Dear friends and family, In a hillside village called Cha Derh, barely an hour's drive away from New Life Foundation where I have been staying, I found social problems you'd probably expect to find in a slum in a third world city - rather than in the hills of northern Thailand, once populated by proud tribal cultures. Serious drug addiction, poverty and lack of education are rife here, and in order to make a living, many of the villagers have become involved in drug trafficking or other forms of crime to survive. As a result of their parent's drug - and AIDS - related deaths, there are a huge number of orphans in the village. With little support forthcoming from the state or neighbouring communities, we want to help these orphans, as well as people who are disabled and not properly looked after. The first stage of our work in Cha Derh involves Naha, a thirty-five year old woman who lives in the village. Severely mentally and physically handicapped, she spends her life in a tiny, dark wooden shed, just 8 feet by 6 feet, with no furniture and a hole in the middle for her to use as a toilet. Naha has rarely, if ever, left the immediate vicinity of her hut. Her only respite is to crawl onto the small platform beside her hut for some daylight and fresh air. Naha’s mother is unable to care for her sufficiently, and as a result her basic needs in terms of personal hygiene and dignity are not met. I have attached some photos below which show Naha. Her situation, as you can see, is pretty bleak. New Life Foundation wants to improve Naha’s quality of life. We plan to build her a new wooden hut, with a toilet and shower, and a separate room to sleep in. The new hut will have windows to let in sunlight, and a wooden roof to replace the stiflingly hot corrugated steel roof she currently lives under. It will also have a small ramp to enable Naha to use a wheelchair which was recently donated but which currently sits unused because her hut, like others in the village, is on stilts. Furthermore, New Life plans to provide interactive materials for her to begin developing her motor skills. We will also arrange for her to receive some physical therapy such as therapeutic massage, to stimulate her neglected limbs. We aim to raise 100,000 baht (approx. £2,250) to pay for the new hut, and fund ongoing rehabilitation and support for Naha. Of this, my personal target is 7500 baht. (Update: I have now raised the target to 10,000 baht, having already surpassed the original target, due to everyone's fantastic support! The more money raised, the greater the difference will be for Naha's quality of life. So for this reason, I have decided to keep the appeal running a little while longer. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. God bless). Any donation you can make – even if just a few quid or something – will really help me in reaching this target, and will be a huge help to the appeal. Through simplygiving.com you can make a safe and secure donation to the appeal. The proceeds of your support are immediately sent directly to the foundation. Using this platform is really simple and most importantly it's also a really cost efficient way for the foundation to raise funds. The page allows you to follow the progress of the appeal and see how much we have raised so far. I should stress again that no money will be given directly into the hands of the villagers. The director of the foundation will be personally overseeing this project. Thank you so much for your generosity, from me and all the New Life team. Best wishes, Chris