In August 2012, fate brought me here in Maesot, a small border town between Thailand and Myanmar where the Thai government is hosting a lot of Burmese refugees because of the civil war in Myanmar. 2 years ago, different tribes in Myanmar signed the cease-fire agreement, but still the country was deeply injured and required a lot of time to be reconstructed.

Please read my previous post about what Chinese Medicine for All (CMA) is now doing in Philippines and Maesot:
https://travelbywind.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/chinese-medicine-for-all/

Since Village Acupuncturist Training Program is going on in Maesot by 2 enthusiastic volunteers Patrick and Amy, and I am in Thailand accidentally because of Indian visa application, I decide to take an 8-hour bus from Bangkok to Maesot to visit them.

It is very emotional to visit Maesot again, there are a lot of changes within these 1.5 years, 2 new shopping malls and numerous new houses are built, but the friendliness of the people and simplicity of life are still there. That’s why I love being in small villages! Mae Tao Clinic (MTC) is quite a famous humanitarian organization set up by Dr. Cynthia in the 70s to provide free medical treatment to everyone, mainly Burmese refugees.

“Village Acupuncturist Training Program” aims at educating a group of Burmese students to learn the basic techniques of acupuncture so that after 6 months, they can treat the patients in their villages back in Burma. Patrick and Amy are such good teachers that prepare all the lecture notes, quizzes, tests and homework so as to facilitate a better teaching outcome. I can see the passion of the students by their involvement in lessons as well as practical in clinic. It is quite hard for 2 Chinese doctors to teach Burmese students in English, we couldn’t achieve our goal without the help of translator. Although I only stay for a week this time, I help them to do clinical teaching every morning, it makes me realize that I have forgotten lots of things because I didn’t practice them enough.

If you want to know more about our organization (Chinese Medicine for ALL), or even donate to support our mission, please visit http://cmedforall.org . We all hope that MEDICINE should not be deprived as a result of poverty, but a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT, and everyone should be able to obtain that when they are in need.