Refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia: the good, the bad and the unexpected

The majority of refugees in Malaysia are from Myanmar.  

EPA/Ahmad Yusni

Many so-called “irregular migrants” who end up on boats bound for Australia have come through Malaysia at some stage of their odyssey to claim asylum and protection.
Protection is vital for people fleeing persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. Malaysia offers some protection for those seeking asylum.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Vietnamese boat people started to arrive in Malaysia. Soon they were arriving in large numbers and Malaysia became the temporary home to more than 250,000 of them. But Malaysia was only willing to act as an offshore processing entity as it deemed the influx of such vast numbers and their ethnic make-up (many were ethnic Chinese) as problematic.
Under the Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees of 1989, Malaysia became a first protection space for these boat people. They were housed in camps and had to wait several years for a durable solution that usually meant resettlement in a third country.
In 2005, the last Vietnamese refugee left Malaysia and was voluntarily repatriated to Vietnam after spending more than 20 years in Malaysia. He had spent most of this time in camps and after the closure of the Sungai Besi camp in 1996 lived amongst the community as an illegal immigrant.
Malaysia, like most other Southeast Asian countries, has not signed the refugee convention and protocol and therefore asylum seekers and refugees are deemed to be illegal immigrants by law, although the UNHCR continually receives assurances that refugees with UNHCR papers will not be arrested by authorities. This often does not trickle down to enforcement staff on the ground and transgressions are occasionally reported.
The situation has improved over the past two years with a decrease in raids and less overt rent-seeking on the part of the authorities. Nevertheless, life for refugees and asylum seekers remains tough in Malaysia, as they generally receive no direct financial support for housing and food from the UNHCR. Thus they must find illegal work to support themselves and their families.
This puts them at risk of daily detection and imprisonment or at least a variety of rent-seeking mechanisms, such as authorities asking for “financial contributions”. This form of daily harassment is commonplace and many refugees factor this into their daily travels to and from work. Others work for employers that also provide them with makeshift housing where they work long hours for minimal pay. Many receive just $200-300 a month to work as mechanics, gardeners or on plantations.
But these are the lucky ones. Life is much worse for those who cannot find work. Most vulnerable are smaller refugee communities, for whom finding paid work is hardest. Somali, Sudanese and other African refugees in particular face hardship, often relying on family and friends resettled to the West for survival.
Some report racism from potential employers and landlords that makes even finding a place to live difficult. In desperate situations such as these, people quickly lose all hope for a better future resulting in severe mental health issues.
Health Equity Initiative, a Malaysian NGO working with refugees on mental health issues, issued a report in 2010 titled “Between a rock and a hard place”. It paints a damning picture of the situation for Afghan refugees in Malaysia.
They are trapped in an existence neither here nor there, where their children have minimal access to education, the parents have no work rights and their hope for a better future is on indefinite hold.
It is desperate situations such as these that push some to contemplate the treacherous journey by boat to Australia. But this is only the smallest part of the story. There are around 100,000 asylum seekers and refugees registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, and an additional tens of thousands of asylum seekers outside of UNHCR purview.
The vast majority of them have found some limited protection in Malaysia, many have work and some access to community run schools and health centres. In 2011, UNHCR resettled 8,370 refugees to third countries, a number that will increase this year. There clearly is hope for some and they are making the best of the situation.
Refugees from Myanmar, who are the vast majority of refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, are very well organised, maintain community organisations and provide an array of services in combination with local NGOs. This is much harder for smaller refugee communities, which do not have the resources, cultural or religious support networks and critical mass of leaders and organisers at their disposal.
Thus refugee communities in Malaysia have varied experiences, which will influence their responses to long waiting times for resettlement, educational and work opportunities. The diversity of these experiences gets lost when we focus on the very limited amount of boat people arriving in Australian waters.
The situation in Malaysia makes it paramount to respond to the people dying on their way here through a regional lens that incorporates an understanding of the pressures in source, transit and destination countries.

http://theconversation.edu.au

Everyone loves having good neighbours

In the past two months, Thailand has received two prominent figures from its former pariah neighbour, Myanmar.

That the recent visits to Thailand by Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, left, and President Thein Sein, above, were such big news items here shows a changing mentality among Thai people towards welcoming a former enemy now seen as a resource-rich potential business partner.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi visited in June and reformist president Thein Sein has just concluded a trip focusing on trade collaboration.

Despite both being hailed as successful in their own way, each carried contrasting messages to the kingdom.

Mrs Suu Kyi's visit was to attend the World Economic Forum in Bangkok and she received full media coverage and attention. This was a rock star visit and a huge inspiration to many Thais and migrant Myanmar people.

At the forum, Mrs Suu Kyi's message was to warn investors against "reckless optimism" in Myanmar's political reform.

"Even the best investment laws would be of no use whatsoever if there are no courts that are clean enough and independent enough to be able to administer those laws justly," she said. "This is our problem: So far we have not been aware of any reforms on the judicial front."

Was she overly pessimistic, as some observers suggested? At the very least, Mrs Suu Kyi definitely contradicted the nature of Thein Sein's visit this week.

Last week, the former general and protege of Than Shwe landed at Don Mueang airport. Although his arrival was rather modest compared to that of Mrs Suu Kyi, Thai newspapers still treated it as front-page news _ a sign of Myanmar's newfound respectability.

Thai radio and television also covered the visit with discussions focusing on Myanmar's recent political opening and, of course, newfound business opportunities in the mysterious once-hermit nation _ a traditional enemy of Thailand's ancient Lanna and Siamese kingdoms.

His visit was transparently all about boosting business between the neighbours and inviting more investment rather than preaching democracy and human rights.

Activists were bound to be disappointed, even if they were perhaps not surprised, that these thorny subjects remained conspicuously absent from talks.

The fact is Thailand is the second largest investor in Myanmar _ bilateral trade amounted to US$6.1 billion (195 billion baht) last year and was beaten only by China.

Since 1988, a flurry of Thai generals and businessmen have frequently visited Myanmar despite its appalling human rights record and the thousands of political prisoners kept incarcerated. The bottom line is that Thailand has never missed an opportunity to develop commercial relations.

More importantly, Thai leaders were the ones who broke Myanmar's diplomatic isolation under Saw Maung after he staged a bloody coup in September 1988. Then-army chief Chavalit Yongchaiyudh led businessmen on a controversial visit to Myanmar.

So it is not surprising to see that Thai-Myanmar relations remain strong despite occasional hiccups over the past decade.

Last week, Thein Sein, who once served as commander of the Triangle Command overseeing the Thailand, Laos and Myanmar border area, signed three memoranda of understanding aimed at tightening economic links between the two countries.

The MoUs focused on the Dawei deep-sea port on Myanmar's southwest coast as well as development cooperation in Myanmar and joint energy sector projects. There is a plan to link Dawei with the Laem Chabang deep-sea port in Chon Buri province to dramatically cut transport time between central Thailand and Chennai in India.

Thailand cannot readily afford to lose Dawei _ the multi-billion-dollar port and special economic zone project is in doubt following Nay Pyi Taw's rejection of a coal-fired power plant in the area and the withdrawal of domestic partner, the Max Myanmar Group. Thai construction conglomerate Italian-Thai Development, the scheme's major backer, is reportedly struggling to raise the finances needed to make it happen.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra thanked Thein Sein for his "reaffirmed commitment to Dawei" and added that "both sides agreed to build connectivity between Dawei and Laem Chabang", which he visited on July 22.

Thein Sein also met top executives from Charoen Pokphand, Siam Cement Group and PTT Plc, which will soon be investing more in Myanmar.

There is no doubt that Thai investors are upbeat as Western nations, including the United States, ease sanctions on Myanmar as they know their neighbour still has plenty to offer. Although there is more discussion needed on how Thailand's business investments will be protected, Thais are quite optimistic that Myanmar's recent political and economic opening will not make an abrupt U-turn. There is even renewed interest among Thais to learn Burmese, Myanmar's lingua franca.

Myanmar's natural energy resources will be the biggest area of mutual interest between the neighbouring countries.

Ms Yingluck visited Myanmar last year and deals announced at the time included two oil field concessions granted to Thailand.

Thailand does not have abundant domestic energy supplies and benefits greatly by having a source of natural gas sitting next door. There is also a political dynamic to this relationship _ it is fitting to see Myanmar becoming more open as the Shinawatras reassume power in Thailand. Their mutual economic and political interests will no doubt lead to a period of increased interaction.

Last year, ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited Myanmar once again. During his visit, Thaksin had a chance to meet ex-junta chief Than Shwe, despite the latter being retired and no longer officially involved in government business. However, there is little doubt that Than Shwe, though formally out of the picture, remains the key patron of the present regime.

When word of Thaksin's visit leaked in the media, the former Thai premier said that he travelled to "smooth the way" for his sister's trip. Indeed, Ms Yingluck subsequently visited Myanmar soon after her brother.

Thaksin has had his eyes on the excellent prospects of Myanmar's tourism industry for many years now. When prime minister, he proposed the construction of a ski resort in the snow-capped mountains of Kachin State and the development of the unspoiled beaches of Arakan State. Lately, he was said to have expressed interest in the Dawei project.

But despite the obvious economic incentives for Thailand, there are many areas the two countries need to focus on. The long border dividing the neighbours has been a source of tension for generations and remains so today as old grudges and prejudices remain.

In spite of the sweet handshake and exchange of smiles in Bangkok, historical pressures remain between the two nations.

Myanmar's sacking of the Siamese capital Ayutthaya in 1767 is still taught in Thai schools, and the Myanmar people are still portrayed as bad neighbours and socially inferior in Thai dramas and soap operas. There is no shortage of news on the ill treatment and exploitation of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.

Conversely, the Myanmar people also remain distrustful of Thais. In the past, Thailand was accused of harbouring dissidents and rebels to stage attacks on Myanmar, and in return the Thais accused Myanmar of flooding it with speed pills and heroin.

Amid this quarrelling, Myanmar ethnic minority insurgents operate in border jungles and around 2 million migrant workers from Myanmar are currently employed in Thailand. Myanmar refugees who fled civil wars live in the camps on Thai soil which Mrs Suu Kyi visited last June, and Myanmar's political exiles still search for a safe haven in Thailand.

The flow of drugs and the other illegal activities of armed groups including human smuggling remain a major source of concern.

Recently, 92 Thai citizens were detained in southern Myanmar after they were accused of sneaking across the border. Myanmar security forces seized timber-cutting machinery, bulldozers and trucks allegedly being used for illegal logging.

Indeed, the more than 2,400km border remains a source of tension. When relations reached a low ebb in the early 2000s, serious skirmishes broke out and the two countries engaged in a war of both words and rockets.

Both fired mortars into the other's border towns and military encampments, while the Myanmar government published several articles openly attacking prominent figures in Thailand. It added further fuel to the fire by introducing a new history textbook for fourth graders that portrayed Myanmar's eastern neighbours as servile and lazy, and the Thais returned the favour by routinely discriminating against Myanmar migrant workers inside Thailand.

Now, by contrast, Thais respect the names Mrs Suu Kyi and Thein Sein and, of course, relish doing business in resource-rich Myanmar. It is hoped that Thailand's attitude toward Myanmar will eventually change, and the Myanmar will begin to understand how to co-exist with a neighbour.

As of now, deep-seated mistrust and uneasy feelings remain. But if Myanmar continues to open up and prosper there can be a new-found friendship between the two nations and a new dimension to Thai-Myanmar relations will develop. Yet this remains hard to foretell at this stage.

Lastly, one should not overlook ethnic groups, many of whom are currently involved in peace talks with Nay Pyi Taw, who also play a crucial role in the borderlands. They will not take kindly to being a pawn in these new business deals inked between governments.

Karen, Shan, Karenni and Mon leaders remain sceptical of Myanmar's overtures. They will undoubtedly be wary over increased business relations between Thailand and Myanmar. The question remains _ who will suffer from these megaprojects in ethnic regions? And similarly, who stands to profit?

Several bilateral projects including power plants, hydropower dams and the opening of more border checkpoints will directly involve ethnic regions. These schemes require the restoration of stability and peace. More importantly, the people who live there must see a fair share of the benefits.

http://www.bangkokpost.com

New Omaha academy serves Myanmar's refugees

In the basement of a church last week, an Omaha man stared into the distance as he described his years in a Thailand refugee camp.

Life, said Karen refugee Ner Clay, was a day-to-day existence.

“It's not until you have children that you look to the future and see no hope,” he said.

The chance for those children to live safe and free with countless opportunities is what motivated so many refugees from Myanmar — formerly known as Burma — to immigrate to Omaha, Clay said. He estimated that 5,000 Karen and Karenni refugees, two ethnic groups within Myanmar, live in Omaha.

But Clay now has fears for the refugee children living in Omaha, some of whom he sees beginning to lose their way, so he reached out to local authorities for help.

“I want to see them all prosper, have a good life and be a good citizen,” Clay said.

As Omaha and other cities have experienced, a combination of loneliness, cultural differences and unsupervised free time has led some refugee teens to gangs.

In the first effort of its kind in the city, the Omaha Police Department last week spearheaded a program to reach Karen and Karenni teens — and their parents — before they get caught up in the justice system.

“They're displaying some typical warning signs, but because of cultural and language barriers, we can't address it traditionally,” said Lt. Shayna Ray, head of the Omaha Police Department's gang unit.

The police department worked with Omaha Public Schools, several community groups and agencies to create a five-day academy geared toward the Karen and Karenni refugees' needs.

Omaha police hold citizen academies and community education training sessions throughout the year. It's an opportunity for officers to educate the public while building trust and creating relationships.

The southeast Omaha precinct completed a five-week course in May for Sudanese and Somali residents.

There also are programs specific to Latinos and high school students.

But last week's academy differed in the outpouring of community support — more than $4,000 in donations or donated services — and in the emphasis on positive interactions with police.

One of the organizers, Kimberly Thomas, the Douglas County site coordinator for the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, said one of the goals was to make the refugee teens and their families feel “more embraced in the community.”

Clay lived most of his life in a refugee camp in Thailand near the border of Myanmar. He immigrated to Omaha four years ago and has served as an associate pastor at the Karen Christian Revival Church, home to a congregation of about 500 other Karen refugees.

“In refugee camps, there is a lot of time to do nothing,” Clay said, which allowed parents and extended family members to keep a close eye on their children.

In Omaha, many refugee parents are at work while their children are at home, Clay said, and some of those children may be taking unhealthy cues from television, music, the Internet and friends.

Thomas said parents often don't know what could be dangerous behavior, and the teenagers don't comprehend that tangling with law enforcement in the United States can have far-reaching effects.

Clay said many of the teens were born in refugee camps, where authorities were easily bribed — which meant few consequences for wrongdoers.

Bruce Ferrell, vice president of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, said streets gangs are often new concepts to refugee communities.

“But because they're the new kids on the block, they're open to gang influence, bullying or conflict with youth or adults,” he said. “Some will see how street gangs operate, see they offer protection, and will adopt some of the culture.”

Ray said the Karen and Karenni youths don't appear to be involved in gangs, but they are susceptible.

Some teens have disengaged from their tight-knit community, she said, and appear to be mimicking the clothing style of gang members.

“We want to make sure they know what actions can be negative and then provide positive outlets,” she said.

Omaha police officers knocked on nearly 30 doors to invite at-risk teens and those who have expressed an interest in becoming police officers.

Entire families arrived the first night for dinner and educational sessions. OPS provided transportation and translators for the five-day academy, while other community sponsors covered food, drinks and other needed items.

Wednesday through Friday was just for the teens.

Their sessions at the northeast police precinct addressed bullying, gangs, drugs and underage drinking.

There were presentations from community groups and after-school organizations.

The program wrapped up Saturday with a barbecue and awards ceremony for the participants and their families. The final event was deliberately scheduled to precede a Karen Society soccer league game. Ray said academy participants and organizers could attend the match together, furthering positive interactions between authority and community members.

“We want to see them become more comfortable contacting police and asking for help,” she said.

Contact the writer:
402-444-3131, sam.womack@owh.com

Burmese refugees find new hope and work in the west

New opportunities … Burmese refugee Gay Htoo Paw, centre, moved his family from Sydney to Albany in search of work. Photo: Warren Bellette

MORE than a dozen Burmese refugees who failed to find steady work in Sydney have done what many other long-term unemployed refuse to do: go west.
After three years of unsuccessfully looking for steady work in Sydney, refugee Gay Htoo Paw from the Burmese Karen community travelled to Western Australia in search of work, first to Perth and then to Albany, where he landed a job at an abattoir owned by Fletcher International Exports.
Before moving to Australia, Mr Paw and his family spent 10 years in a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Burma, struggling to find enough food to feed his family.
So when the Herald asked Mr Paw if the decision to move his family of six 3290 kilometres west in search of work, he shrugged it off. ''It was nothing,'' said Mr Paw.

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Since Mr Paw made the move, another five Karen families have followed his lead, with more than a dozen young Karen men and women finding work at the abattoir.
Mr Paw and other members of the community paid for the move themselves.
In contrast, only 559 unemployed people out of a possible 4000 have taken advantage of the federal government's $29 million pilot scheme, Connecting People with Jobs. It provides a subsidy of as much as $9000 to help workers from areas of high unemployment to move to mining and agricultural areas which desperately need workers.
The Karen community has proved a surprising source of labour for the Albany abattoir's general manager, Greg Cross, who thought he'd tried everything over the years to recruit workers.
For a couple of years, labour shortages were so bad that the plant could only work one shift. Now he says skilled workers are being poached by industries who serve the mining industry.
When asked if he'd employ more Karen refugees like Mr Paw, Mr Cross said: ''Crikey, yeah, I've got to.''
Mr Cross said it was hard to get people to move. ''People say a lot of Australians won't get off their bums and have a go, but that's changed a bit,'' he said.
''I don't think it is as bad as it was two decades ago. But the hardest part is relocating. WA is a long way from the eastern states.''
The Karen workers were ''tremendous workers'', said Mr Cross, who said they'd integrated extremely well, quickly establishing community gardens in Albany.
Because most of the Karen are farmers, they were highly motivated to move from Sydney to towns where they could grow their traditional vegetables, said Gary Cachia, a community development officer at the NSW Service for the Treatment And Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors.
He said many found their lives in Sydney's south-west suburbs harder than when they were in refugee camps. They couldn't afford the rent, the cost of living was high, and they couldn't grow their own food.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au

Area refugees' Olympics dilemma: Root for home countries or USA?

UTICA

 

Even though Aung Kyaw Myint, a refugee from Burma, spent seven years in prison for his political views before escaping to Thailand, he’s still rooting for the Burmese athletes competing in the London Olympics, which officially start with today’s opening ceremonies.
His support for Burma is not because he has any loyalty to that country – it’s the people for whom he’s cheering.
“I have support for my own countrymen. They’re not the government,” Myint said. “American people, I like them, but they have enough support.”
Unlike most, refugees have complicated loyalties. Do you root for the country that exiled you, the country that hosted the refugee camp that took you in, or the United States, your new home?
“A lot of them have complicated situations,” said Rick Andrew, Utica district pastor of Redeemer Church and host of the Redeemer Cup, a two-day soccer tournament in Utica that brings out fleet-footed refugees to play.
“They’re from somewhere and they landed somewhere else.”
Myint was part of the Aug. 8, 1988, student uprising in Burma and served two jail sentences because of his activism.
The third time people in his village wanted to arrest him he bolted for Thailand. In Utica he works as a translator for Utica’s Burmese, and for the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters. He and his wife also make sushi during his day job at the Hannaford supermarket in New Hartford.
“I am not against the American people. I support American people, too. (The Burmese) are weak and American people are strong. I support people who are weaker,” Myint said.
Japheth Kafi, a Sudanese refugee and president of the Sudanese Friendship Association of New York, came to the United States more than a decade ago and will be cheering on the stars and stripes.
“I still love my old country, too,” he said. “But all my loyalty is to America. I promised that as an American citizen.”
Kafi, 47, fled Sudan after he was captured by government forces and imprisoned because he was part of the wrong tribe. He was working on his father’s farm when troops gunned down his parents and siblings. He was captured and abused in prison.
“They hit me; they slapped me,” Kafi said.
He escaped and fled to Egypt, eventually arriving in the United States. He eventually brought his two sons over from Sudan. His 12-year-old daughter Haibad, who he has never met, still is there. She’s being cared for by his mother-in-law, but Kafi is working to bring her to the United States.

http://www.uticaod.com

Malaysia deal OK, UN agency tells MPs

AAP

The UN's refugee agency has told federal MPs from across the political spectrum the government's Malaysian people-swap deal has some virtues.

Labor MP Nick Champion says UNHCR representatives told the group - made up of government, coalition, Greens and independent MPs - that the controversial policy aimed at stemming the flow of asylum seeker boats to Australian waters has merit.

"They did say that the Malaysian transfer agreement has some virtues, because it's based in South-East Asia, where they see a big part of the refugee issue being," Mr Champion told Sky News on Tuesday.

The UNHCR declined to comment on the briefing, but has previously expressed cautious support for the Malaysia deal, provided protection safeguards are properly implemented.

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The group also heard from the Immigration Department, the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but members have declined to publicly reveal what they were told.

The cross-party group began meeting in June amid a continuing parliamentary impasse over asylum seeker policy.

The government wants to resurrect the Malaysian deal, but the coalition wants to limit offshore processing to countries that are signatories of the UN Refugee Convention, such as Nauru. The Greens oppose all offshore processing.

Independent Tony Windsor said the group agreed that "some form of regional architecture" was required, but did not agree on what it should look like, or even whether it should include a deterrent component.

Coalition backbencher Judi Moylan said the group was trying to "create a space" where parliamentarians could get out of their partisan corners and entrenched positions.

The group is expected to meet again in the first week of August.

Tuesday's meeting came as the navy was forced to come to the aid of an asylum seeker boat - carrying around 160 people - north of Christmas Island. The passengers are being taken to the island for processing.

Under the Malaysian deal, the government would send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in exchange for 4000 processed refugees coming to Australia.

http://news.smh.com.au/

Too poor for a boat, Chin refugee family stuck in asylum void

NATIONAL AFFAIR

Ngun Tin Tial with her adopted sons in Kuala Lumpur. Picture: John W. Ishi Source: The Australian

A SMALL family of Burmese refugees living in a dingy tenement on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur has slipped through the cracks of asylum officialdom - mostly, it seems, because they won't abandon their adopted sons in Burma. 

 Ngun Tin Tial has spent the past nine years looking for a better, safer life. She knows almost nothing about the boatloads of asylum-seekers arriving almost daily in Australian waters, but knows enough to think it is unfair that places that might have been taken by her family have gone to Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians and Sri Lankans who can afford illicit boat trips to Australia.

Her husband holds down an illegal, poorly paid job erecting signboards, and they have barely enough to make ends meet, let alone pay people-smugglers perhaps $32,000 for the whole family to get to Australia.

"This is not fair," she said. "Of course we don't have that sort of money." Even if a processing centre were opened in Indonesia, the family wouldn't have the means to get there: too far, too expensive. They can only wait and hope. "It's extremely hard and difficult for my family," Ngun Tin Tial added, her voice breaking. "It's so difficult I can't speak."

The family's plight seems unlikely to be resolved any time soon. Today The Weekend Australian reveals that Australia's entire offshore humanitarian program could be wiped out this financial year if asylum-seeker boats continued to arrive at their present rate.

In the first six months of this year, 6000 people have arrived by boat. If asylum-seekers continue to arrive at that rate for the next 12 months, the other component of the offshore humanitarian program, the special humanitarian program that covers people subjected to gross human rights abuses and the relatives of refugee families already in Australia, will be destroyed.

Ngun Tin Tial, 35, from Chin state in western Burma, has been stuck in a painful limbo for a long time. She and her husband fled the military in Burma in 2003 and by 2005 she was locked up in one of Malaysia's notorious immigration detention centres.

She was asked by a UNHCR official visiting the lock-up whether she had any relatives in Australia and she explained her husband's cousin lived in Melbourne. She and her husband were duly allocated to the Australian lists and by 2007 they were having their medical checks in the final stages of getting places in Australia.

An official casually asked whether she had any adopted children, the first time the question had arisen. She innocently said yes, she had, the sons of her eldest brother who had died of malaria in Burma. These boys were still in Burma, awaiting the day when Ngun Tin Tial and her husband, Za Thawng Lian, saved enough money to get them to Malaysia. She had lived without them for six years before the two teenagers finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 2009, ending a forced and painful separation.

Another brother of Ngun Tin Tial was a member of the Chin National Front, deemed subversive rebels by the Burmese government at the time, so she and her husband were always careful.

On a visit to their home village, two days' journey from their home in the capital of Chin state, they heard the Burmese military were after them. There was no chance to get back to the city to get the boys.

She and her husband fled to Kuala Lumpur, got some money together, and began to send it to Burma so the boys, then living in an orphanage for a short spell, could live with their grandparents.

The family will not return to Burma.

Even though the new government has made fundamental changes, Ngun Tin Tial fears ethnic minorities, such as the Christian Chin, still get a raw deal. Asked if he missed Burma, her adopted son, 17-year-old Samuel Tha Bik Lian, shook his head solemnly.

They are all together now in Kuala Lumpur, but it's a tough life. Refugees and asylum-seekers are not allowed to work, so Za Thawng Lian works on the sly.

"It's illegal, but as refugees we have to do that," she said.

Burmese Refugees Attend Bible School in United States

Burmese refugee children had a unique experience to study the American form of Christianity in a Vacation Bible School in South Tulsa, United States, this week. About ten Missouri Synod Churches took part to organize this bible school in this vicinity.

The Bible school was organized at Riverside apartments, 7901 S. Riverside drive, which is home to numerous Burmese refugee families.

Apart from the Burmese refugee children, some children belonging to Hispanic community were also present in the school accompanied by some white and black youths.

The school is held from Monday to Thursday in a playing field at the apartments. Children are provided with all the regular school work along with all kinds of extracurricular activities. They also do recreational work in the meantime at the school.

But, as the name depicts, the main purpose of the school is to give these immigrant/refugee children some knowledge about Christianity in an interesting yet proper manner.

Rev. Leonard Busch of Good Shepherd Lutheran church and the director of the missions for the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in Oklahoma was one of the chief organizers of the schools. He said that it always came as a pleasure to him to work with the immigrant population in the vicinity. “The primary goal of the Vacation Bible School is to get the gospel to people who may not have heard it before,” he said.

Busch said that this was the first time that they had worked with the Burmese ethnicity of immigrants, but he said it was worth their while. He said that refugees started to arrive in Tulsa in the early days of 2011 from Burma, “Many of them settled in apartment complexes in South Tulsa.”

Busch said that the children are mostly introduced to the basic Christian concepts. He said that the school tries to teach the children about God, about how he loves and about his blessings. He said that the community is doing all it can to accommodate these refugees with all types of necessities that they can get for them. He said that by doing this they are demonstrating God’s love through helping them in their time of need.

“We are setting up a Lutheran immigration volunteer network for the Burmese,” said Busch. He said that, later, the same kind of network will also be established for immigrants belonging to other ethnic origins.

The director of Oklahoma Immigrant Outreach for the Lutheran church, Dani Hendrickson, said that Burmese immigrants come to US as refugees escaping from religious and tribal persecution there, as many of them are Christians.

“I have been told that Tulsa has a reputation among refugees in Southeast Asia as a good place to go because people here are nice,” she said.

Other church representatives also commended the arrangements of the event and said that due to these events more people will get encouraged to help refugees and their children in getting the basic and personal attention they need as human beings.

More than a 100,000 people have come to, and are living in, the US from Burma, the US Census Bureau stated. The country, Burma, has been suffering badly from half a century of military rule due to which it remained internationally isolated. In the light of recent improvement in the Burma’s condition, after the 2010 elections, the United States has re-initiated its diplomatic relations with the country, in order to help it regain its position in the world.

http://news.visato.com

Burma, Thailand Sign Dawei MoU

Burma’s President Thein Sein and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pictured outside Thailand’s Government House on Monday (Photo: Simon Roughneen)

BANGKOK—In his first visit to next-door neighbor Thailand as president, Thein Sein on Monday signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) aimed at tightening the growing economic links between the two countries.

The MoUs focus on the Dawei [Tavoy] deep-sea port on Burma’s southwest coast, on development cooperation in Burma, and on joint energy sector projects.

In a brief press conference earlier on Monday at Thailand’s Government House, the Burmese president thanked Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for her country’s “ongoing support for political and economic reforms.”

Questions were not permitted at the press conference, during which the Thai premier did most of the talking and which centered around economic issues. Yingluck thanked Thein Sein for his “reaffirmed commitment to Dawei,” the multi-billion-dollar port and special economic zone which is being developed by Thai conglomerate Italian-Thai Development (ITD) but about which doubts have emerged in recent months, amid concerns that ITD is struggling to raise the backing and finance needed to make the project happen.

Burmese officials have publicly questioned the viability of Dawei, with other port and economic zone projects under development inside the country at Kyaukpyu in the Bay of Bengal near the Shwe Gas pipeline, and at Thilawa outside Rangoon, while India is backing a new port and jetty at Sittwe in conflict-ridden Arakan State.

“Both sides agreed to build connectivity between Dawei and Laem Chabang,” said Yingluck, referring to the port 100 km southeast of Bangkok that Thein Sein visited on Sunday, and which will be linked to Dawei by road, according to current plans.

During his visit to Laem Chabang on Sunday, Thein Sein was briefed by Thailand’s Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board on the port and on possible benefits of the Dawei- Laem Chabang link.

Thailand is Burma’s second-largest trade partner after China, with a reported trade volume of US $4.5 billion for the fiscal year 2011-2012.

The Thai prime minister proposed opening three additional border crossings between the two countries, one near Chiang Mai, one near Mae Hong Song and one near Kanchanaburi, though no mention was made of the 140,000 or so Burmese refugees living in camps on the Thai side of the 2,300-kilometer (1,300-mile) border, amid cutbacks by Western donors which could prompt some of the refugees to return to Burma prematurely to areas that are heavily mined.

The Thai government, however, pledged to “take care of the Myanmar labour in Thailand in a just manner and according to Thai law,” according to Yingluck. There are 2-3 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, most of whom work in low-paid menial jobs in sectors such as fishing and construction.

Trafficking of Burmese labor is common, however, and recent years have seen frequent revelations alleging slavery and mistreatment of Burmese at the hands of Thai employers and Burmese traffickers.

Meanwhile, 92 Thais who were arrested in Kawthaung in Burma on July 4 will appear before a Burmese court on July 27. The issue was not raised at the press conference but according to Thai officials, Yingluck was set to discuss the fate of the 92 separately with Thein Sein.

http://www.irrawaddy.org

Omaha area proves to be hospitable for Burmese

Published Monday, July 23, 2012 

 

MATT MILLER/THE WORLD-HERALD 

 

Hser Nay Hei, center, meets another Burmese refugee and her daughter at the Denison Job Corps. In 2011, more than half the refugees settling in the Midlands were from Myanmar, formerly Burma. At left is Barb Stratman, an OPS teacher who continues to help out her former student. 

 

Hser Nay Hei came to the U.S. in 2008 in one of the first big waves of Myanmar refugees resettled in the United States.

For decades, the oppressed ethnic and religious minorities fleeing from Myanmar, also known as Burma, crossed into Thailand and lived in refugee camps.

An estimated 100,000 refugees still live there amid concerns that Thailand will close the camps and return them to Myanmar.

The U.S. began resettling those refugees in significant numbers in recent years: nearly 17,000 in 2011, up from 128 a decade ago. Last year, one in three incoming refugees nationally was from Burma, and more than half of the refugees coming to Nebraska and Iowa were.

They are a mixture of Karen, Karenni, Chin and Kachin ethnic groups and Burmese Muslims persecuted for their religious beliefs in a country with Buddhist, Christian and animist roots.

Omaha's reputation as a hospitable place for Karen and other Burmese also has drawn “secondary migrants,” meaning refugees who resettled initially in other U.S. cities. A resettlement worker with Lutheran Family Services estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 such refugees are here.

Lacey Studnicka, development officer for Lutheran Family Services, said Nebraska is now resettling fewer Burmese: 427 last year, down from 528 the year before. The latest group being resettled are Bhutanese refugees from Nepal.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1136, erin.grace@owh.com

http://www.omaha.com

Refugees to share stories

ORDINARY Tasmanians will have the opportunity to hear extraordinary refugee stories at a University of Tasmania forum tonight .

Iranian, Burmese and Sierra Leonian refugees will tell their stories at a forum called The Refugee Experience at the Stanley Burbury Theatre.

Organised by the UTAS School of Government and Tasmanian senator Lisa Singh, the forum aims to provide the community with an understanding of the decision to seek refuge in Australia.

Burmese man Eh Eh Tin will speak of his flight from Burma to Thailand and then to Tasmania. Mr Tin belongs to the Karen ethnic minority, who have suffered persecution from the Burmese Government.

Mr Tin's village lay right in the middle of the fighting.

"I can't go back because of the killing and fighting," he said.

Mr Tin was a teacher in his home country and is studying information technology in Hobart. He has lived in Tasmania for 4 1/2 years with his wife and three children, two of whom were born here.

He admitted when he was asked by Senator Singh to speak at the forum he said he was very, nervous.

"I have never done public speaking before," he said.

http://www.themercury.com.au

Myanmar's reformist president visits Thailand

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar's reformist president on Sunday began a twice-postponed visit to neighboring Thailand expected to focus on economic ties.

President Thein Sein arrived for his first trip to Thailand since he became president in March last year and initiated political and economic reforms after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

He will meet with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Crown Princess Sirindhorn before departing Tuesday.

Thailand and Myanmar have extensive social and economic ties. But there are also tensions because Thailand houses many refugees from Myanmar fleeing warfare between the government and ethnic rebels, who are active along the 2,300-kilometer (1,300-mile) border.

Thailand has concerns about large amounts of heroin and methamphetamine produced in Myanmar and smuggled across its borders

Thein Sein is to witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding on development projects in Myanmar, including a major planned port and industrial complex at Dawei being undertaken by Thai companies.

Thein Sein had been scheduled to come to Thailand in late May to attend the World Economic Forum in Bangkok but cancelled those plans amid specualtion that he feared being upstaged by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was also attending on her first trip abroad in more than two decades.

A rescheduled trip in June was also put off because of sectarian violence in western Myanmar that left at least 80 people dead and tens of thousands homeless. Thein Sein previously visited Thailand in 2008 when he was prime minister under the previous ruling junta.

Thailand is Myanmar's second largest trade partner after northern neighbor China, with the total trade volume of $4.5 billion for the fiscal year 2011-2012.

Myanmar's total imports from Thailand were worth $691.15 million, while exports were valued at $3.82 billion, mostly from the export of naural gas to Thailand to feed its energy needs.

Thailand's proximity to Myanmar gives it an advantage in its efforts to benefit from its neighbor's vast natural resources — including minerals as well as oil and gas — an under-exploited agricultural sector and opportunities in real estate and tourism.

Since Thein Sein assumed the presidency 16 months ago, he has overseen a wave of political and economic reforms including the release of political prisoners, the signing of cease-fires with armed rebel groups, the easing of restrictions on the press and opening a dialogue with prisoner-turned-parliamentarian Suu Kyi.

His government has also reformed the previous two-tier exchange rate system and is seeking to pass a new foreign investment law.

The Associated Press

Thailand: malnutrition reaches epidemic levels in Burmese refugee camps

While there has been much celebration in the media recently about the release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi and her return to politics in Burma, the plight of up to three million Burmese refugees in Thailand has received little attention. In recent months aid agencies report that one third of these are children, and many of them are now suffering malnutrition at epidemic levels.

In the Mae Sot area, community organisations are in touch with more than 100 schools. Many of these are informal, although an increasing number of schools are registered with the Thai Ministry of Education as ‘Learning Centres’. They range in size from 30 or so pupils up to nearly 800. There are probably between 10,000 to 15,000 children in total. About 3,500 live in boarding houses since their parents are absent, either still in Burma, working elsewhere in Thailand, or dead.

For some years the boarding house population has been sustained by food distributed by the Mae Tao Clinic, under its ‘Dry Food Program’. The program aimed to provide six items (rice, oil, beans, tinned fish, salt and ‘sweet powder’, a flavour enhancer) to each of the 3,500 boarding house children every month. The total budget required was 12 million baht per annum (£240,000) provided in the past by one major donor supported by a few smaller contributors, including Thai Children’s Trust under the patronage of Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

Although hardly a healthy or an adequate diet, the basic rations provided by the Dry Food Program are the only food some children see. For others, it has been a foundation on which NGOs have been able to build lunch programmes, mushroom huts, school farms as a supplement. Now the whole fragile structure of food delivery to the children on the border is in near collapse because the Dry Food Programme is in danger of closing.

Income to the Mae Tao Clinic in this calendar year is a staggering 11 million baht (£220,000) down against income in the same period last year as donors reduce commitments to projects on the border and support new projects inside Burma. As a result the Dry Food Program is seven million baht (£140,000) short of its required budget. As a short term expedient rations have been cut to four items; beans and sugar are no longer included. Another donor has taken over supplying some schools, so the program has been reduced to 2,900 children. This reduces the cost from 1 million to 750,000 baht each month. But there is only enough cash to pay for July.

Andrew Scadding, director of the Thai Children's Trust, said: "Our great fear is that without the scanty supplies they receive through the Dry Food Program, some of these vulnerable, hungry children will be pushed over the very thin line which separates malnutrition from starvation.

"Thai Children’s Trust will redouble our efforts through our HungerBusters campaign and through events to ensure this vital supply of food continues to reach migrant children."

Source :http://www.indcatholicnews.com

Living in Exile – the Karen Refugee Camps in Thailand

Out of sight, out of mind, these forgotten people fight for survival deep in the rain forests and up remote mountains near the Thai/Burma border.

Karen refugee camp

The longest running civil war in the World, but it is a forgotten story, and perhaps a forgotten people involved.   That’s the conflict between the native Karen people and the government of Myanmar.  While there is a cease fire signed by the government in effect since January 2012, the army is not trusted by the Karen people in the North, and there are still skirmishes.  The Karen fear persecution, much as other minorities, like the Hmong, felt in Laos a couple of decades ago.  But the conflict with Karen and the government of Burma (changed to Myanmar in 1962) has been going on since 1949, when Burma became independent from Britain.  Since the conflict began, at least 124,000 people have been killed.

The Karen seek autonomy within Burma.  They are a distinct minority with their own language and customs.  Within Myanmar, there are between 6 and 7 million ethnic Karen, and about 200,000 Burmese Karen have escaped the brutal attacks by coming into Thailand.  Most of the camps are pretty close to Chiang Mai.  Many Karen are in these large refugee camps in the Myanmar/Thailand border areas, where day to day living is an amazing challenge.

Karen refugee kid

Initially, the Karen rebels were considered “communists” and did receive a little support from some Communist governments.  That was certainly a word that evoked fear in much of the West in 1949 and later, and the Karen were scorned by the US and Western Europe.  The truth, which became visible over time, is that they are not communists, and only seek treatment comparable to other Burmese citizens, with limited autonomy for their ethnic group.  But they did receive support from other countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and India.  In 1962, a tyrannical military group  took control of Burma, and have been in charge ever since that time.  In 2011 the government began to open up a little bit with parliamentary elections, and there is optimism about more liberal policies in Myanmar in the future.

One of the biggest camps with about 50,000 Karen refugees is at the town of Mae Sot on the Thai/Burma border in the province of Tak southwest of Chiang Mai in the mountains.  Almost all the residents of this camp, called “Mae La” have the same story, escaping from military action in Burma where people are killed and have forced labor, with crops and livestock destroyed, and even enslavement of younger people.  The military is brutal and Karen are not generally regarded well by Burmese people, and are easily abused. These refugees are sometimes referred to as the one kilometer people, because it is a simple task to cross the border in the tropical forests, but not being legal in Thailand, they cannot get any kind legitimate job, so they gravitate into the camps where they can get some assistance for survival. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, and the perimeter is guarded by armed Thai troops.  Refugees are allowed to leave the camp once a year.

Life in the camps is sad.  There is no employment, education for kids is minimal, there is no recreation, with great boredom.  Medical care is provided by volunteers, and medical facilities are almost non- existent.   People still get sick — this region is rife with Dengue’s Fever — and people get old and ill, have babies, get snake bites and go through life just like anyone in Ohio, or Colorado, or Texas.  They have serious needs. There are many kids without parents.  There are also many handicapped young people as a result of the conflict in Burma.  Thailand does give the refugees food and minimal services, but it is a very hard life for these people.

Shelter means a makeshift bamboo hut.   Drinking water is neither sanitary nor easy to come by.  Lives are lived at a subsistence level, made even more difficult by neglect by the host country and compounded by fear of cross border raids from their country of origin, Burma, by Myanmar military.

Please watch this video of typical life in a Karen camp in Thailand.  And the next time you are getting on to the freeway with music blasting away as you head off to your cubicle somewhere earning money that the US and State governments will confiscate about half of anyway, or when you are headed to the mall to go to that big Macy’s sale, think about the life of these people that have nothing and need so much help.  Maybe you might refocus what is important in life, and devote part of your life for others like these people..

Next month, I will be traveling to the remote city of Mae Hong Song, due west of Chiang Mai on the Burma border, courtesy of the senior Thai military commander for that area.  They have a Karen refugee camp near town with about 20,000 residents called Ban Mai Nai Soi and I will be able to make a personal visit to the camp.  I am looking forward to it, and will coming back to Chiang Mai with many plans to try to make life easier for these people.

A pregnant woman who is in labor receives oxygen while her mother tends to her at the hospital maternity ward (on the floor) inside the Mae La refugee camp

What can someone do living in America?  You can organize special drives for educational materials and essentials for living — like band-aids and nail clippers.  Anything that people need.  Someone told me about a middle school in New Jersey that sends a small shipment each month to a camp, and that’s the best diplomacy America can do.  I can help anyone willing to organize something like this.

There are actually companies and wealthy people looking for a good cause to give back something to the world, and these people would be some of the most deserving and grateful on Earth.  Money goes much further here than in America, so a substantial donation would be very welcome.  I can also help arrange a direct communication with the camps to anyone wanting to do this.

Visitors must get permission from the Thai government to personally visit the camps, but this is not so difficult to obtain, and visitors would feel welcome by the warm Karen people.

 

Organic farm restores way of life for Myanmar’s refugees

By Graham Lanktree Metro Ottawa

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Metro/Graham Lanktree Dai Htoo stands beside Kloy Htoo and her husband Hla Htoo at the Karen Community Garden in Blackburn Hamlet.

A refugee from volatile Myanmar (Burma), Kloy Htoo said he felt like a kid again when he began farming a half-acre of land in Blackburn Hamlet this June with the help of local community groups.

“He’s so happy, it reminds him of when he was a child, before the war came,” said his son Shar, speaking as a translator for his father. “He feels better now and has hope for the future.”

When Htoo came to Canada with his wife in 2009, he left behind a Thai refugee camp where the family had been living for 11 years with some 140,000 other refugees after fleeing Myanmar when neighbouring farms were looted and burned to the ground.

A member of Myanmar’s largest ethnic minority the Karen, or K’nyaw, Htoo’s family couldn’t prevent their farm from being caught up in the 65-year civil war that has ravaged the country.

Now, with the help of a $1,000 grant for farming supplied from Ottawa chapter of The Awesome Foundation, Htoo and Ottawa’s 200 other Karen refugees are getting back to what they know best.

Finding a plot of National Capital Commission land with the help of Just Food, the Karen have planted pumpkins – the plant’s flowers are a delicacy in traditional Karen cooking- tomatoes, basil, eggplant, coriander, carrots and they even took a shot at growing sugar cane.

“They love to eat a lot of pumpkin leaves and flowers,” said Coleen Scott, who has been helping Karen immigrants get on their feet in the city, “but when they tried to buy them at the store it’s much too expensive, costing more than $2 for a few leaves and flowers.”

Practicing organic farming as their traditional way of life, the farm has a few things to teach Canadians, Scott said, including using hot peppers, garlic and onion skins to deal with pests.

“They really want to keep this farm. It’s very important to them,” Scott said. “Farming is who the Karen are and that was taken away from them when they came to Canada. Farming makes them feel that they have a purpose.”

Source : http://metronews.ca

UN Builds 2,500 Shelters for Kachin Refugees

Kachin refugees flee fighting between the KIA and government troops. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Amid war the escalating conflict in northern Burma’s Kachin State, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it is building 2,500 shelters for civilians displaced by fighting between government troops and ethnic rebels.

“We estimate that more than 48,000 displaced people in Kachin State have received our assistance in the form of mosquito nets, blankets, tarpaulins and plastic floor mats,” Vivian Tan, the spokesperson for the UNHCR in Asia told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

“We have given them warm clothes to protect their children against the harsh climate, as well as soap, detergent, buckets, pots, plates, cups, cooking and eating utensils,” she added.

Due to hostilities between the government army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA), there are an estimated 70,000 people sheltering in temporary camps in by the Sino-Burmese border. According to KIA sources, 1,640 battles have been recorded since the conflict erupted on June 19, 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire.

Although official causality figures are not available, rebel sources say that every encounter entails some injuries. Despite repeated attempts at peace negotiations over 13 months of hostilities, no end is in sight.

The KIA reports that government reinforcements including artillery and mortars have been called into the areas around Bhamo Township, in southern Kachin State and in Muse, northern Shan State, both close to rebel strongholds.

The KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), last signed ceasefire agreement with the government in 1994 but the truce stood ended on June 19 last year. KIA is thought to have around 15,000 fighting troops and it is Burma’s second biggest ethnic armed group after United Wa State Army (UWSA).

All other major ethnic armed groups—including the Karen National Union, Shan State Army-South, New Mon State Party and Karenni National Progressive Party—have reached ceasefire agreements with Naypyidaw over recent months.

As a result of recent ceasefire agreements, there are reports of more than 150,000 Burmese refugees living in nine camps along Thai-Burma border being repatriated. UNHCR officials have been visiting the area often to discuss the resettlement the displaced.

In May, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies held a repatriation workshop for community-based organizations to be ready to get involved in repatriation program when it comes sometime in the future.

Asked about the return of Burmese refugees on the Thai-Burmese border, Tan told said that the UNHCR is not yet ready to promote their return.

“Like the refugees, we are closely watching developments inside Myanmar and we are supporting efforts to prepare for possible returns if and when the refugees themselves want to go home,” she said.

“There are still many things that need to be done to show the kind of progress that would help refugees decide for themselves whether conditions are right for them to go home.”

Volunteer to help Burmese Refugees and Migrants in Thailand

Along the border between Burma and Thailand in the area around Mae Sot over 200,000 refugees and over 200,000 migrant workers from Burma have settled in poor living conditions.  Most have been forced by the fighting between the Burmese government and the army of the Karen National Liberation Army (representing Karen ethnic groups) to abandon their houses, fields and schools. The Karen villagers in Burma faced a choice between forced resettlement by the Burmese government (usually resulting in forced labor), moving into the jungle where they faced disease and hunger or fleeing across the border into Thailand.

In Thailand they face uncertain conditions. Some refugee camps in Thailand have been attacked by Burmese government troops or their allies.  Many Karen are "stateless" having no citizenship in Thailand or Burma. The 200,000 Karen in refugee camps are forbidden to work outside the camps.  Another 200,000 Burmese people live as migrant workers working under poor conditions on Thai farms and in Thai factories.

Many schools in Burma have been forced to move across the border to Thailand to avoid the fighting. Because many Karen hope to return to their homes in Burma some day some schools use the Burmese curriculum rather than the official Thai curriculum. This makes it difficult to get government support if they don't integrate into the Thai education system.

Openmind Projects helps these schools in several ways. We attract volunteers from all over the world to train and to volunteer teach in the schools. We receive donations of computers from volunteers and other organizations which we then donate to the schools.  Local motivated Burmese young people from the border areas are invited to our Training Center in Nong Khai to improve their English and learn to work in IT programs and maintenance, and then to learn to train others in both of these areas when they return to their homes.

Here are some of the projects we support.

Paya Daung Primary and Middle School is near a small village outside Mae Sot town. It is one of the migrant learning centers originally established in Burma and later moved to Thailand because of the fighting.

Heavenly Home Orphange in Mae Sot has 43 infants and children who are cared for by only 2 full time staff members. Children over age 6 attend schools while the younger children stay at the home during the day.

Umphang Witthayakam Secondary School is located in Umphang town, 5 hours south of Mae Sot.  The majority of the students are from ethnic minorities, mostly Karen refugees from Burma. Students number 1200 including 400 who stay in dormitories at the school because their villages are too far away to return to each day.

Ray Kaw Htoo Primary School provides kindergarten through grade 4 classes for children of families of migrants from the Karen ethnic group in Burma. It has around 90 students many of whom stay in very simple dormitories at the school since their families live too far away to commute daily. The school has only 2 classrooms.

Volunteer to help Burmese Refugees and Migrants in Thailand