Stationary is Delivered to Ler Khaw school.

Last week the KED delivered the stationary we have funded to Ler Khaw school. Ler Khaw school is in the Karen state near the Thai/Burma border. The school is fairly unique in that it is supported by groups from both political sides. The school is in a DKBA controlled area and the teachers are funded by the Burmese Education Department. However, the Burmese Government does not supply stationary and in Karen communities such as this, the parents are too poor to buy the pens, pencils etc that the children need to attend school. Hopefully, initiatives like this will begin to unite the Karen groups which will strengthen the resistance against the regime. The KED delivered exercise books, pens, pencils, coloured pencils, scissors and other classroom materials. Each child was also supplied with toiletries which will be used in school to teach personal hygiene. Many thanks to everyone who has donated to ensure that these children have access to an education!

A.T. Builds Blocks

The SEN team took a visit to AT's house. He is an engaging little boy who is unable to walk after getting a fever when he was a toddler. He has a lot of character and is always laughing and smiling. The SEN team took out some building blocks to his house and Big sat and played with AT. Although AT had never played with blocks before, he explored them straight away and was soon building towers and also copying what Big was doing. Such a simple thing that can bring a lot of joy to a child who has very little stimulation during the day.

Resources for SEN Learning Centre

Recently, Wendy went shopping for resources for the SEN Learning Centre. Wendy has been working on programmes for the SEN children that have been identified in the migrant community. She went to the local toy shop and bought many toys etc that could be used by the children with disabilities. Many of these children have no access to education and spend all their days sitting or laying on the floor of their simple houses. Some of the resources will be used at the Learning Centre but others will be used during Home visits.

KKA Goes to School!

KKA arrived in Mae Sot about 4 months ago. His uncle (who was the family bread winner) has been involved in Politics in Burma since the early 70s and was a coordinator of the demonstrations in his home town last September during the Saffron Revolution. His uncle had to flee Burma and is now in hiding in Mae Sot. He has been jailed in his absence for 9 years if he ever returns to his town in Burma. KKA, his mother and sisters joined his uncle and through friends' donations we are able to pay their rent and bills and an NGO is providing some food for the next 3 months.The family are hoping to resettle overseas in the future. We spoke to them about KKA attending school in the mean time as the resettlement process can take months or even years. We were able to pay the school fees, buy school uniform and all his school materials. We will keep you informed how he gets on.

Little E Goes to School Also!

Little E (12 yrs old) arrived in Mae Sot a little under 3 months ago with her sister and father. Her father had a serious accident when living in Burma and had broken his leg. Unable to afford to go to hospital the leg never healed and became very deformed. He decided to come to Mae Sot and after an examination the leg had to be amputated. Little E, her father and sister live in a little house with no electricity or water on a dirt road about 3Km from the nearest school. Little E and her sister had to go to work to enable her family to survive. She was earning 1000Bht (15 pounds) a month which is about the price of a bag of rice. Dr Onmar and Rick agreed to provide the family with a bag of rice a month and we were able to pay the school enrollment fees and provide Little E with her school uniform and school materials. Dr Onmar and Rick bought Little E a bike so she can get to school easily. It has raised the question of how many other children are unable to attend school for the sake of 15 pounds?

Our Plans.

We spent last week in Bangkok for our In Country Training programme with a British based charity. We are both now currently working under their banner, Wendy will stay with World Education working on the SEN Programme and I am going to be working with a local Community Based Organisation. Wendy is assessing the need and provision for children with disabilities in the migrant community. She has been working on this project since we arrived in Mae Sot and works with a small team in the World Ed office. We have outlined some of the children on this blog but we are continuously being advised of others in the community. I will be researching children who are not currently accessing education in the migrant area and trying to determine why they do not attend school and looking at possible ways to allow these children to attend school.
We are both excited and a little nervous about the opportunity to work on these projects but believe they will make a difference to the lives of children in the migrant communities of Mae Sot.

We Have Agreed to Fund 2 Schools

With the disappointment of 'losing' Chaw Su School due to activities by the D.K.B.A., we were asked by the Karen Education Department if we would be interested in funding 2 schools in the Karen State, K'Nei Lay School and Ler Khaw School.
K'Nei Lay School is situated in Karen State, Special area which is a part of Doo Pla Ya district and is about 7Km inside the Karen State. The school is a primary school from KG to Grade 4. There are about 60 children enrolled in the school and 3 teachers. We are providing funds for teachers wages, school uniforms, school materials and simple medicines. This area is under control of KNU, DKBA and the SPDC but most of the villagers and students are Karen. It is a very rural area and the parents work mostly in the fields earning a very small amount of money.
Ler Khaw School is also situated in the Doo Pla Ya district but is just inside the Karen state, very close to the Thai border. The school has been supported of and on by the KED depending on the situation. It is a fairly unique school as it is also supported by the Burmese Education Department. It follows both the Burmese and Karen curriculum as most of the students are Karen. Children living both sides of the border attend the school. There are 80 children and 4 teachers. The Burmese Education Department pays the teachers salaries and we are currently responsible for the school materials, teaching equipment and again simple medicines.
Whilst being in a sensitive area we still feel the need to attempt to provide education to the Karen children in these areas. Whilst there is always the possibility that the schools may be closed, as happened to our previous schools, if we do not keep on trying then it will mean the regime will will win and we can't let that happen.
We were meant to visit the schools last week but there has been fighting in the area so we were unable to cross the border. We don't have any photos of the schools but we will speak to the KED to see if they can arrange for some to be sent out.