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SATURDAY, JANUARY 7. 1961 wr % Henderson with Chinese girl he adopted. IS summer I met a Toronto boy sailing down the Mekong River in Laos. His water-craft was a native pirou -- a canoe hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, and equipped with an outboard motor on the stern, It was loaded high with tent, stove, medical supplies, as well as professional survey equip- ment. Bob Brocklebank headed a Canadian team assigned to make a survey of the Mekong River for the United Nations, These Canadians were, in many' cases, the only white men the Lao villagers had ever seen, The Laos crowded down to the bamboo jetty, wearing their ® colorful, em- broidered clothes and enormous silver bangles, The headman wel- comed the team to spend the night in his house -- usually the only one with a floor in the village. An all-night song and dance celebration began. Yet. these villagers, so friendly and hospitable to the men from Canada, are the targets of an in- tensive Communist propaganda campaign. Nearly all of Laos is jungle and, as a rule, government administration stops where the high- way ends, In the giant forests of bamboo and teak, the Communist guerillas have free run. They col- lect taxes, administer law, And, of course, they spread the message of Mao: "Join the struggle for World Communism!" HE lesson of this story is that Communism is making deep in- roads in Asia and, in many cases, the West is doing little about it, So it is good to know that young Canadians, like Bob Brocklebank, are beginning to make their way to the villages and show these friendly people what the West has to offer, Bob's job is to chart the possibilities of the Mekong to pro- vide irrigation, power and industry that would transform the lives of these Lao villagers. His report is now in the hands of the United Nations, But many other Cana- dians need to follow him, if Asia is to be kept free, Back home in Canada, the letters come pouring in, bearing strange, foreign postmarks, telling about the adventures of our local men -- and women -- in far-flung parts of the world. Every Christmas, fifteen tons of mail (letters and gifts) come back from members of our armed forces, serving with UNEF in Egypt, the International Truce Commis- sion in Indo-China, and now with the RCCS contingent with the UN Forces in the Congo. These letters from abroad spark a new awareness of world events, as they affect Canada, In public speaking across this country, I have been brought in touch with thou- sands of my fellow countrymen who are deeply concerned with what is happening in other lands. "What can we do?" is their most frequent question, E very first thing Canadians have to do is to show the people of the world, and especially of the under-developed countries, that we are vitally interested in them, We cannot afford to let them think that their only friends are the com- munists, Where there is need, we must be there -- where there is fear, we must bring aid -- where there is hope, we must nourish. its fulfillment, \ Many Canadians are taking this advices. Many groups and 'indivi- duals have now adopted refugee children, in Hong Kong, and else- where, This may be done through the Foster Parents Plan, Montreal. The cost is little more than $100.00 a year per child. The reward in personal happiness is enormous. Let me tell you about my own Chinese adopted daughter, Hey name is Cheng Li, She is one of the two million refugees from Com- munist China who today roam the streets of Hong Kong looking. for, PAGE THREF, Local News In Far Places BY LARRY HENDERSON Canadians must help these people. food or work. Many die every day without finding either, HENG Li is nine years old and has never been to school, She lives with her grandmother and fourteen-year-old brother, who earns the living. This summer, when I was in Hong Kong, I enrolled Li in the Foster Parents Plan, Now: she goes to school in an Anglican Mission, She has enough food and clothing for the first time in her life, It was a glorious day for both of us when we went shopping for her first doll, If every church, or service group, in Canada adopted one little child, there would be no hungry refugee children in Hong Kong, Canada's future depends on the under-developed nations of the world, where three quarters of man- Canadians serving with UN in Congo. kind lives. If we neglect these na- tions, they will inevitably fall into the Communist orbit, AT'S why what happens in the world is of vital concern to every Canadian, But this calls for more than just good-will, CARE packages and adoption plans -- al-, though all of these things are urgently necessary, We must look outward, especially on the lands of Africa and Asia, as fields of en- deavor, Our young people must study more Asian languages, Our young engineers and doctors and graduates in agriculture must think about making their careers abroad, The frontiers of Canada today lie not in the north-west, but in the Himalayas, in the jungles of Laos and Africa, and wherever the struggle for democracy leads us,