Our focus is on short-term missions. By keeping the mission trips down to 2-3 weeks in duration, the average person can take their vacation time and have a life changing experience volunteering their time and talents in refugee camps in remote areas.

Presently, we are focusing on the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Burma who have been forced to live under life threatening conditions in the jungle and over-crowded refugee camps along the Thailand/Burma border.

In the past, we have taken doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, pastors, carpenters and every day lay people willing to step forward and make a difference in someone else's life. We go on each trip expecting to bring hope to others, but we come away so touched by their courage and strength that we will never be the same again.

We prefer to purchase the majority of our supplies on the border but can take limited donated items with us. We can buy medicine, food, clothing, etc. for a very nominal amount in the border shops. For instance, we can buy enough anti-malarial medicine to cure one person for just over a dollar. Rice, chili's, yellow beans, milk powder, vegetable, and fruit can be bought in bulk and taken in via truck for distribution. We do prefer to buy vitamins here in the states to take with us because they are of higher quality here.

If you would like to help us purchase any of the above items, donations to our organization would be greatly appreciated. All donations are tax deductible.

From this web site you can read trip journals (with photos) of Betty's (Pee Tah Thoo) various trips. There are also links to all our outreaches and Child Sponsor Program on the main page.

Col. Tom Miller is retired from the USAF and lives with his Hawaiian wife, Keikelia on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The photo shows Tom (at 71 years young!) during one of the hikes to the top of the Waianae Mt. Range that were part of his training work out prior to the trip. We asked him to be President of our organization in 1994.

Dr. Jim Borden MD General Surgeon and Vice President of IAG.
Dr. Jim is shown here with Dr. Po Thah Dah, the Assistant Minister of Health for the Karen Nation.
Dr. Jim is a general surgeon living in South Dakota. He has volunteered his time and worked in the remote refugee hospitals and clinics. We became friends with Jim when Betty worked in his office in Fairbanks, Alaska for 7 years

Jeffery Bergman is the SE Asia Director for IAG. He is a gem dealer living in Bangkok and is our translator in Thailand.

Betty Stribling is Secretary for IAG. Betty worked for Dr. Jim Borden and Dr. Bill Montano in their surgical office in Fairbanks, Alaska for 7 years. In 1991, she moved to Waianae, Hawaii.

The section leader of Mae La Camp,B'SharLoe is on the far left of this picture. B'Shar Loe has lost one eye and one forearm. He is Betty's traveling companion (for her safety) when she is over there. Pah Nya (Center) lives in a home for handicapped people where there are others to help him. He lost both eyes and both hands in a land mine explosion. IAG has provided some support for Pah Nya as he is unable to work.

Truck Ride~~ This is a picture of Sandy Beckham, Betty Shipley and Dr. Jim Borden in the back of one of the trucks they took to get to the village in Burma they were heading for. The Karen held area was very hard to get to prior to 1995. The first leg of the trip was a long 17 hr. plane trip to Bangkok, Thailand. After spending one day and night there, the team boarded a night bus and rode all night to the border town of Mae Sot. After buying food and more supplies in Mae Sot, they would be loaded onto a truck and taken to the river boat landing. At the river, all the footlockers full of medicine and supplies and personal gear would be transferred from the trucks into long boats. The boat ride was about 3 hours long and it was the highlight of the trip to that point. The lush jungle and mountains rising up on both sides of the river did not even hint at the suffering and atrocities being carried out just a few miles away. The boat would take us to our host village and we would take day trips by boat to outlying villages to conduct clinics and visit the schools and churches. We would also take the boat across the river into Burma for day trips by truck to some of the villages on the Burma side.

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