And then what happened?

So, it was around the time that I had joined the group and we had decided to go with WTIND that some rumblings of concern began.  This is the the first, older website for the group, and the one we found first:

http://www.wtinad.org/

Notice the not so good English.  Always a warning flag that you might be getting taken advantage of.  Consider the mastery of the language displayed by email scammers from Africa: http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/01/playing-along-with-email-scams.

Yea, we were concerned.  However, the group had been listed on Idealist.org, so we proceeded to consider it innocent until proven guilty.  Tim Pasek had a friend who coincidentally lives in Thailand, and he got in touch with her to verify whether or not this thing was the real deal.  I took a more indirect approach, first searching Facebook for WTIND organizations, looking up people in them that I could send a message to, and asking them about the organization.  I also got in touch with Dr. Mar Naw and asked him about his background.

I found out a few things.  First off, one should really look at Dr. Mar Naw's new site, which is way, way better than the old one, including the English:

http://www.wtind.org/

Second, here are some of the responses I got about the organization.  I've omitted their first names because privacy is sort of at a premium on the internet.  If you want to get stalk-y and find them, do it on your own time. The first person to get in touch with me was a Ms. Zambrano.  What she said really helped relieve some of the trepidation the group was feeling:

Hi Mitchell,

I was volunteering with the Global Youth Network. I really enjoyed working with Dr. David. We spent to 2 weeks with volunteering with him, and on the first week we worked with one tribe, building washrooms for the different families, and the second week we spent it at another tribe, mostly playing with the kids and doing random things like moving bricks, etc. 

It was a great experience overall, I enjoyed those two weeks. In terms of safety I felt safe at all time. To get to the different tribes we had to walk around 2 hrs, it was hard! But it was awesome, two kids that work for him walked with us just for safety.

That sounded great: it was real, safe, and we were even going to get 2 child bodyguards!

The next person to get in touch with us was a Mr. Hodge:

Hi Mitchell,

I'm glad you've taken an interest in WTINAD and am very happy to answer any questions you have.

The experience was certainly legitimate - my wife and I had the same concerns before we went out three years ago - but it was all quite smooth really. You spend the bulk of your time out in the hilltribes staying with the families in different villages you visit - it's certainly a very 'real' experience. We helped out at clinics and also worked on some sanitation projects (e.g. constructing toilets) which was really good with everyone in the village working together.

The medicine is also pretty different to what you'll have experienced in the US with much of the emphasis on malnutrition - the whole experience can be quite humbling. It was a lot of fun because the children in the village are always very keen to interact and you end up playing lots of games and stuff.

Dr. David speaks very good English but in the hill tribes only a few people do - often some of the older children as they are taught at school. But half the fun is realising how those language barriers overcome.

Lastly, a Mr. Granger got in touch with us:

Hey Mitch,

That's awesome that you're thinking about volunteering with WTIND! I think Dr. David would be able to offer you an incredible experience, especially as a med student.

WTIND is definitely legitimate and safe. Dr. David takes very good care of his volunteers and offers great learning experiences. And I definitely had a fun time. The kids in the villages are awesome. When we weren't doing some sort of work, we were playing games with kids. There was a language barrier, as most people in the villages speak different Burmese dialects, but Dr. David speaks the languages of all the villages and Thai and English, so he is able to translate when needed. Also, I think you'll find that although you don't speak the same language, it's easy to build unique and meaningful relationships.

Tim's friend got back to us too, and she had good things to say as well.

Overall, it sounded great, and everyone on the team was psyched about starting the project.  Of course, as we learned in Addiction Medicine, once you get past the contemplative and planning stages, you've got to take action, and, as it always is with things like this, our work had just begun.

On that note, I just want to thank, on behalf of the WTIND Tufts Crew, everyone that got in touch with us about this project. Past volunteers, friends, and Dr. Mar Naw himself, without your feedback, we may never have started down this road.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Mitch