We Are Family

We Are Family



Nearly four decades ago, my doctoral thesis at McCormick Theological Seminary related to the local church functioning as an extended family. Regardless of one’s ethnicity within a local congregation, I wrote about the theological justification for the members of that church being a family.

Interestingly, years later that insight has risen to a much higher plateau. Having traveled many places throughout the world, my perspective has grown far more expansive than a local congregation. I can trace my seeing the light to my two trips to Myanmar/Burma. During winter break from teaching in 2013, I spent a month traveling in Myanmar’s tourist triangle.

When I returned to the States, I had a routine appointment with Dr. Marchand, my cardiologist. He checked my heart and said that I was fine and added that he would see me in six months unless I had any questions. I did have a question...a haunting question. Why was I so wired about my time spent in Myanmar? He looked at me and said, “You have seen the light”. Essentially, he wanted me to determine why that single country had radically affected me far more than the several dozen other countries that I had visited over the past half century.

I came up with several reasons without having to ponder his question. I had met and later interviewed Min Ko Naing, one of the major protest leaders involved in the 88 Uprising. He invited me to a protest rally that afternoon at Sule Pagoda where a quarter of a century before was the place of the 88 Uprising.

Additionally, I met Moh Moh, one of my tour guides while in Myanmar. I got to know Ko Ko, her husband, and their three daughters, Ti Ti, Snow, and Fatty. Ti Ti was nine at the time and happened to be on winter break while her younger two sisters were in a preschool daycare center. I visited the preschool and talked with the younger two. I met Ko Ko at their home, but Ti Ti and I played Scrabble and talked for nearly an hour. She is fluent in American English and is brilliant. I left their home feeling like I had met my granddaughter. My intention for going to Myanmar was to interview Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, often called the Lady. Instead, I discovered a young lady, Ti Ti.

Four years later, I returned to Myanmar and still wanting to interview the Lady. However, visiting with Ti Ti, Snow, Fatty, and their parents was my top priority. I spent the best week of my life with my family near Inle Lake. They showed me around the area, but we also just sat, talked, laughed, and played games.

Before I left to return to the States, I told Ti Ti that I don’t like using laptops for my online teaching and working on my webpage. I have two large monitors and wish that I had three. Therefore, my laptop, which I used for storing photos and videos that I took in Myanmar, would be taken home and download them to my computer. Then I would put the laptop on my bookshelf until my next trip, or I could give Ti Ti my laptop. I chose the latter.

Ti Ti and I were happy about my choice. Yet, what about the other children that go to school with my grandchildren? Most of them don’t have or have even used a computer. Those children are a part of my extended family. I can’t think of any educational tool that is more critically important than a computer for teaching and learning process regardless of age. This is even more true in an emerging nation like Myanmar. Computers are vital.

Then it hit me. I will raise the necessary money to provide laptops for the two schools that my grandchildren attend. I need to provide financial resources so that Internet providers can drastically increase bandwidth to facilitate content delivery, streaming lesson videos, and alike. Additionally, I need to assist the schools’ on-going costs of broadband expenses. I estimate that my dream of providing both schools with greatly improved bandwidth, some subsidies for ongoing broadband expenses, and 1250 laptops will be around $500,000.

This is where you come into the picture. I am asking you to consider one or more of the following requests. I’d suggest all three.

1. I am asking you to contribute to the money necessary to enhance the Internet reception and purchase 1250 laptops. Consider contributing to the purchase of one or a hundred laptops and improving Internet reception.

2. My next request is to send this link, We Are Family, to ten of your friends and ask them to send it to ten of their friends…ad infinitum. Bobby Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.” I am a dreamer, but my dreams will benefit my extended family in Myanmar with your help.

3. My final request is to consider returning with me to Myanmar with all the laptops for the two schools. The sooner that I raise a half million dollars, the sooner that we can go to Myanmar and see where your investment in laptops will benefit the education of the next generation.

We are family. It is up to our family members to help others within the family. However, I discovered a truth that seems like an oxymoron. It is in giving that you get. You will feel the amazing reward as much as any of the students will feel with access to laptops. Trust me.




We Are Family in Myanmar, Inc. is a nonprofit charity. If you have any questions, please let me know how I can assist you. Contributions, which are tax deductible, can be sent to the following address.


We Are Family in Myanmar, Inc.
8355 Doubletree Drive North
Crown Point, IN 46307

(219) 310-8064

campbell@wolverton-mountain.com




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The Battle of the Alamo… Past, Present, and Future
I Love Teaching… Here in Myanmar or Anywhere
Ti Ti, the Driven An Exceptional Young Lady
My Commencement Address... To the World
Grasping Reality While My Clock Is Ticking
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Ti Ti, the Teacher Of Her Classmates and Me
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My Great-Granddaughter A Younger Version of My Granddaughters
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Christmas: Past, Present, and Future
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Bobby Burns’ Message…For Ti Ti
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s
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The World is Dancing…Dancing with Death
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The Cave vs Reality...That is the Question.
A Teaching MomentFor Today and the Future
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Mr. ChipsAn Updated Version
Moh Moh’s Interview of Me
Than’s Interview of Me
Snowaka Eppie
Happy Birthday Fatty…An Incarnation of Eppie
Than Tun OoArtist and Friend
The Teak BridgePart 2 of a 4 Parts Series
Reflections on My LifeIn My Twilight Years
A Present-Day ParableWhich Can Be Understood
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It Is All About the Song…In the Days of Auld Lang Syne
My Swan SongAnd My Family’s Swan Song
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I Found Another Incarnation of Bo Bo GyiWhile on Inle Lake
Autotelic Vincent, Me, and Modafinil
Perspective What You See Is What You Get.
The Reason for the Hole in the Mountain This Isn’t Fake News
Plagiarism Sharpie-Gate
I Get That Ibn Battuta Loved Travel… But Why?
Modafinil— The Pill that Stopped My Meandering
Troll’s Tongue Or Troll’s Tail
My Yearning for Faraway Places… That I’ve Never Been or Will See Again
My Wonder Drug Modafinil
A Teaching Moment “Catch the Trade Winds in Your Sails”
Either/Or…Part 2 I Can Live with a Dent
Starry, Starry Night…. What Do You See?
Learning Important Lessons About Life… From a U-2 Pilot
My Next Adventure: The Die is Cast
Balloons Over Bagan Also, a Time to Learn About the Past
I Did It My Way An Important Mentor
Music as a Unifying Force Also for Oneself
My Family Escaped From the Jurassic Park in Myanmar
More Music More Defining
Family Who Is Your Family?
Another Déjà Vu In the Arts and Philosophy
Fatty…. My Karate Granddaughter
The Discovery in Tibet Possibly a Relative of Mine
Wanderlust Travel with No Regret
The Moving Finger Writes And the Writings Haunt Me
Several Things That I Need in Life And That’s When I Need You
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Jacob Soboroff
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Contacting Clarence Page
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Contacting Rod Stewart
Scared! Seen as a Teaching Moment
It Is A Bridge Too Far Only If You Are a Coward
Coffin Bridge… Build What You Need
Vocation of An Old Man… Being a Bridge Builder
My Granddaughter… Knows How to Play Her Cards
I Will Rage, Rage… On Behalf of 1250 Students and One Celestial Comet
Three Songs Morphed Together Creating Meaning in Life
The Purpose of the Universe Or My Window on the World
Ti Ti… A Remarkable Young Lady
Dealing with the Reaper By Coming Alive and Living
Dreaming…. About My Moment in Time
One Moment in Time Carpe Diem
Warren Buffett Don’t Sleep Walk Through Life
I Made a Mistake… Imagine That
Something to Dream About While Waiting for the IRS’s Approval
Solution for the Wall Issue in Washington… Have Another Wall
Making Your Mark The Issue is What Kind of Mark
Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse It Is a Good Sign for Me
The Wall Issue The True Value of a Wall
Pa Pa Al’s Grandfatherly Advice To Ti Ti Who Doesn’t Need It.
Reflections
Thanksgiving Celebration… In Nyaung Shwe
A New Year’s Eve With a New Resolution for the Coming Year
Christmas Gifts for Owen From People Around the World
Christmas Gifts for Jack From People Around the World
What Drives Me… My Himalayan Salt Lamps
It’s All About Family I Agree with John Lewis
Mini-Me and Dr. Evil… Then and Now
Reflections on The Magnificent Seven…
The Magnificent Seven… My Dream Team
Would You Like Some Vintage Wine? I Would!
Way Back Home… In America and Myanmar
I Celebrate Two Thanksgiving Days… And This Is Why
"Look at Me I Am Old but I’m Happy"
Building a Log Cabin You Are Really Smart; I’ll Tell My Brother
Another Dinner and Date with Ginger On Election Night
Dreaming The Drug for Realizing Your Hopes
Serendipitous Moments in My Life And They Are Haunting Me
Happy Birthday to My Ginger Pooh Who is Two
Snow, the Virtuoso Träumerei and The Great Gate of Kiev
It Is In Giving That We Get Being Like Bobby
Parallels Between the Spider Woman and Me Money
Why Papa? Answering the Why Questions
The Ripple Effect… “…Can Sweep Down the Mightiest Walls.”
Eppie… Then and Now
GiGi And Her Message to Betsy
Ti Ti’s Birthday Present On Her 14th Birthday
It’s All Begins with Making My Bed— Which Ginger Unmakes
The Weaker Sex Will Soon Be the Dominant Sex
If I fail, If I Fail… I Will While Daring Greatly
It Is a Matter of Either / Or… It Is a Matter of Either / Or… Lady Liberty or Donald the Dumb, Despicable, and Dishonest.
Ti Ti, Snow, and Fatty Having Fun Without PaPa Al
Pa Lian Pa Lian Burmese Restaurant A Place Where I Learned a History Lesson
Ti Ti And Family Ti Ti and Her Family My Assistants in Myanmar
Moh Moh Bobby And Me Moh Moh, Bobby, and Me…. All Dreamers
bobbys-suggestion thumbnail Bobby’s Suggestion About My Problems… A School in Taunggyi, Myanmar
teaching-goal thumbnail My Teaching Goal Teach in Taunggyi, Southern Shan State, Myanmar
marner-me thumbnail Marner and Eppie Me and the Girls
family thumbnail We Are Family Versus Racism