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Welcome to All for Villages!
For current news, click here for the All for Villages blog.
Our philosophy is simple; help people and animals in need. All our Board member’s labor is donated so that all money goes directly to our projects. Projects will be chosen according to need and size. Gary and Amanda receive no salary for Thai projects.
 This began as Tsunami Survivors, which a number of you have contributed to, helping people in need after the Tsunami of Dec. '04. Now that AFV is a non-profit, people are able to get the tax benefit for their donations.
We are now getting this website started. We still have some funds from the original account, some of it earmarked for water systems, from the Water Well industry, and the rest to go wherever needed to help small communities. Our policy remains the same: 100% of your donations goes to the projects, and our labor is donated. Click here to read more about our Tsunami Volunteer Work.
Donations are gratefully accepted!
Checks may be made out to All for Villages and mailed to the address below. Sorry, but at this time we cannot accept credit cards.
All for Villages, 530 Green Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 • 707 543-7007
- Thank you!
We have some exciting projects in Thailand getting underway:
Spay Neuter & Care for Street Dogs Begins
11 Families: Electricity, Water, Paint & Gutter Repair.
Takua Hospital, Help for the Poor.
Helping Schools in Need
Our goals:
Reduce the huge number of street dogs requiring a spay/neuter program.
Issue temporary injections to stop pregnancies in dogs we can’t get to immediately.
Provide basic health care including: mange treatment (which is rampant), parvo shots, first aid and food.
Background
 There are hundreds of dogs on the streets here, with no one really responsible for them. They tend to have their own territories, and sometimes there is a person or persons primarily responsible for giving them food. However, it is usually rice, with fish heads, bones, or scraps. Otherwise they fend for themselves, from garbage.
Some are starving. Many have mange. Some are injured. Then they have puppies. The puppies have puppies. Some people get fed up with so many dogs and so poisoning is quite common. I imagine that they die in agony.
Many get hit by motorbikes and sometimes by cars and are left untreated. Meanwhile, the temples are bound to take care of any one or any animal that comes there, so many dogs are dumped there.
 The last 3 trips out of 4 Gary and I, sometimes with help from friends, have rescued starving dogs, dumped or abandoned. I have been searching for a vet with good skills, and a good heart. I FOUND HIM!!!!! So I am very excited.
Now we can help a lot of dogs, and if all goes well we can make a real difference, by educating people and reducing the stray dog population.
The Beginning
 The vet and I had a meeting. I told him we have $1,000.00 to start, this coming from the All for Villages account. It is AMAZING how far this money can go! But we have hundreds, maybe thousands of dogs, so we DO need your support urgently.
We started with a Bang, beginning with a local Temple where 2 of our rescue dogs stay (“Mary” and “Ann” you may remember?) This is one of three areas we have picked to begin.
Here is the first day: Dr Sam examined about 27 dogs! (out of 30 – 35) starting a record for each of them, with name or description with the help of a monk. He treated as he went, and left medicines for a dozen. He looked at 3 cows and a rooster also! Then he took the first THREE dogs to be spayed, in his car. Here is the first bill, which does not include the spaying:
Treatment - 1,500 Baht
Mange Killer - 300
Visit Fee/Milage - 200
2,000 Baht or appx. $60.
$1 = Bt 33 therefore
100 Baht = $3
1,000 Bt = $30
2,000 Bt = $60
Seaweed's Story
 In February, '08, I saw a doggie, about dying, standing in the middle of the road in the blazing hot sun, with motor bikes and cars whizzing around. "The Girls" were with me, visiting from England.
The first day I found someone to feed her, but next day when I passed, she was the same - in the middle of the road, skin and bones, feet swollen, sores all over her, and basically seemed to have given up.
I just simply couldn't leave her to get hit by a car. So....... she's sitting at my feet, after a week so far on anti-biotics and an anti-inflammatory, plus lots of good food. The first 2 days she slept and slept, Now she's quite adventurous, wags her tail a lot and loves everyone, though still sleeps lots!
 The Girls named her Phoebe for "Feed Me" and "Fleas Be gone"! The plan was to take her to the Temple when she's strong, had her shots and got spayed. Ooops, she's still at our house, since we have a wonderful caretaker there all the time, and we all adore her!
Thai people couldn't pronounce Phoebe, so her name has morphed into Seaweed!! Added to earlier treatment were meds for worms, anti-itch pills, 2 shots for mange and one initial shot to prevent pregnancy. We've now had her spayed. She's full of joy and energy now, loves foreigners and the beach!
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11 Families
 Last trip we heard about 11 families who lost their village on an island to the 2004 Tsunami. It was just off the coast, an hour north of here. A Norwegian man Lars, and his wife Eva, have been working to get them some help. The families don't want to go back to the island, and are on the mainland now, but very poor. Lars found an organization that has built them 11 small basic houses, one room plus small bathroom per family, and he and Eva paid for fill to be brought in to create an entrance, amongst other things. But they needed water, and power to the property.
Wow! Water! (We still have money set aside for water projects!) So we went to the site, assessed with Lars and Eva what needed to be done, and All for Villages will pay for the water to be brought across the road and hooked up to each house, and for 2 electric poles and electricity to be hooked up to each little house. The housing is near a small creek, so the fishermen can get their boats down to the sea and continue their livelihood. We're excited to be able to help, it wont be a huge cost, and they'll own it.
 We have now paid the water bill: 14,000 Baht, appx $440.00, to bring it across the road, and hook up; and 20,000 Baht deposit for the electricity, with a likely 25,000 Baht when completed.
Later: We returned to see very happy families moved in, with a temporary electric wire. Two pictures here, more on our website when we have it! There is one design floor: the run off from the roofs falls between the buildings. NO good in the monsoon rains!
We will install large gutters to take it away. We will also provide paint for the villagers to paint the inside and outside of the buildings. I mean, plain ol' concrete does not inspire self-confidence!
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Takua Pha Hospital, Help for the Poor
 Rural Thai people, generally the poorest, can now get almost free medical care, thanks to a program introduced a few years ago. They only have to pay 30 baht, approximately $1.
HOWEVER, there are those who slip through the cracks because of other relatively minor expenses (to us) which are NOT covered, and for them it is impossible to find the money.
For example, a four year old boy was diagnosed with cancer. He needed to get to a pediatric oncology specialist in Bangkok, about a 10 hour drive away. The parents have no car, cannot afford the bus, and would need to stay one or two nights with him in the capitol. None of these expenses are covered.
That's where we come in, with bus fare for all three, money for a place to stay (not fancy hotel!) .  Or a patient may need to go to Phuket (2 hours drive) and cannot pay the gas: perhaps another needs an MRI, not offered at this smaller hospital, or a complex surgery.
It's known as The Norwegian Fund, since a couple, Lars and Eva, saw the need and started it, finding donors to support it. The Lions Club did it for 3 years, but now they need other help. We love this program!
We went with Lars and Eva and met with Doctor Chai who runs it, the head of the Ophthalmology Department.
He showed us all the detailed accounts, the bank books and the individual one page document for each beneficiary. The request for funds has to be signed by three Hospital personnel: the attending physician, Dr. Chai and the chief Administrator.
They SO cherish this money! One young man even returned $4 not used, as they realize that it comes from individuals just wanting to help. Every cent is accounted for, and very much appreciated.
We made a commitment to Dr. Chai that we would have $2,000 for him this January!! Anything you can do will help, even $10.
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Helping Schools in Need
Not far from Khao Lak is Bang Niang. Both areas in the south of Thailand were devastated by the Tsunami. Now there is the International Tsunami Museum in Bang Niang, started by a professor at Washington University, David Sattler, and his students, and in collaboration with a Thai man next door, Khun Pong, who checks out the schools and assesses their needs, and who also let the Museum have the building rent-free for 9 months.
We all got excited to see donations pouring in one year ago. AFV agreed to assist in this project and to oversee funds raised in the States. David and his sister had a successful fund-raiser in San Diego, so we will be reporting soon on how these monies are spent.
That's all for now, but please check back soon as we're just getting going!
For current news, please check the All for Villages blog.
-Amanda
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Donations are gratefully accepted!
Checks may be made out to All for Villages and mailed to the address below. Sorry, but at this time we cannot accept credit cards.
All for Villages, 530 Green Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 • 707 543-7007
- Thank you!
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