In the early years of the Foundation the main thrust of our work was on the provision of pure drinking water. We went through the same process as most other fledgling developmental organisations, namely, re-inventing the wheel. Gradually, however, we began to understand the mysteries of the arcane science of hydrology, and surprised ourselves by making water flow uphill. From water projects it was a natural progression to health and hygiene, and thence to educational assistance.

Our work was from the beginning, and still is to this day, severely restricted by the difficulty of getting safe access to remote villages during the May-November wet season. Even during the dry season our 4WD vehicles take a pounding, especially when ferrrying in heavy and bulky construction supplies.

We have a core staff of six people and a part-time group of eight others. Permanent and part-time staff training is a subject that we are focussing on currently, within the usual budget strictures that effect small organisations like ourselves. We also have a group of expert mature volunteers who provide valuable and unpaid assistance, especially during the hectic water project "season".

During the years from 1986 until the current day we have had over seven hundred secondary school short-term volunteers working with us. These volunteers are not only important to our mission, in that they provide the funding for major water projects, but they also provide a large part of the labour in implementation, as well as being excellent cultural ambassadors among the Karen.

Finally, in this brief overview, we are now researching into ways of establishing viable commercial businesses, wholly owned by the Foundation. These would allow us, in due course, to depend on our own resources for project and overhead funding, as well as providing employment and training for the Karen. Specific areas being looked at are eco-tourism, micro-credit, agricultural produce storage and distribution.