The opportunity has come, and I'm going to India and Thailand! Mid-March to mid-June 2011
I need your help to get there. And a HUGE thanks to all who have donated!
Come to Bonfire for Charity: Touching the Untouchables of India and Thailand:
Friday, March 4, 2011
La Jolla Shores, San Diego
7:00-10:00 pm
Music by Cory Belliston, Ben Clement, and Bob.
India:
Leprosy is a completely curable condition with devastating effects if left untreated. With the illness often comes a social stigma that places sufferers on the fringe of society, left to beg for their subsistence and creating a cycle of poverty that affects future generations. For my first month I will help in the school for kids who come from leper colonies, and the next month or so I will practice and teach massage therapy in the colonies two hours outside of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India with Rising Star Outreach. In addition, I will be prepared to facilitate peacemaking workshops based on the Arbinger Institute and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication systems.
There is something so intriguing and enticing to me about "touching the untouchables." Through therapeutic and sensitive bodywork, I want to reach them in ways that no one, probably, has reached them. I want to help dispel the stigma that these people are "less than," disgusting, and incapable. And on a personal level, I want to surprise myself by further dispersing my own self-imposed stigmas, to love myself in my own perceived unloveableness. By opening myself to fully experiencing all that India has to offer, I know that I will not leave India untouched.
Thailand:
In Thailand I will likely stay at HELP-International's volunteer base in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, and join them on their projects. Hopefully I will be able to visit the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in Mae Hong Son, former home of my Burmese refugee friends whom I've been mentoring in San Diego for two years. Thailand is an exploratory trip, to learn more about the refugee situation and to assess needs for future humanitarian work there. In line with my vision for bodywork for peace, I want to someday offer therapeutic bodywork for women in recovery from sexual exploitation and to participate in combating the commercial sex trade. Sensitively practiced, massage therapy can have a profound healing effect for people who have undergone traumatic experiences.
Donation Needs:
Airfare: $1260**.
Travel insurance: $103
India Visa: $60
HELP-International in Thailand: $400
Vaccinations: $120
TOTAL: $1950 RECEIVED: $750 as of 3.6.11
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
How to Donate:
For cash or check payable to April Murdock, contact me directly at bodywork4peace@yahoo.com. PayPal is also available with that email.
Incentives:
I am offering an incentive of free 1-hour massage gift certificates for all who donate $150 and more! Certificates are transferable. Contact me for details or visit my business website for more information: www.bodywork4peace.abmp.com
Additionally, I will share descriptive emails, blogs, and photos to help capture the essence of India and Thailand so you can vicariously share the experience.
Namaste!
