Dear Friends,

Happy holidays from the volunteers, staff, and villagers of Andaman Discoveries! We hope this greeting finds you in good cheer and surrounded by friends and loved ones.

We want to thank you for being part of Andaman Discoveries. Thank you for joining this worldwide family that is doing so much good on a local level.

Because of guests, volunteers, and friends like you, we accomplished many great things this year. With your help, we placed volunteers in schools, helped restore mangrove forests, supported community-based tourism, and spread our message across the world. Here are just a few highlights of our cooperation with the villages we serve:

• We sponsored 130 students with another year of full scholarships, ensuring these students will have access to an education and the funds to cover textbooks and materials
• Strong partnerships helped shine the international spotlight on innovative solutions to conservation challenges such as mangrove restoration and protecting a critically endangered water lily
• New long-term volunteering programs at the Southern Thailand Orphanage and at the Burmese Learning Center have brought desperately needed income and educational opportunities to disadvantaged children
• Livelihood training and marketing outreach resulted in increased orders for local handicraft cooperatives, bringing much needed additional income to the communities
• With the help of the North Andaman Community Tourism (N-ACT) Network, we responded to the needs of several new communities interested in using tourism as a tool for sustainable development
• We were finalists in the BBC World Challenge and the winner of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Green Award for best tour operator, bringing further recognition and awareness of our work

As we reflect on our accomplishments and take stock in our bounty this season, we are extremely grateful -- especially in these difficult times -- for your continued support and interest in our pioneering work. Looking ahead, we will depend on your continued support to help communities protect their culture and resources.

Come visit -- we would love to introduce you to this beautiful, untouched region of Thailand for a community tour or as a volunteer. If you've already been, you can always spread the word to your friends and family, or come back and see what's new.

Holiday requests... If travel isn't on your agenda, you can always help out by contributing to our scholarship program and/or supporting the monthly salary of Pink, our all-star youth group leader. For those of you who read our newsletter regularly or have visited the village of Ban Talae Nok, you're already familiar with Ladda "Pink" Aharn's extraordinary work as leader of the village youth group -- in the last year they have restored a former shrimp pond, performed educational puppet shows about global warming, and hosted an international seminar with youth from six other countries. Please consider sponsoring her monthly salary ($180) so she can continue developing her role as a community leader while raising a family.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support. Happy Holidays!