Local resident Gloria Luff recently spent 10 days in Thailand delivering Operation Christmas Child boxes on behalf of the local community. During her visit to Thailand, Gloria witnessed extreme poverty, bewildering courage and circumstances beyond our imagination.

Gloria spoke to the Tribune, reflecting on her experiences, highlights and emotions…

For over 30 years Operation Christmas Child has been giving under privileged children something to smile about.

Each year people from over 150 countries around the world fill shoe boxes with gifts, which are hand delivered to young children throughout the world by generous souls.

On January 13, 2008, Gloria set off on her way to Thailand to be one of those generous souls.

“It was the experience of a lifetime,” Gloria told the Tribune. “I’ve travelled to third world countries before, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Upon landing in Bangkok, Gloria travelled to Mae Sot, a busy town near the Burmese border. During her stay, she hand delivered presents to children in the Karen refugee camp and the Hasthoo Lei orphanage.

“The children born in the refugee camps have never left the grounds in their lives,” Gloria explained. “Sometimes there’s up to three generations of families in those camps.”

Spirited, courageous children inspired the missionaries, who soon moved onto a tribal village by the name of Tapberg, some 1800 metres above sea level.

The foreigners experienced a welcoming, unique culture first hand. Such a remote environment seems extremely hard for most people to comprehend.

“One little girl was given a Barbie doll with blonde hair,” Gloria recalls. “She’d never seen blonde hair before. She stroked it for a long time.”

After developing bonds with locals, learning about foreign culture and delivering gifts, Gloria and her fellow workers departed en route to the Hmong refugee camp.

The camp is home to thousands of refugees from Laos, who like the immigrants in the Karen Camp, may have never seen the outside world.

Experiencing such horrendous conditions proved a significant eye opener for the Australian.

“It was very emotional and thought provoking,” Gloria said. “Just to see their faces and hear their squeals of delight when they received their boxes was a highlight.”

The party also visited an International Mercy orphanage.

“Seeing their faces when they were given a box was amazing. The children would kiss me, hug me and cling onto my legs. They were delighted.”

Mattachanupatham School, in the Thai province of Petchabun, would serve as the tour’s final destination in Thailand.

On January 23, Gloria Luff returned to Australia with a whole new perspective on life.

“It’s a privilege to be chosen to serve in this ministry, and to actually place a gift filled shoe box in a child’s hands, ” Gloria said. “It was the trip of a lifetime. I recommend it.”

Now back in Australia, Gloria would like to thank Carina Card, Yass’ Operation Christmas Child’s coordinator; Wednesday’s craft group, for sewing, knitting and generously making items for boxes; local schools; Professor Woods, for donating dental needs; the many people who have donated time gifts and money; and to the many generous societies and clubs of Yass.

This year’s collection for Yass tallied to 549 boxes, an awesome effort. For ACT and country NSW area 25,572 boxes were collected that’s 60 per cent more than the previous year. This is a fantastic effort for a state struggling with the effects of drought.

For any information on Samaritans Purse or Operation Christmas Child you can contact Carina Card on 0408 690 905.