Last spring, I went with some of my classmates to Northern Thailand to participate in a global health program through the adventure and service organization Rustic Pathways. I completed a rigorous 20-hour wilderness medical course where I learned basic techniques, such as CPR, how to clean a wound, and how to test patients for diabetes. Then we drove up a dirt road into a hill tribe community (a Karen hill tribe) where we taught basic medical techniques to help prevent infections and other preventable conditions that are often serious if left untreated. This was an eye-opening experience, and I immediately wanted to find a way to make a difference. The Karen Hilltribes Trust was the perfect organization to help create an impact.

The Karen Hilltribes Trust (KHT) is a community-led organization working with the Karen people living in Mae Hong Son, Thailand’s poorest province. Projects are designed, built and maintained by the communities who receive support, using their local knowledge. Their approach achieves results which are high in impact, low in cost and sustainable. The vision of the Karen is a more self-sufficient future in which they can provide for their own basic needs.

I will be donating the funds raised to the Karen Hilltribes Trust Water and Sanitation project, which builds latrines and installs innovative, gravity-fed clean water systems. The goal is to prevent prevalent diseases such as E. Coli and diarrhea. The project will be maintained by Karen volunteers from the village, who will build and plan the project themselves with the aid of the KHT. Communities then develop the skills needed to ensure the projects’ long-term sustainability, changing lives in the process.