What a year 2008 was!!!!!!!!!

The year 2007 ended with my wife, son and fourteen College of Charleston students in Viet Nam working with orphans, doing food and hunger relief and making an effort to make a difference. Those College of Charleston students lives were changed as they did some special work.

During the next six months, Liz Henderson stayed behind to do Think About the Children's work. The cultural differences frustrated us all. I had to remind myself that Liz was young and just graduated from C of C. She was able to place a very small library at Ms Don's orphanage. With the help of West Hampton Beach High School she was able to get a large library built at Thuy Bang high school near Hue. Then our first school opened in A Luoi thanks to Vi's dad Dung.

You can see the little school, the kids and parents at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_osOmfi309Y

Liz is now working in VN as a teacher. She started as the principal and a teacher at the International school in Hue. Can you conceive of being a first year teacher 10,000 miles from home only to find out on your first day that you are also the principal. What an experience! She has now moved a few miles south to Da Nang and is teaching there at the sister International school. I wonder how many college students can accomplish so much so fast. It didn't come easy. There were many doubters, but Liz learned from her msitakes and kept moving forward. She has grown so much and her future of making a difference is so bright.

I'm training to do a lot of races this spring, summer and fall. It's been a while since I've worked out hard with a long term goal. My goal is to do 1/2 Ironman distance races two weekends in a row and then compete in a full Ironman race in late 2009 or 2010. I've entered the Ironman Hawaii Lottery. That's a shot in the dark, but I'd love to compete there for American veterans with serious combat injuries. I'm doing this for Operation Rebound Florida. This group helps combat veteran amputees find satisfaction in athletic competition. The funds raised help veterans with the expenses to compete as athletes again in spite of their injuries.

Please donate a few dollars at http://FloridaRFAR2009.kintera.org/drthomasemurray

My first race is the Disney Marathon on January 11. The other races stretch into the summer. This effort to help veterans brings the Think About the Children work full circle. We've helped Vietnamese kids and will continue to do so. We're now helping Americans combat veterans find a path to a rewarding life after serious life-changing injury.

We've applied for a Fulbright Grant to take teachers to VN in the summer of 2009. If we are funded it will be another step to connect USA teachers and students to VN teachers and students.

Happy New Year 2009.