Historical information

Purchased from a Dr. Toole, working in a Laotian refugee camp Ban-Nan-Yao in north eastern Thailand, near Chiang Mae. Under his direction the refugees are making these panels for funds for the camp.
Dr. Michael Toole, an eminent Australian epidemiologist and public health expert, (from the Burnet Institute in Melbourne) has dedicated his career to international public health, disaster response, and communicable disease control.
• Refugee Camp Work: He extensively worked with and published research on displaced populations, war, and nutritional deficiencies in refugee camps—specifically during the Indochinese refugee crises of the late 1970s and 1980s, where hundreds of thousands of Laotians fled to camps in Thailand.
• Laos Projects: He later collaborated on public health capacity-building and health initiatives directly inside Laos.

Physical description

Central square of dark blue with white appliqué in a geometric design. Borders of yellow green, red, yellow, green and red. Inner band of red has a wide herringbone in navy tied with tiny white stitches.