1.

1 Mae Sot

Little Burma

Mae Sot is a town in Tak Province on the western border of

Thailand. Near Mae Sot, this border is actually formed by
the Moei River flowing roughly from south to north between
Thailand and Myanmar. On the western side of the Moei
River lies Mywaddi, a Burmese town in the Karen State of
Myanmar. On the eastern side of the Moei River lies Mae
Sot, a virtual 'Burmese' town recreated in Thailand. How
did this situation come to exist?

Mae Sot is located in the busiest district of Thailand on its

western side. Different ethnic groups have lived together
here for over one hundred years. At first, Karen tribal
groups lived here, later on Thais joined them, followed by
the Chinese from Yunnan Province, Burmans and Muslims
from Bangladesh and northern Thailand showed up, and
finally, Sikhs and Hindus from India arrived. Many Burmese
fleeing the violence in their own country migrated here as
did the Chinese through Bangkok. During the British rule of
Burma and before the road was built over the Thai
mountains to the east of Mae Sot, Moulmein, a major
seaport in Burma accounted for more trade with Mae Sot
than with other areas of Thailand. That original situation has changed drastically.

Now that the Thai government's policy of constructive engagement with the Burmese
government has grown from its inception in 1988-91, migrants, and especially economic
refugees escaping forced labor and enforced poverty in Burma, have arrived from all over that
country. The construction of the Friendship Bridge over the Moei River in 1997 and the recent
completion of the Thai-built highway into Mywaddi have helped Mae Sot grow further into the
Special Investment Promotion Zone set up by the Thai government's Board of Investment.
Privileges for international businessmen and tax-based incentives have made this zone the
most heavily promoted one in Thailand. Part of businessmen's deal with the Thai government is
the promise of abundant, cheap labor. Of course, this labor source is Burmese.

"... as a zone filled with unique cultural translations and negotiations along the Thai-Burmese in-
between spaces, Mae Sot can, in many ways and many levels, be called a Burmese town. It is
a town where, to follow Edward Said, the generalized condition of homelessness has become a
major beat of life." (from Flight to/through the Door by Decha Tangseefa)
"Experiences inside Burma are harrowing. Recent events where monks have been murdered
have only re-emphasized the peoples' agonies under a Burmese dictatorship only recently
accounted for or noted by the world community. More than 1,000,000 Burmese internally
displaced people have become a nation in exile among the Thai populace. While refugees from
Burma escape to India, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, most find Thailand more attractive
as a safe haven due to its proximity and the ease of crossing the border. The past decade has
only increased the severity of the poor socio-economic condition in Burma and created a
desperate situation for the Burmese. Many still live in Burma but depend on family members
working in Mae Sot to remit home money for their survival."

Our Mission

Seven of our children attend the Baan Daada School about 100
meters away from our shelter in the local village. Located near the
Moei River, the school serves between 300-400 students, most if
not all who are from Myanmar and living in the local vicinity. The
children study in Thai as the school is a government school
although all of its students are Burmese. Burmese students would
not be welcome in the other Thai government schools in nearby
villages. Here, though, they are welcomed and encouraged to
attend school. This is partly because of the school's close
proximity to the border and the fact that it is located in a village where local people are more
accepting of a Burmese presence. This is due to the several large factories located in the
village that hire thousands of Burmese. New Year 2008's celebrations given by the
management of the local Top Form Brassiere factory were held on the school grounds.

The school has comfortable classrooms and has just built a new wing along the length of the
playground where local youth gather to play football. We hope to invite children from this school
to try their hand at being farmers. We want to provide them each with an individual plot of farm
land to experiment on. Plans include teaching them the techniques of natural farming and
allowing them to try growing crops without chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, tillage, or
other artificial styles of agriculture. Students will be encouraged to try related forms of natural
farming -- including permaculture, homatherapy farming, biodynamic agriculture, etc. Records
will be kept of the results of their own experiments and incorporated into the training program for
other students. Experience is the best teacher in this program and we expect the children will
learn the most from their own mistakes.

Our children were happy to be welcomed into a community

of other Burmese students that they could relate to. Many
new friends have been made and more will be added as
time goes on. A special thanks goes to Kiyo, a volunteer
from Japan, (read his impressions of Mae Sot in the next
section) who was visiting at the time our children enrolled
and whose donation bought their first ever school uniforms.
They have since adjusted to the discipline of daily studies --
both at school in Thai and at home in Burmese in the
evenings. Don't let anyone ever tell you that learning in two
languages while struggling to also speak with me in English
is easy. They have to work at it and often don't get it right.
Considering what they will also learn about farming, they have a lot on their plates but don't
complain about their situation. I don't know how many students in cities in the U.S.A. could do
the same thing without having to make excuses for not being able to deal with it. There are
some major parallels between the violence in schools in the inner cities of the U.S.A. and that of
poor, developing countries such as Myanmar. I guess the two are linked in ways that no one
can do much about. Without the demand for illegal drugs that we in the West create, perhaps
third world countries wouldn't have to grow an illegal cash crop of poppies or cocaine and could
grow vegetables instead. We all have to start somewhere -- our kids will begin on a farm and
we hope they never have to leave it.
Local N.G.O.s' Work

By Kiyoharu Sugiura

While I was working as an intern at an N.G.O., HTF Home School in Thailand,

from 2 May to 15 June 2007, I researched philanthropic organizations'
activities, such as N.G.O.s, in Mae Sot and in nearby refugee camps. These
areas are famous for Burmese refugees and homeless people because they
are located on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. In these areas,
there are large numbers of children who have no opportunity of education.

In response to individuals' efforts to help others, some private and small-scale

organizations are working in these areas. However, many of the organizations
are so small that it is not easy to understand their motivation and interests
from the outside. For instance, many organizations are working without web-
sites or an effort to communicate to the world at large their need for support.
In order to grasp the general trend of educational development projects in the areas, it is
important to learn from these small organizations' activities how the grassroots groups organize
their efforts. In the following sections, I want to report on some organizations' educational
activities for development. This report is mainly based on interviews with responsible persons in
local organizations. A lot of Burmese are living in Mae Sot, particularly near the border between
Thailand and Myanmar. On the other hand, more Thai people are living in the Mae Sot
downtown area, which is about 5 kilometers away from the border. Income disparity must be
generally huge among the two groups -- rich Thai people make full use of cheap labor of the
poor Burmese. For instance, many Thai people own land located near the border and rarely
show up at their farms. What they do is only live near the Mae Sot downtown area and hire
Burmese labor for an average wage of 2-3 dollars a day. What is worse, there are many
Burmese people who have no stable jobs in Thailand. What they are doing is, for instance,
begging, collecting garbage and the like.

As a result, poor Burmese children have no money to go to schools. It is true that the public
schools in Thailand are free, but those poor families can not even afford to pay for hidden costs,
such as uniforms and textbooks. So, many of the Burmese children are out of touch with the
local system of education. However, it is also true that many of those poor families are longing
for their children's education. For instance, even for a short period, some people are looking for
volunteers who can teach English to their children. In summary, Burmese migrants' children in
this area face a lack of fundamental educational resources, such as primary, secondary and
higher education schools.

HTF Home School is a grass-roots organization, which was established in 2006, run by one
American teacher, Dhane Blue, with the help of two Burmese people and volunteers. The main
mission of HTF is to help homeless children to have better lives in terms of the improvement of
their standard of living and education. At present, there are fourteen (eleven as of May, 2008)
children who are accommodated in a shelter ran by Blue. The shelter provides children with a
safe place, good nutrition, and educational opportunities.

The most recent project was the provision of these children with formal education. By attracting
private donations and self-funding, the children were able to enroll in a Thai public school for the
first time in their lives. It may be hard for these children to keep up with other students because
Thai language is used in school while their native language is Burmese. But, in order to help
their learning, the shelter is providing extra tuition sessions that supplement their studies.

In the future, the organization plans to invite other Burmese students to participate in their
studies of natural farming and the experiential learning of it on local plots of land. The
organization believes that their mission allows children to learn not only academic subjects but
also practical skills such as farming and animal husbandry. Further, it also believes that their
mission helps parents of these homeless children make a living by themselves. The problem of
homeless children is not solved until the problem of their parents is solved. (More here)