The mainstay of our work is with our outreach clinics. We take 5 circuits in Chiang Mai Province and service each of them weekly. Each circuit has 4 -6 stops for clinics. Each stop serves a different number of clients. Numbers of clients attending the clinics vary, according to health needs at the time.

The following account, written by volnteer Troy Babbit, illustrates our work:
"My wife and I have volunteered at Rejoice for nearly 6 months now. We participate in a myriad of activities from office work, researching grant opportunities, and accompanying the clinical staff on their daily rounds among the suburban and rural areas that encircle busy Chiang Mai. It's not hard to believe that the latter is the most interesting and enlightening aspect of volunteering. The staff visits the same places in the same order each week, but there is nothing monotonous about the care they provide, nor the experiences I've had.

My days at Rejoice usually start by saying "Hello" to Steve, and listening as he tells me about the latest computer problem I need to address when I return. I head to the bathroom to change my clothes from the sweat-soaked t-shirt and shorts I wear for the 20-minute bike ride to the office, and into the appropriate jeans and fresh t-shirt. On my way, I bump into Bee, Tommy, and Gee saying "Sawadii krap", emphasized by a high wai. Gee will wai higher than me depending on how happy he is to see me, followed by a check of his watch with the wall clock, telling my wife and I that we've cut it close again, all concluded by an affirmative, "Time to go!" We pile into an extended-cab truck and start-out for the day's stops suffused with the cavernous chants of Thai popular music.

At the stops you learn how influential and admired the Rejoice staff is. The people smile and wai as we unload the medical supplies from the truck. The drawers of vitamins, cod liver oil, topical creams, eupeptic tablets, throat lozenges, and cough syrups are arranged, and Tommy opens his daily log. In turn each person explains their current symptoms: a process usually accentuated by jokes, smiles, and stories; oftentimes, accompanied by someone pouring us water or soda or giving us fruit. All this signifies how much the people appreciate and respect the Rejoice staff. It is not a sterile, demure doctor's office, but a dynamic community helping each other to survive a death-sentence without losing their humanity. Rejoice maintains that humanity with constant concern and hope to a population otherwise ostracized. Although I do not speak much Thai, the people seek to keep me included in everything. They know I am not an intruding voyeuristic tourist. My presence rates as broadening acceptance, and I am accepted in return. On the way back to the office I'm continuously overcome with how grateful the people who receive aide are each day."

Find out about the other ways we offer help:Toys and Clothes, Milk and Medicine and Office Clinics