By MELANIE WELLS, For the News-Miner
Published Friday, October 9, 2009
Published Friday, October 9, 2009
Fifteen years ago, former Fairbanks resident Steve Gumaer walked into a refugee camp on the Thailand-Burma border and met Rose Mu. A widowed teacher who had been raped and tortured by soldiers of the Burmese army, Mu had escaped to safety in Thailand. She wanted to start a home for Burmese children orphaned by war, but she needed help; she needed partners.
Gumaer and his wife became those partners. They started a newsletter that grew into an international relief agency called Partners, a registered charity in six countries.
Every October, friends and supporters in Fairbanks host a benefit banquet to raise funds for Partners and the work they are doing to help Burmese refugees. This year, Sarah Lapa, Partners’ children’s projects coordinator, will travel from Thailand to speak on behalf of her own Burmese people.
Lapa, a rice farmer, grew up in northeastern Burma’s Shan state, which borders China and Laos and is largely rural. She speaks seven languages and is responsible for overseeing the largest war zone education initiative on the planet. It provides school supplies for 60,000 kids and subsidizes salaries for 2,825 teachers in conflict areas. She also oversees 17 youth dorms along the Burma border.
The annual Partners Banquet is an opportunity to not only help orphaned children, but raise awareness about on-going atrocities by the military government in Burma. (The military junta changed the country’s name to “Myanmar” in 1991, but many indigenous people refuse to recognize it.) Burma’s democratically elected prime minister, Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong Sahn Sue Chee), has been imprisoned and held indefinitely under house arrest since 1990. She is a Nobel laureate.
The vision of Partners Relief and Development is to offer practical help in the form of food, medicine, shelter and survival supplies to hundreds of families and communities victimized by war. They train relief teams to provide emergency medical assistance, and care for orphans and unaccompanied minors in conflict zones. They provide jobs and training in public health, agricultural development and local crafts. They have built youth dorms, orphanages, medical clinics and water systems. They believe that, with their partners in developed nations like the Unites States, they can bring help, hope and love to the refugee children and their families.
At Saturday’s banquet, guest speaker Lapa will share from her personal experience as a child growing up in war-torn Burma and will advocate for free, full lives for the children of Burma. Dinner will be catered by The Works, and the evening will include music by local singer-songwriters and the all-female bluegrass quartet, O Tallulah. A queen-sized quilt will be raffled. Previous banquets have raised from $7,000 to $20,000 in proceeds for Partners’ work in Burma.
Gumaer and his wife became those partners. They started a newsletter that grew into an international relief agency called Partners, a registered charity in six countries.
Every October, friends and supporters in Fairbanks host a benefit banquet to raise funds for Partners and the work they are doing to help Burmese refugees. This year, Sarah Lapa, Partners’ children’s projects coordinator, will travel from Thailand to speak on behalf of her own Burmese people.
Lapa, a rice farmer, grew up in northeastern Burma’s Shan state, which borders China and Laos and is largely rural. She speaks seven languages and is responsible for overseeing the largest war zone education initiative on the planet. It provides school supplies for 60,000 kids and subsidizes salaries for 2,825 teachers in conflict areas. She also oversees 17 youth dorms along the Burma border.
The annual Partners Banquet is an opportunity to not only help orphaned children, but raise awareness about on-going atrocities by the military government in Burma. (The military junta changed the country’s name to “Myanmar” in 1991, but many indigenous people refuse to recognize it.) Burma’s democratically elected prime minister, Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong Sahn Sue Chee), has been imprisoned and held indefinitely under house arrest since 1990. She is a Nobel laureate.
The vision of Partners Relief and Development is to offer practical help in the form of food, medicine, shelter and survival supplies to hundreds of families and communities victimized by war. They train relief teams to provide emergency medical assistance, and care for orphans and unaccompanied minors in conflict zones. They provide jobs and training in public health, agricultural development and local crafts. They have built youth dorms, orphanages, medical clinics and water systems. They believe that, with their partners in developed nations like the Unites States, they can bring help, hope and love to the refugee children and their families.
At Saturday’s banquet, guest speaker Lapa will share from her personal experience as a child growing up in war-torn Burma and will advocate for free, full lives for the children of Burma. Dinner will be catered by The Works, and the evening will include music by local singer-songwriters and the all-female bluegrass quartet, O Tallulah. A queen-sized quilt will be raffled. Previous banquets have raised from $7,000 to $20,000 in proceeds for Partners’ work in Burma.
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