Homeward Bound

THE PACIFIC OCEAN – Once again, a day of mission has come to an end in flight, over the ocean. Work done, and immediate goals met, we are now winging our way home to America.

It has been a full day, and only a part of it was devoted to the usual travel preparations. We began with a meeting at the United States Embassy in Bangkok, an interview with Ambassador Eric John and a briefing from the heads of some of the departments that office there. Due to problems with flights and connections on the first day of mission, most of our team was unable to meet with embassy staff at the original, appointed day and time (though some members of our team did ….. see Jerry’s account of that meeting, below). But Ambassador John and his staff graciously agreed to make time in their schedules for another briefing, for our entire team.

Joining Ambassador John at the meeting were Cathy Bowes, Director of Public Health for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Asia, responsible for programs and operations in Vietnam, Burma, Laos, China and Thailand, and designing and managing regional and cross border programs in south, east and southeast Asia; and Gary Phillips, Assistant Attaché for the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) an investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that combines innovative investigative techniques, new technological resources and a high level of professionalism to provide a wide range of investigative and security services to the public and law enforcement partners.

We found the Ambassador to be very open and engaging, answering all questions put to him, and listening to what our team had to say about our experiences of the past two weeks. Though he has only recently taken over as U.S. Ambassador, he is no stranger to southeast Asia, with experience in North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma), among other places, in addition to past service in Thailand. You can find his complete bio HERE .

His current posting is a significant one, heading one of our nation’s largest embassies, serving as a local or regional office for a wide variety of federal government agencies. This reflects, in part, the geographical importance of Thailand.

“Thailand is the hub of southeast Asia,” said John. “The air traffic goes everywhere, the business goes through here, all the traffic goes through here.”

Mission team leader Margaret Purvis presented the Ambassador with a copy of a report prepared by Partners Relief & Development, offering up-to-date evidence of human rights violations in Burma; and information about the plight of Karen Internally Displaced People (IDPs).

The meeting with the Ambassador closed with prayer, led by Reverend Jim Longstreet.

We were then conducted to the ICE office for a briefing from Gary Phillips on the agency’s activities in supporting the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of suspected criminals in a variety of areas, including the child sex trade in Thailand, Cambodia and other countries. It’s not an easy task ….. Phillips has four people on his staff, responsible for efforts in five nations across southeast Asia.

He discussed how his office works, how they cooperate with local law enforcement agencies, and how a variety of organizations can contribute to ICE’s mission, including non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) which are #2 on his list of investigation initiators/assets.

Following the meeting, the team gathered for a shared meal, and a ‘debriefing,’ looking back upon and discussing the past two weeks. It was also time to make final preparations for our early evening departure from Thailand and, ultimately, our return home.