On Bill Batt's recent trip to India and Thailand, he sought to extend the understanding and mission of the Peace Corps through contributing to efforts where it would be both useful and appreciated. The chapter leadership here authorized up to $250 to be disbursed either in cash or kind at his discretion for projects meeting those purposes. There were four such programs that he felt warranted our help. They are briefly described below:

1. A village in India that was being helped by a women's organization called DAWN (Development Action for Women in Need) was led by a remarkable woman social worker named Shanta. Women's self-help organizations are particularly effective in India, and this project was at the grass roots of Indian society. I contributed $50 toward its efforts, as part of a general contribution made by the people in the study group I was part of. Although the Peace Corps has not been in India since the early '70s, I made sure that people I met were aware of the program.

2. A school in the province of Loei, in Northeastern Thailand, where one of our group once served, just recently burned down. And the guy who served there died only a few months later, having served since as a teacher just outside of Boston. So, all of our group decided to make some contribution toward the construction of a new school, and in his name. I contributed $100 toward the campaign for that project in addition to my personal gift.

3. A community development program to assist some of the tribal people in northern Thailand, in Chiengrai, the province in which I served, was particularly well run even though it operated on a shoestring. It is engaged in health, educational, and vocational efforts (the last to dissuade them from growing opium!), and has the attention of idealistic young Thai people working somewhat in the fashion of Peace Corps Volunteers! Significant that Thailand should have middle class young people now committed to altruistic endeavors going out to the more rural and impoverished hinterlands.

4. English books that I bought in India to take to Thailand totaled about $100, mostly dealing with problems that Indian school children face, even though they were also appropriate for Thai kids. India faces the resurgence of communal strife friction between the Hindu and Moslem populations and school books are quickly being written to teach tolerance. Some of these were appropriate for Thai kids simple English, sound message, and cheap. So I got lots of them, and to be spread around to several schools where our Peace Corps group had served and was going back to visit.

Altogether, I spent more than the $250 that the chapter authorized, but of course some of that rightly should come from my own pocket. Nonetheless, were it not for the chapter's help, I would not have been able to be so generous, and I thank the group for its consideration. It was noted that these were gifts from a former Peace Corps Volunteer, and that, I think, is significant.