MEDICAL TEAM

UPDATE April 11, 2005

We have allocated all funds from the donations and have sent them to the appropriate parties in Sri Lanka who will oversee the construction projects. We hope to have pictures in the coming weeks along with a full breakdown of the costs of each project.

Thanks again for all the support and assistance. We have assisted hundreds of children with long-term projects through your donations.

UPDATE February 10, 2005

Slideshow and get-together for friends and families - March 3rd, 5:00
We were fortunate enough to have had a News Tribune reporter/photographer with the group along with a freelance photographer. They shot some amazing pictures of the teams in action, the children and families we assisted, and the dramatic devastation lining the entire coast. We are compiling their work, along with a few pictures from group members, to show at an upcoming event.

We have scheduled a slideshow presentation for the Sri Lanka relief team, our friends, families, donors and other interested parties so we can show the work done, talk about what is next, and begin the long-term projects for the orphanages in Sri Lanka.

At this moment, we have reserved the Olympic Room at the Tacoma Public Library, which holds up to 300 people, on the evening of March 3rd (Thursday). The room is held for 5 hours so we have some flexibility in regards to a start time- 4:00 to 9:00. We would like to start the slideshow around 6:15. The get together will be very informal and people are free to come and go as their schedules demand.

Mark your calendars and we hope to see you at the event:

Tacoma Public Library
1102 Tacoma Avenue South
Tacoma, WA 98402
253-591-5666
March 3rd, 2005
Thursday evening
5:00 to 8:30 (photos starting around 6:15 or so and lasting an hour)

Driving Directions

UPDATE February 3, 2005

We have returned from Sri Lanka and are happy to report that we met and exceeded all goals for the trip! The medical staff, packed with a busload of much-needed medicinal supplies, saw well over 1,000 patients in several refugee camps and orphanages who had thus far not seen doctors after the tsunami. The water team installed 6 difficult but perfect water purification systems in 6 badly damaged orphanages, while also attending to many medical needs of the children living in the homes. Both teams were able to spend quite a bit of time with orphans in the children's homes along with many children recently orphaned by the tsunami and hundreds of children in various refugee camps (playing, dancing, singing, drawing, playing cricket, laughing, sometimes crying, hugging, and on and on...).

We also met our goal of raising $50,000 to go solely and directly to orphanages in Sri Lanka! During the trip we were able to purchase many needed items (food, clothing, school supplies, toys, building materials, appliances, medicines, etc) and also were able to assess many of the orphanages' needs and have already directed where most of the funds will go: building of kitchens, dorms, bathrooms and shower rooms, and houses, along with the hiring of extra matrons and caregivers at several impoverished orphanages to accommodate the influx of children orphaned by the tsunami.

We will have a complete breakdown of how all funds are being spent on the website in the coming weeks along with photos and proposals for further, much needed, work in the orphanages. We realize that the trip was only the beginning level of involvement we will have with these orphanages and we have already begun the necessary steps to ensure that many of these children will be well cared for long after we are gone from Sri Lanka.

We have placed some of the photos from our trip on the website for your viewing- see here. We will place more photos along with information about the trip, what we accomplished, and ways you can help with further projects in Sri Lanka next week. Thanks again for all the support and assistance.

UPDATE January 19, 2005

Our scheduled departure is the night of the 20th. At this moment, we have 13 members going- the majority of whom are medical personnel. We will also have two members from the Faith staff who will oversee the water purifier installations, a therapist who will visit with the children in the orphanages, and our director who will oversee the entire project.

The group will split into two once in Sri Lanka with 5 of the members heading to 6 locations along the coastline to install the water systems- in 5 orphanages and 1 community center that is currently housing 2,000 people. Clean water is absolutely vital at this moment and we have been fortunate enough to have found areas currently without potable water where we can install the systems and alleviate some of the stress that the children are having to endure- both physical and mental.

The remaining eight members will form the medical group. The medical team is heading directly out to a refugee camp in Ampara, on the eastern coast, the day after we arrive. The region was the hardest hit in Sri Lanka and deaths have exceeded 10,000. At the moment there are over 100,000 displaced people in the region. Our team is going to accompany a Sri Lankan team and set up in the refugee camp for an entire week to offer medical assistance.

We have had such a tremendous outpouring of support from our families and friends. Our original goal of $50,000 has not been met, but we are very happy to announce that at time of departure we should have reached close to $40,000! All team members are covering our own airfare, and the agency is covering all administrative costs and overweight charges for our supplies- so every cent will make it to children in need!

Once we return I will put an entire webpage covering the project and our expericences and also a page devoted to thanking the hundreds of donors who will make a very direct impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of children during their time of need.

Thanks to all our friends and our amazing families who have helped without hesitation. We are a very fortunate group to have such strong, loving and generous support.

URGENT PLEA - December 31st, 2005

In the wake of the devastating tsunami which has now claimed well over 140,000 lives, we have decided to assist, as best we can, orphanages in the countries hardest hit. Faith International is putting together a team of local doctors who will travel to orphanages in Sri Lanka to offer their services to the many children now pouring into the orphanages. We hope to have the team fly out by the third week of January. We will also be installing water purification systems as waterborne diseases are now predicted to claim tens of thousands more lives in the coming weeks.

Although we can only offer a fraction of the assistance needed, we do hope you will feel inclined to help us. We are providing much of our assistance to several orphanages in and around Colombo, Sri Lanka. Therese Koelmeyer, a Faith friend of many years and also the primary orphanage director we are dealing with, has asked us to raise interest for her plight and money for the needs of hundreds of children in the region who are struggling with the great ordeals facing them. Her orphanage, Lotus Buds Children’s Home, is in dire need of assistance.

Essentially, we are asking for any help our families and friends may be able to provide. We are asking families with any connections to companies or corporations interested in helping out the orphanages in Sri Lanka to assist us in fundraising. We are asking for any help in spreading the word about our upcoming mission and about raising funds for the orphan survivors in general. Because it will be extremely difficult to transport items to Colombo, we are asking only for monetary donations at this time. We plan to have the orphanage directors purchase the goods most needed upon our team’s arrival. If necessary, we will purchase the items in Bangkok and transport them from there.

For more information on Therese's work, please see the Lotus Buds orphanage website (http://www.lotusbuds.com/) founded and directed by Therese and her husband.

For those families interested in adopting an orphan from one of the stricken countries, please first see the JCICS article devoted to this issue, or the State Department's notice concerning this issue.

For updates on our work with this crisis, please return to this page.

Thank you for your support. 100% of all donations made to Faith International will be paid directly to the orphanages or towards the much-needed items of these orphanages. Faith International will cover all administrative costs, all transportation of goods costs, and all travel costs- thus all funds will find there way right to the children most in need. If you would like to donate to Faith, please contact us directly (faith@faithadopt.org, 253-383-1928).

ALL donations are tax-deductible. At this time, we are able to accept cash or check- made payable to Faith International Adoptions, or you may donate through credit card using PayPal- see link above..

MEDICAL TEAM