his wife Kuhn O again came up to Koh Payam to help with our ever growing “beach dog” problem for 3 days.  Arriving in perfect weather we set to work immediately before enjoying an amazing Seafood BBQ dinner with P Tao and his family at My BBQ Bar and Restaurant at Buffalo Bay.

The following morning found us on a long tail boat to Payam Resort where a lovely couple from Germany holidaying for 3 months wanted to help by paying for all the neutering of the resort dogs.  By the way, Dr. Sam fell in love with his working location in a sala on the beach.  They also gave a very generous donation.

This time we were mobile and went to the people.  We received overwhelming support from both the local Thai people as well as many foreigners.  Some locations were quite tricky and the weather was slightly against us.  We even had Dr. Sam and Kuhn O riding down the Aow Yai beach to a remote location to fix two dogs !!!!

Saturday afternoon we concentrated on the temple.  They have many cats, around 20 and 8 large dogs.  Again time was against us and Dr. Sam worked until dark.  We didn’t manage to complete the task but did however, do 8 cats and 3 dogs.  We also received a very generous donation of 5,000 Baht toward the temple work.

This little guy had been scratched by the cats and also bad mange.

So with donations as well as paid surgery, we were able to do many animals for free.  Some local families paid for two of their dogs so All for Villages did the third one for free.

We also treated lots of puppies for mange and fleas as well.

Dr. Sam has left us with medication for mange, worms and ticks so we can continue treatment until he returns in February.

Due to the overwhelming success and support from the Koh Payam community, we hope Dr. Sam can come every 2 months.

A special thank you to Nara for taking all of Dr. Sam’s equipment to each location and Josie, my wonderful volunteer for all the great photographs !!!!!

Another great job from ‘Team All For Villages

Ouf & Ina from Payam Resort

We would like to acknowledge and thank Thai Life Home Stay Resort & Spa owners Kuhn Maneerat (Taan) Grueneberger and her husband John, for their ongoing support to our Project.  Through fundraising events held regularly for their guests, they raise money and awareness of the needs of our local community.

The monks blessing guests at Thai Life Home Stay

For more information on what they can offer please visit www.thailifehomestay.com or visit their facebook page: ThaiLife Homestay Resort & Spa

Their daughter Patty has established a parallel dog Program working with Dr. Sam and visiting local temples every week.  Patty is a very caring sole and feels as we do about the treatment of animals.  You can often find her on the side of the road feeding and helping the street dogs.

For more information on her project please visit:

www.happytempledogs.org or visit their facebook page: Happy Temple Dogs Project

We are grateful for the their ongoing support and highly recommend at visit to their beautiful resort.

Traditional dancing provided during our fundraisng event

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sam on his way to Koh Pratong

In July 2014, Dr. Sam and his wife Kuhn O headed out to Koh Pratong, a small island community of the coast near Ban Nam Khem.  These island communities have no vet services available yet they do have a dog problem.

Coordnated by Amanda with the assistance of a local resort, the villages were informed of what would be available over the 2 days.

We would like to also gratefully acknowledge the help and support from Valerie from Golden Buddha Resort.  She was responsible bringing the dog problems on Koh Pratong to our attention.  She also raised money for the project and assisted Dr. Sam while he was there.  Thank you very much for your care and support of both us and your community.

According to Dr. Sam, it was an incredible turnout of people with their animals but unfortunately due to time restrictions, we had to turn some of them away.

August saw Dr. Sam head to Koh Payam, an island off the coast of Ranong, where he spent two days working with the locals.

No area too remote for Dr. Sam and his team, Sea Gypsy Village, Koh Payam

Coordinated by Fiona and with the help of Nara, Dr. Sam was able to sterilize 26 dogs and cats in just under two days.

Again, we had to turn people away as we simply ran both out of time and out of medications !!!!

Due to the overwhelming response from the local people Dr. Sam will return to Koh Payam on 13 & 14^th December to conduct another 2 day mobile clinic.