After nearly four years as a volunteer Country Representative for Clear Path International on the Thai-Burma border, Dutch physical therapist Lobke Dijkstra has moved to Spain to start an organization providing recreational opportunities for persons with disabilities.
Dijkstra, who spent at least several months a year in Thailand on leave from her regular job as a PT in the Netherlands, leaves behind a legacy of services now available to landmine accident survivors up and down the long western border of Thailand.
For the 2009 - 2010 cycle, CPI is expecting to assist at least 477 survivors with everything from prosthetics care, full-time nursing care (for blind amputees) and income-generating projects for refugee amputees. The program, now under the direction of CPI's new SE Asia director, melody Mociulski, serves beneficiaries from the Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic states in Burma in seven different locations.
In a note copied to all CPI staff and directors, Board President Nancy Norton sent a "Certificate of Appreciation" to Dijkstra and said "Our organization and the people we help have been immeasurably blessed by your extraordinary volunteer efforts during the past several years. Your compassion, dedication and perseverance have allowed us to assist hundreds of landmine accident survivors from Burma whose needs would have gone unfulfilled. By your selflessness, your devotion and your boundless energy we are all deeply humbled."
In response to the note, Dijkstra said she learned a lot from her time on the Thai-Burma border and that her work was a chance to fulfill her childhood dream of working in development overseas.
"I want to thank CPI for its trust in me and I'm grateful to all who put their energy into this much-needed work year in, year out," she said.
Read Lobke's blog posting about working on the Thai Burma Border, "My Own Two Hands", here.
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