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.

Burmese Soup Kitchen Didn't Happen!

After being approached many times by children asking for money or food we began to wonder what would become of these children in the future. The future for children on the border is bleak enough, but these children are not even getting a chance from the start. They do not go to school, are sent out in the morning and told to go and beg, steal (?) and if they don’t come home with a certain amount of money they will be in trouble. Can we provide a safe place for them, somewhere to eat, play and maybe develop good enough relationships where we can arrange for them to go to a school? If we start by giving them somewhere to go where they can get a good lunch, then we can work on the rest later. Our first "Burmese Soup Kitchen".
Whilst this seemed like a good idea, the children didn't turn up regularly, probably as they don't have watches, but also they are too busy to go to an out of the way house. Maybe they get enough food begging from "farang". Anyway, we have given up on this idea at the present, although we may come back to it at a later date.