Puerto Vallarta

This was taken at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Esther was about 1 year old. People thought Edith adopted her since she looked like a Mexican kid. It was a beautiful place. I have to thank Dr. Paredes for the trip.

John and me

John was my supervisor at MCV, blood bank. I worked there at night shift for a year. He also taught me how to brew beer.

Karen Refugee Camp

This is a Karen Refugee Camp we visited while we were there. It is about 1 hour drive from the hospital.

My Colleagues

Tracy (our IT specialist) can not attend the meeting. Revive After Five founding members:
(left to right) Stacy, Chris, me, Neil, Daryle, Jeff and George. I am lucky to have this company of nice colleagues.

http://rafimaging.com/aboutus/aboutus.html

Twins we delivered

This story had a happy ending. I was there to help the refugees build a clinic. They came and got me at night. The father told me that placenta had not come out yet. Mother did not know she was having twins. I did the exam and felt the baby's head. The baby was blue when he came out. We did all kinds of stimulation (hold upside down, suction mucus with suction bulb, slapping feet..etc) without any luck. Finally, mouth to mouth resuscitation did the magic. That was the sweetest cry we heard. I was sure parents were excited too.

Three Pagoda Pass

Another group pictures at Three Pagoda Pass.
This was the camp kitchen in the early days. The girl in the left was probably Ah Phwar Gyi?

Three Pagoda Pass

A group of students who just arrived "Three Pagoda Pass" in 1988, after bloody coup. It was an abandoned village by the time we got there due to heavy fighting between Karen and Mon ethnic groups. I was not in the picture. Most of those guys joined ABSDF 102 regiment like me.
This is the same place almost 10 years later. I went back there multiple times. Of course not to the Burmese side. The house at the left corner is Burmese immigration office.

Vegetable garden in the camp

This is the camp vegetable garden. They have to clear the land to plant vegetables to supplement beans, rice and occasional meat from hunting.

Ko Yin Htwe's wedding

Ko Yin Htwe's wedding.
Ko Chit Pwe (resettles in Fortwayne, IN), Ko Yin Htwe + Ah Phwar Gyi (re-settles in Silverspring, MD) and Ko Myo Aye (resettles in Australia)

ICW Halloween 2007

A cowboy cheerleader (Sherri) and the "pimp daddy" (me)

Enjoying "mohingar" at our gracious host Zaw Gyi's house. Ma Ohnmar (in black T shirt) cooked for us. She came to the US later and re-settled in Silverspring, MD.

Building a clinic in Kyauk Ka Din village

We were building a clinic in Kyauk Ka Din village, a refugee camp inside Thailand. As usual, Thai authorities forced the villagers to move to a new place 1 year later. They do not want a permanent resettlement inside Thailand. After 3 years in the jungle, we became expert in building using bamboo.

Front row: (left to right) Ah Phwar Gyi (remember the picture in which she was training with a bamboo gun), resettled in Silverspring, MD. Yan Naung (lives in Northern Virginia), Phoe Thet (resettle in Northern Virginia)
Back row: Thida (resettle in Australia), Moe Moe (resettle in Silverspring, MD), me and Bae Oot (resettle in Canada).

Ko Myo Aye, me and Nai Lin Oo at Bangkok Dunmong airport before I left. Nai Lin Oo later re-settle in the US and eventually went to the same university I went (Virginia Commonwealth University).

Amputating a landmine victim

Amputating a landmine victim in a border clinic. This villager stepped on a landmine probably left by Burmese army. Burmese army usually placed anti-personal mines after they cleared or burnt ethnic villages in order to deter villagers from coming back. This villager was lucky to be a alive. Amputation was done without general anesthesia. I believe they use Ketamine and Morphine. Burma has probably the highest or second highest landmine victims after Cambodia.

Wedding at our house

This picture was taken at our old house in Richmond right after we signed papers.

Hua Hin beach (Thailand)

Hua Hin beach (Thailand). We enjoyed a beautiful moment at Hua Hin beach. It is a beautiful beach as not crowded as Phuket or Pataya. I was the only one wearing glass, showing off my well-built chest. The tall guy who is stading next to me (wearing a dark jacket) was also shot in the thigh at the same battle I got injured. Ko Kyaw Ko (far left), was also shot in the face and lost a few teeth. Thank god, he got shot by a M1 Carbine (0.30 caliber) in stead of an assult G3 rifle (7.62 caliber). Bullet went through side to side of his face and took a few teeth with it.

Ah Ba U Soe Lwin

Ah Ba U Soe Lwin. He was a true fighter. He fought for Burma's independence against British and Japanese. Then, he fought against Burmese dictators for almost40 years. He passed away due to old age. He had been very kind to us, helping a hand when we build a new camp near his area. ( I was wearing a camouflage shirt.)

Unknown ABSDF member

I do not know his name. I believe he is from ABSDF regiment 201.

Saya Tin Myint Oo

This is a family picture of Saya Tin Myint Oo. He was a sergeant in Burmese army who joined us along with his squad. I am not sure where he is now. I believe he resettle in a third country.

Saya Tin Moe and family

Saya U Tin Moe's new house at Insein.
Saya UTin Moe and his daughters

MCV yearbook (1994)

My classmates from Medical Technology (Clinical Laboratory Science) program in MCV yearbook 1994.

Graduation luncheon

Those are the pictures taken at our graduation luncheon.

Janet, me and Frances

My classmates

My classmate Abdul and his friend.
Ken and Todd
My classmates Joe and Abdul.

Our class

I don't think I was in the picture. I wonder I skipped the class on that day.

Girls of our class!

We loved to party. (Todd, Teresa and their spouses)

We loved to party!

Frances having a good time at a class party.

Gathering at Mrs. Lindsey's hosue

Volleyball match at Mrs. Lindsey's house. She hosts annual party for seniors at her house. The man in the air is Mr. Sauer.

Fitz shopping at Three Pagoda Pass market. The market is located inside Thailand right next to the pagodas.

We took this photo at Tokyo, Narita airport.
Fitz in Bangkok.

Fitz after morning round. His patient (the guy smiling) had a broken femur from a motorcycle accident. Fitz practices pulmonary critical care medicine in Charleston, SC.

Dr. Sakda at Kwai River Christian Hosptial (Thailand)

One of our mentors Dr. Sakda at KWRC (wearing white duty coat). He is second in command of the hospital. Very nice to us.

Fitz and Dr. Phil McDaniel in the front row. A prayer service was held every morning before we saw patients.

Our interpreter. She speaks Burmese, Thai, Karen and English. Very nice lady.

Pharmacy Team

We are in Freelance Star

We were just enjoying a weekend afternoon at SammyT and a group of high school students took pictures of us for their project. They warned us that our picture might be in the newspaper. We were surprised to see ourselves in Freelance Star. We are famous now ! Ho Ho!

MCV 1994 year book

I am the middle person in third row (from top). I was studying medical technology at MCV. This is the first time I ever been in a year book and they forgot put my name in there. (Darn!) We do not have a tradition of having yearbook in Burma and I did not go to high school here. I met a lot of wonderful people at Medical Technology program and some of them I still keep in touch with until now.

Saya Han Hlin family

This is Saya Han Lin's family. He is from another ABSDF camp. He was a teacher and a freedom fighter. I met him many times. His family resettled in Ithaca, New York. He recently passed away from a stage 4 lung cancer. Here is his story:

http://honoringhome.blogspot.com/