1[1].0 Introduction

1.0 Introduction Background Children are the "life" of any community and how they are treated is a good way to judge a society and its values. Any society that exploits its youth or abandons this most valuable resource is literally "discarding" its own lifeline to the future. When one contemplates the vast number of children leaving Myanmar for a safer chance at life in Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, or India, one wonders at the lack of wisdom inherent in Burmese governmental policies. Or, maybe it is the 'perverse' wisdom of a government that only sees a future for itself, its 400,000 man army, and those who would join or serve it. (Related article here) The Federation of Trade Unions in Burma estimates there are two million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, many of them fleeing the practice of forced labor in their own country. In Mae Sot, there are more than two hundred factories, mostly garment-producing, owned by wealthy Chinese or Taiwanese, with approximately 36,000 legally registered workers. However, local labor advocates assert there are four times as many illegal workers. An ILO report from 2006 claims that factories in the Mae Sot area have perfected a system of exploitation and a recent article by Ed Cropley (June 4, 2007) describes the situation in this Thai border town as one of "Burmese workers toiling in penury." It is obvious that Burmese migrant workers in Thailand face a myriad of human rights issues although the situation is slowly changing for the better. (Related report here) In this situation, the children of refugees often suffer the most. Many are forced into child labor just to survive. Others eke out a living by recycling trash, begging, or living on the streets as pick-pockets. The valuable resource of young Burmese minds is presently squandered in Myanmar by a dictatorial government. A young Burmese child, kidnapped by the military to become a child soldier, or nowadays, even a young Buddhist monk, has a bleak future, indeed. With a little support and some basic education, the children of Burmese migrant workers could overcome the local conditions of poverty and exploitation they are beset by. Location Mae Sot is a small Thai trading town on the western border with Burma. It has a mixed population of Thai, Karen, Burmese and Chinese. Bangkok and Chiang Mai can be reached within an hour by air, and bus services run regularly to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and all major cities in Thailand. Mae Sot is the closest point in Thailand to the Burmese capital Yangoon and has become a major gateway to Burma. It has recently developed into a tourist location, complete with internet cafes and budget guest houses. Mae Sot is also opposite Burma's Karen State. The Karen are one of the ethnic groups currently embroiled in conflict with the Burmese Junta, SPDC State Peace and Development Council, in order to achieve greater autonomy.

History Where did it all begin? (In 2006, at the Pattaravitaya English Program School) How did it begin? (With a swim in the Moei River) How did Dhane Blue come to be in Thailand and what possessed him to start caring for Burmese kids whose only home was under the bridge over the border? (He fell back in love with his natural self) The picture of me at above right is with Buyee -- a girl I met under that bridge while swimming in the Moei River. (She has three sisters and a brother but these siblings have no parents or other living relatives) The questions people are interested in hearing the answers to -- now that a lot of water has figuratively passed under that bridge -- are not that difficult to come up with. Since I am responsible for starting this little thing called HTF Home School, I shall try my best to explain my motivations to everyone's satisfaction. My interest in helping third world children actually began in the early 1970's. I had joined the U.S. Navy at the end of the Vietnam War and found myself stationed in the Philippines. This was my first exposure to living conditions in third world countries. The experience of living in a small village on the coast made a lasting impression upon my young, naive self. At the time, I was a typical 'sailor' and didn't accomplish anything to be proud of. I served my country, though, and didn't have to kill anyone to do so -- I was just lucky! It took another thirteen years before I returned to Asia as a thirty-something year old student. The wait had been worth it. I had time to mature emotionally and knew what I wanted to accomplish. Both my B.A. and M.A. degrees were focused on community health and rural development in third world countries. By the time I arrived in south India as a student intern with a village development project, I was in 'over my head' and learning to live a new lifestyle. It is one that I have never abandoned in my heart. For the next thirteen years, I continued to live in Asia. My first visit to Thailand was in 1985 and I had wanted to study alternative medicine at a Thai primary health care center near the Cambodian border. I was frustrated in my search for government approval but began my career as an English teacher then in Bangkok. I had no choice -- I was waiting for a student loan check. I couldn't just leave Thailand and immediately go elsewhere to study herbal medicine. The next twelve years were spent in India and Nepal. I continued my studies until 1991 when I settled down in Kathmandu and basically became an unofficial Peace Corps volunteer. At least, my lifestyle was the same. I worked in local boarding schools and eventually added on a year of Ph.D. research into health education onto my experience as a teacher. I had always been frustrated, though, in applying my educational background to worthwhile development projects. I never wanted to work for an international non-governmental organization because I had lived too much of the poor lifestyle myself to ever understand why so many I.N.G.O.s' budgets seem geared towards making their employees' lifestyles so luxurious. I always thought a nongovernmental organization was either a true grass-roots group or it hadn't earned its name. Finally, in 2006, I returned to Thailand as an English teacher. I joined the Pattaravitaya English Program School's staff as a foreign teacher. My supervisor was a Philippino young enough to be my daughter -- a return to the Philippines in a sort of round-about way. Here, I applied my skills as a teacher with less than a hundred students enrolled in the English Program. I had plenty of time to explore the local environment and community. For six months, I shared a Thai farm house with another teacher from Myanmar. He taught Burmese language at Pattaravitaya and opened me up to the culture of Myanmar. During the hot season just before the monsoon rains began, I would spend many an afternoon cooling off with a swim in the Moei River. Here, I couldn't help but encounter swarms of local Burmese children also swimming in the river. For many of them, this was the only home they had ever known. Many of them spent their days collecting enough plastic bottles from local trash bins in and around Mae Sot to earn enough money to pay for a meal each evening. Others survived by begging from the rich tourists visiting the Burmese market near the Friendship Bridge.

I became friends with many of the children living under the bridge and shared my pocket money -- for clothes, sometimes, but mostly to take someone to a local restaurant for a meal. I was able to talk with many of them through my friend and house-mate, the Burmese teacher. He had lost his own parents during the Democracy Movement in Myanmar. I had witnessed the same movement succeed in Nepal during the early 1990's. I couldn't help but feel compassion towards these children's plight. They had no real champions in the world. These were not Karen children whose parents' villages were ethnically cleansed by the Burmese Army. These were just kids mostly from broken families. All of their stories were similar in one way or another. One or the other parent had run away, become a drunk, or didn't make enough money to support the children he or she had brought into this world. These kids would classify as economic refugees – as unwanted as the flotsam that the Burmese throw into the river each day. It was only apt that these children also ended up in the river along with all the other 'trash' thrown away. But, I couldn't see them as trash. I had lived too long in Nepal with similar children from impoverished backgrounds not to realize that these kids had long ago lost their support network. Burmese society was unraveling in front of my eyes. I had been planning on leaving Thailand after a year and working my way around the world as a volunteer at orphanages and with programs helping street children. Suddenly, I was inspired to finally try my own hand at this 'N.G.O.' game. Why couldn't I do the same thing? I was tired of spending my salary -- which I didn't need but ten percent of to survive on in Thailand, anyway. My friend, the Burmese teacher, and I rounded up about ten kids and found a house to rent. It was near the Friendship Bridge. We hired the mother of one of the children to be their housekeeper, opened the doors, and handed over a month's food money. It was our first mistake. The next morning saw the kids kicked out of the house. An angry landlady showed up at our door, and the housekeeper had run away with our money back to her village. We learned that Achai, her son pictured here, was the youngest of her children. All the rest had run away from home and many had become thieves. Old habits are hard to kick. We were disappointed -- both in our Thai and Burmese neighbors. We had conveniently forgotten these people had their own history that wouldn't go away just because some white farang came along and tried to 'make their world over'. We took the next step in our adventure and rented a larger, older farm house in a village further downstream of the Friendship Bridge. We were lucky when we found a sympathetic Thai landlord who gave us a break on the rent. From September 2006 to February 2007 we established ourselves in this new home. The children were happy that they could reach us without walking too far into Thailand. The police were constantly on the lookout at that time to stop too many children from roaming free. Our kids could walk downstream in Myanmar and then cross over the Moei River and our house was only 500 meters away. Life settled down into a routine of teaching the children to be civilized. They had lived so long outside and run wild and free that actually being in a real house for maybe the first time in their lives was a new habit that had to be 'broken in' like a pair of new hiking shoes.

By Christmas of 2006, we felt we had finally put some roots down. The rest is history. We have had our 'ups and downs' but compared to where the children have been and what they have experienced, they've made progress. I would still do the whole thing over again if given the chance. I don't imagine it would be any easier but having once gone down that road, at least I now know the road signs to look out for. We are finally ready for stage two of Homesteading the Future -- that is, the Future. Up to now, we have been struggling to establish a home base. I have recently returned to Thailand and made a move to a new school in a truly agricultural community. I didn't know it but I also needed a new home base. Sometimes, people need to step back from what they've become involved in to gain perspective and objective vision. Learning to delegate authority is a hard nut to crack if you are a 'hands-on' type like I am. I need to complete my lessons, too, especially of traditional farming -- before I can ever hope to teach others. This is an 'adventure in progress' and all who want to help us create it are welcome, regardless of your previous experience in life or your own 'ups and downs'. We especially want 'dreamers' who are not afraid to 'Just Do It', to borrow from Nike. We don't need resident experts or consultants who bank on their name or fame as a 'know it all'. Modern science has only proven that no one individual has the whole picture. Please read recent articles posted on the website to get a drift for where we want to go. If you feel you might fit into our picture, let us know more about your dream. Perhaps we can marry the two and both come out ahead in this game. My own motivations -- well, I was raised in a tight-knit, nuclear family that 'exploded' like most American families do. My exposure in young adulthood to the expanded family of Asian culture helped me heal my own psychological 'fault' lines. I guess I'm just returning the favor -- it's called Karma!

This was the shelter as of May, 2008 Since May we have unexpectedly been contacted by an NGO in Sri Lanka that had unspent funds left over from the Tsunami recovery project and decided to utilize them to help us build a new shelter. Construction has been ongoing for a month and we anticipate moving into our new home by October of this year. Then, we will be able to convert the present shelter into our kindergarten and community center. Ita and Goin, our Burmese houseparents, are Christian and want to become missionaries. They will be able to expand their circle of close friends and open their own church within the year – we hope. I hope to be back in Mae Sot no later than March of next year and will be in charge of the kindergarten and our farming efforts. We hope to continue meeting our projected financial needs by my hosting of groups of student volunteers who will attend seminars at our shelter and volunteer their labor on the farm. This is a work in progress but is HTF Home School's projected future. You are welcome to participate and make it happen. Please contact us as indicated on the next page:

This is the new shelter under construction – hopefully ready for October 2008.

Contact HTF Home School, Tamahaw Village, Mae Sot, Tak Province, Thailand 63110 Email: [email protected] Telephones: (shelter) 087 313-9109 (for caretakers Ita and Goin) (Dhane) 08 6860 4604