This month we made two visits to the Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K. Kee Patient House. On December 6th, Rotarians Nick, Sally, Debra and myself went to provide snacks, supplies and assist the patients and caregivers in finishing up some decoration artwork for the Christmas party. We also surprised each resident and caregiver with an early Christmas present, a “teddy trekker” teddy bear.
Our main event on December 20th, the annual Christmas Party was a rousing success. BCMF Director Kanchana Thornton sent six of her staff to assist with the event. When we arrived, the house looked quite festive with patient-made decorations as well as a large holiday banner made by the BCMF staff. Eight current, former and honorary CMIRC members were present, as well.
One of the highlights was a fun game that Rotarian Sally set up, where we arranged the male and female patients into two teams. Each team had a bag of small wrapped candies and a pair of oven mitts. The goal was for each team to unwrap as many candies as possible in one-minute intervals, while wearing the cumbersome oven mitts. It was such a joy to see the patients and caregivers laughing and working together as teams to problem-solve and work cooperatively.
Great food and fellowship were enjoyed by all attendees. Each of the patients and caregivers were given presents, received with appreciation and enthusiasm. I want to thank all the Rotarians who donated gifts as well as a special shout out to generous cash donations from Bob Carroll, John Schorr and Phijitra Chimphat to help offset the costs of the event. Thank you so much. Your generosity greatly contributed to the success of the party.
If any Rotarians are interested in joining us on our every-other Sunday visits, please reach out. We are required to wear face coverings during the entire visit. We leave the Shell station at 11:00 (on Huay Kaew Rd.) and usually complete our visit around 12:30.