A.A.W Visit

Early in the week we went out Mae Ka Sa to visit A.A.W with a physiotherapist from Handicap International (HI). A.A.W. was very happy to see us and we spent some time there with her and her mother whilst the physio did an assessment. We also took with us an activity to help her improve her motor skills. A.A.W really enjoyed doing the activity and a little girl from a neighbouring house came and sat and played with her and helped her with the activity. The physio planned to return during the week to visit again and measure up the toilet to allow A.A.W. easier access to the toilet. We will contact HI next week to see how it went.

48Km School

Whilst visiting a number of communities during the week we visited a school about 50Km south of MaeSot. We have never been to the school before but I had met a teacher from the school at Teacher Training during April. The children at the school had a lot of energy and we had a good time watching them play games and talking to them in our pigeon Burmese. I have attached a video of a game they were playing with some elastic bands. It was only a short visit but we will go back soon.

House 52

Many people staying in Mae Sot have shown interest in supporting House 52 and we have had a couple of emails from people who saw the video on YouTube and would like to help. We have spoken to TBBC, a large NGO, who will visit next week and see whether they are able to offer support to House 52. Robyn and Anthony, travelers from the UK who are helping in MaeSot at the moment were able to provide the house with some rice and Bernie, the person who did the YouTube video, was able to send some veggies. Dr Catherine has visited a couple of times and offered some medical advice to some house mates who are not feeling well. I have spoken to a small NGO and a CBO to see if they have any job vacancies for anybody at the house. The NGO said they may have a couple of positions and two people at the house have applied for the positions. A big thank you to all for their help.

Cutting Down Bamboo

Whilst visiting the communities we stopped off at Kelly’s property and cut down some bamboo which we will use to make activities for children on the SE project. We are trying to adapt activities we know and make them using materials which are freely available in the migrant communities and will not cost the parents any money. Big and I had a discussion as to which was better, a saw or a machete, to cut the bamboo. I am still not convinced that the machete is better after trying both but Big would not use the saw. Wendy showed her strength by carting the bamboo back to the truck. We now have a stash of bamboo and will let you know how we go adapting different activities.

House 52

Last week we were approached by a friend to see if we were able to help a group who had fled Burma last September and come to the area. They had been supported by political groups for a few months but at the end of March they were told to move out and fend for themselves. A couple of friends got together and we made a video of their plight. The video is also on You Tube titled: Burmese Refugee Crisis. They have been doing some fund raising and have managed to find food for the rest of the month. We will endeavor to introduce them to groups who may be able to help them long term while we try to help in the meantime. Please watch the video and let your friends know!

School is destroyed by storm.

During the last week of April the storm clouds gathered and Mae Sot was hit by a fairly violent storm. We were at Mae Tao Clinic at the time and witnessed trees being snapped and tin roofs being ripped off. When it all died down we left and getting onto the main road we saw that all the main electricity poles had been snapped off and were lying on the ground. Over the next few days we discovered that a few migrant schools had been damaged. We were informed the one school, Hauy Ka Loke, a school we have visited regularly since 2005, had been severely damaged and please would we go out and visit them. Being very concerned for our friend PiPi, an 82 yr old teacher who lives and teaches at the school we went out to make sure she was OK and to see what the damage was. We discovered that most of the school had been flattened but all the children were safe. PiPi was Ok but is very distressed at how the school is going to be rebuilt when there has been a lack of funding for the basics of the school. The teachers haven’t been paid for months and the school has been relying on donations for rice and vegetables. We are discussing with the school director about how we can help and many volunteers at Ban Thai Guest House are now also looking at funding some of the rebuilding.

We have seen six children so far, and we’d like you to meet one today.

A.A.W is a girl aged 10 who was a happy girl, attending school with her friends. Then a year ago a bout of illness and fever left her unable to speak and paralysed on her right side. Her parents worked with her to restore some movement in her arm and leg and she now is able to walk with some difficulty, but her right arm is unable to move. It is possible that some damage was done to her brain during the fever, but we are unsure about that at this stage. What we do know is that she enjoys a joke: as Andrew stood up to leave he bumped his head on a bamboo post and A.A.W was laughing at his display! She also knows what she wants as when we asked her parents what their expectations were for her, she showed with physical gestures that she wanted to be able to write. It seems that there is a lot this little girl wants to say, and we hope that we can help her express herself.

Our first stop was Mae Tao Clinic in an effort to get some physiotherapy. This venture in itself was greatly desired by her mother. Being illegal they are unable to travel to seek medical advice. Even being with World Education, we had to have Andrew replace the usual driver, Big. Although he is legal, he can be imprisoned, fined heavily and lose his job if the police find that he is transporting illegal people. And there is a police checkpoint between the village and the clinic. The clinic visit led to an appointment at the Mae Sot hospital and some physiotherapy advice for her weakened side. We are also investigating having letter stamps made for her to “write” with and creating activities to help develop the fine motor skills so that she can become “left-handed”, perhaps until her right side becomes dominant again.