Sunday, June 11, 2017

Refugee program in Thailand - way back when

I did not know that Bill Preston and Pat Satterwaite had joined the JVA/refugee program. I worked for JVA/IRC for just over a year starting in mid-1979 until mid-1980. I started as a pre-screener at the Nong Khai camp and went to another camp or two. Then I ended up at Ban Vinai, the Hmong camp in Loei. As I was stationed in Loei as a PCV, I "knew the 'hood". I eventually became the case worker for the Loei camp. After I stepped down, I worked briefly at Nan and a Cambodian camp or two, though not during that initial and terrible inrush of dying people. Like Bill, I learned some Cambodian: Bro, Saray, Salap - Male, Female, Dead. I have recently come into contact with "Mac" Thompson, who was a little higher up the JVA ladder at that time. He lives in Thailand and is active with projects like building school buildings in Laos. I just joined the Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood to stay in touch. - Dick Linn