1[1].1 Mae Sot

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 inbetween 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 websites 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)