Does Changing Lives help individuals or communities? The answer to that question is ‘Both’.  In a place like Fiziland our strategy is to help communities. Everywhere we went people were asking for money and appealing for help.  To help one and not another would not have been wise and would have created more problems than it solved.  The agricultural project, sewing project and the sports equipment for the children go just a little way towards our goal. The needs remain vast. We cannot meet them all. But we can make a difference in bringing practical aid to communities, and that is what we will continue to do.

But we do not exclude individuals either. If we think of the paralysed Burmese man, he was initially treated by our daughter and became something of the inspiration for Changing Lives. He has no family. He was already sheltering in Thailand from the oppressive regime in Burma.  He was the first person we helped and we want to continue to make it possible for him to receive rehabilitation and care.

The Burmese teenager who needed heart surgery was also known to us through a personal contact. It felt right to help her, and she is doing well.

The Trustees of Changing Lives will always consider a situation on its merits.  But we have a responsibility to be accountable for the funds which are entrusted to us, and we will always want to be sure that the need is genuine and the money used for the purpose it was intended.