Adopt-a-Village Report

Rarely are we faced with simple & clear answers to difficult problems. Every now and then however, there are some. Today, because of the caring & compassion of a group of people half a world away, a man who was going to die will not die. That is good news. At least for him, his 4 kids, his wife... and for us at North by North-East.

This story began on an expedition through a remote region in the Central Laos Limestone in November 2000. Our business is tourism, but our mission this day was unrelated, except in a secondary or tertiary way.

In October 2002, a small North by North-East team traveled again to one of our favorite villages in the Central Lao Limestone region, called Ban Hua Na. The headmen there had asked Montri, our main bush guide, to visit a man whom they said had a problem which nobody in the village could classify.
Real simply, the man - named Kaew Chaiyawong - had only half a right foot, and that was alternately black and shiny like a piece of mahogany wood, and crusty looking like charcoal.

One needn't be a doctor to understand this condition to be serious. Khun (Mr.) Kaew himself was obviously frightened for his life. He was stick-thin, and I believe from fear. Certainly the rest of the village did nothing to make him feel welcome...they moved him to an old place on the very outskirts of the village where he would not "bother" the other villagers. Villagers worried that the condition might be contagious.

Since our team had no medical training, all we could do was to take photos of the black foot, and promise to try to identify the problem. I felt terrible taking the photos as I did not think we had much chance to help the man. Certainly, ignoring this problem seemed would be fatal for him, and I therefore felt an obligation to at least try to help.

While Khun Kaew was stoic about his condition, we could almost see the black cloud hanging over this poor 32 year-old farmer's head, and those of his 4 children and a wife.

On our return to Nakorn Phanom, we immediately contacted a doctor friend for advise. Dr. Nick White is the chief of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok. He saw the picture I e-mailed him, and immediately said he reckoned this condition was something called "dry gangrene".

Gangrene sucks just about any way you look at it, but we felt a little better after being able to name this condition. Because then at least we were able to begin exploring the possibility of helping this man to a point where he could again help himself.

Our staff did a quick survey check with several local hospitals to make a sketchy budget for treatments (read: amputation). Once we got some figures I wrote to a group of past clients in Texas, USA called the Charter 100 Club. This professional women's group provided humanitarian assistance in places of dire need in the past, and I asked them again for help.

Within only 24 hours the group e-mailed back that they, and Reverend Dave McKechnie, Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston - could help. And, thankfully for Khun Kaew and his family, "the rest is history", as they say!

Khun Kaew spent several weeks in the hospital in Nakorn Phanom (where our main office is located). The gangrenous leg was amputated about mid-shin, and after several weeks recovery and stabilization, our staff escorted Khun Kaew and his wife back to their village in Laos. He is recovering well, and will return to Nakorn Phanom for the fitting of a prosthetic leg soon!

Special thanks to the Charter 100, and the Grace Presbyterian Church of Houston. The world will be a better place if more people would try to help as these folks did. Yes, it actually is that simple.