Newsletter Related To Burmese Refugee

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IOM Resettles 50,000 Myanmar Refugees Since 2004 (Continued from Page 1)

While the largest number of refugees have been accepted by the US, other resettlement countries now include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

abroad. It works closely with the Royal Thai government, UNHCR and the governments of resettlement countries.

IOM’s 34-year history of refugee resettlement from Thailand began in 1975 in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, when it helped nearly half a million Indochinese refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to leave the country and start new lives

Escort Episode Many of staff members had the opportunity escort refugees bound to the United States these past months. Each one came back with their own story to tell. Cultural Orientation (CO) Trainer Ms. Nuttakarn Sumon was kind to share with us one of the episodes from her escort experience.

"Next time, I’ll remember to add M-150 and Red Bull in our list." Image: www.iconocast.com

CO Trainers repeatedly inform refugees during the orientation sessions about what items they are allowed and what items they are not allowed to bring in their carry-on luggage. Despite of this, many refugees still bring with them bottles of orange juice, fresh mangoes, limes, and the likes.

have a little sip each. The other bottles were shared with the other adult refugees.

On the day of our departure, there was a slight delay in the immigration. While I was waiting with the refugees I was assigned to escort, one of the adults went to the convenient store. He spent his last Thai money to buy 4 bottles of M-150 (energy drink). He gave it to his wife and his 4 kids.

Nat: During the pre-departure orientation at the airport, the Operations Staff and I advised the refugees that they should not consume liquor or soda before or during the flight. Fifteen minutes later, I saw one of the fathers buy energy drinks for the whole family before they boarded the plane. Can you believe it?

As soon as I saw this, I went to ask the family why they wanted to drink the M-150. They told me it was sweet and had a nice taste. I then told the father that if they drank the energy drink, the whole family will have a hard time sleeping and will not have enough rest. They looked disappointed to have to throw away the stuff they just bought. I felt bad for them, so I allowed them to

When I returned to Thailand, I told Khun Jum (Ms. Pojaman Som-In, CO Officer) about this episode.

Jum: You told them about alcohol and soda, not once you mentioned about M-150. (laughing) We should be specific in what we tell them. Nat: Well, I never actually thought about that. Next time, I’ll remember to add M-150 and also Red Bull in my list.

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New

IOM DDG Elected

Source: www.iom.int

Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón Elected as Deputy Director General of IOM

Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón of Costa Rica has today [30 June 2009] been elected as the next Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Ambassador Thompson Chacón was elected by a two-thirds majority vote of the Council, which brought together IOM Member States. From left to right: Current IOM Deputy Director General Mrs. Ndioro Ndiaye, IOM Deputy Director General-elect Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón, and IOM Director General Mr. William Lacy Swing.

Laura Thompson Chacón brings to IOM a wealth of international experience, most recently as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.

Over the course of her diplomatic career, she has represented Costa Rica to UNESCO, the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. In this capacity, Ambassador Thompson Chacón chaired several bodies on migration and refugee related matters, including the Executive Committee and the Council of the International Organization of Migration, and the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Previously, she has held various posts as Legal Counsel to diverse international organizations in Geneva, including the United Nations Compensation Commission. She participated as a fellow professor or a panelist in several seminars and roundtables on a wide variety of subjects ranging from migration, human rights, education, environment, to disarmament and compliance with international treaties, throughout the regions of the world. Ambassador Thompson Chacón obtained a Masters degree in international relations with a specialization in international law from the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales of Geneva and holds a degree in law from the University of Costa Rica. In addition to Spanish, her mother tongue, Ambassador Thompson Chacón is fluent in English, French and Greek – and has basic knowledge of Italian and Portuguese. The new Deputy Director General will begin her assignment on 1 September 2009.

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YtÜxãxÄÄ yÜÉÅ Irena Dear all colleagues in Thailand, It is time to say good bye for now. I have been working in different capacities with all of you in the past nearly six years and it has been a very rewarding time for me. Professionally as well as personally. We have together, each of us in our own capacity, helped many thousand of migrants leave, transit, arrive and live in Thailand. At the same time we have helped Thai government authorities to understand the needs of migrants and have helped develop the capacity to positively and constructively benefit from the presence of migrants. Despite all our work so far the job is by far not done. Migrants are still in difficult situations and the government authorities still don't have the appropriate tools to address the ever changing and challenging situations migration imposes on them. I wish you all the enthusiasm and energy to continue your work and wish you all personal as well as professional success. While in my new assignment in Geneva I will be dealing with global issues I will be very much interested to hear from you and to learn how you are personally doing and how your work is progressing. If you come to Geneva please let me know so we can meet. Until we see each other again. Irena Vojackova-Sollorano IOM Southeast Asia RR MRF Bangkok, Thailand

Ms. Irena VOJACKOVA-SOLLORANO started her career with IOM Manila as Development Officer many years ago. She was transferred to Bangkok as Regional Representative in September 2003 from Vienna, Austria. As of June 2009, she has been recently transferred to IOM Geneva, Switzerland where she will oversee the Migration Management Services.

Best wishes from all of us...

IOM MRF Bangkok

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STAFF FAREWELLS

Dr. Rachain Weannara

Migration Health Physician, Health Assessment

Varisara Anansiribovoran Dr. Peter Robert Shannon Finance Assistant, Counter-Trafficking

Migration Health Physician, UKTBDP

I would like to thank you all for assisting me during these 5 years with IOM Thailand especially medical section and all resettlement programs.

It’s such a great time to work with people in IOM and I can’t refuse that IOM is one of the best places to work.

Goodbye everyone.

Of course without participating of all sections and assisting with each others in professional manners, this program would not be an excellent job.

With smile, fun, and active characters of IOM spirits really impress me and I will keep this in my memory. That’s a big pity that I can enjoy this only 6 months and I wish I could stay longer.

Maybe we will work together again some day.

Please keep in touch! my personal email is [email protected].

Best wishes to you all!

I was recruited to work for IOM Thailand in April 2004 initially assigned at WTK, Bangkok and lastly Maesot. I would like to thank Dr. Tom who gave me chance to be part of this significant IOM mission. I do enjoy every moment of working with IOM and I know that I will miss you all. Yet no one is perfect; I do apologize if by any mean I have done anything wrong to any of you (if any).

Thank you so much for a great 3 ½ years.

Meanwhile you can contact me here: [email protected]

By the way, thank you my teammates in CT – Counter Trafficking and Finance unit for bringing me all wonderful experiences; and I bet that no one can’t find this anywhere but here”.

From now I will be joining my family in Paris and am looking forwards to be back with IOM again when the time is right.

http://www.roadandtravel.com

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I

was a volunteer at Diversitat, one of Australia Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS), which provides intensive initial settlement support to newly arrived refugees and Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) entrants. At first I visited Diversitat facilities and refugee services facilities such as the Geelong Community Health Centre (This place

provides medical services for the refugees who first arrive in Geelong), the Norlane Neighbourhood Centre (They provide the community garden for the refugee to study planting their vegetables here and then when they know how, they can grow at their backyards), and the Geelong Community Shed (This place is like a metal and carpentry workshop for men. So the men can gather when they want to). Then later, I attended settlement group meeting at Diversitat. At the meeting, I gave a slide show presentation about refugee camp in Thailand to Diversitat staffs, DIAC representative, Church volunteers, Victoria police officers, high school teacher, etc. After the presentation, they liked my slide show and the informa-

Being with the Karen Community in Australia Feature Article By Mr. Patcharapon Podamrongchai

Mr. Patcharapon is a Cultural Orientation Trainer based in Mae Sot, Thailand. He took 3 months on Special Leave Without Pay (SLWOP) in March 2009 through May 2009. He took some time to volunteer with the community of Karen refugees in Corio, Australia. He is now back and was generous to share with us his experience.

tion about refugee in Thailand which they never knew in details before. Thus, there were many places asked me to be guest speaker and talked to them afterward. So I was a guest speaker to the following venues; North Geelong High School, Corio Primary School, Foundation House in Melbourne, Centrelink in Warribee, Centrelink in Corio, Corio Rotary Club, Geelong local community radio station, multi-cultural soccer club and Diversitat in Geelong. I was invited to Karen wedding at Hoppers Crossing. Grace is Karen and works at Corio Childcare Service. She married with Karen gentleman whom she met in the camp. It is a big Karen community there. Many of them drove cars, nice cars, to the wedding. I participated in the sport and leisure activity with African and Karen children organized by Diversitat, Barwon Community Health Service and Sacred Hearth College.

Apart of the job with Diversitat and all. I really had a great time with my Karen host family who were my students both parents and son. I first met them when I conducted AUSCO adult and children class in Ban Mae Surin in Thailand on November 2007. Then on January 2008 I visited GATE, refugee service in Geelong and met them again. This year they were very kind to host me. It was my third time to see them. With them, we drove to Philippe Island to see penguin. I taught them driving. We went Asian grocery shopping at Footscray. We cooked and had dinners with colleagues from Diversitat. I really established relationship and connection with Karen community in Geelong.

We still keep in touch and they invited me to visit them again on Christmas 2010.

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PrintScreen Source: www.seoconsultants.com

www.nemahaweb.com

The Windows Print Screen Key can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it to its full potential. There are some who initially think that when they press the Print Screen Key that it will literally be sent to the printer! That's okay, we've all been there, done that. Just don't tell anyone! Actually, if you are using DOS, it will be sent to the printer. The sole function of this key is to take a snapshot or picture of your computer screen and copy it to the clipboard (the clipboard is an invisible holding area for content that is copied). Its the same thing as if you copied something from a document and it is now on your clipboard waiting to be pasted in its final destination. It’s that simple. Now, how do you get to see those Screen Captures or maybe even send them to someone? The quickest and most effective method is to have a graphics editing program handy. If that is not an option, you can open your favorite word processing program and create a new document. Position your cursor at the beginning of the document or wherever you want the screenshot to appear. Using your keyboard, press Ctrl + V which will Paste the screenshot in your open document. Now you can Save (Ctrl + S) the document to wherever you wish, make sure to name it appropriately so you can easily find it.

You can now send this file to anyone via email, use it in a presentation, create your own little book of screenshots showing how to perform a specific task, etc. The possibilities are endless. We use the Windows Print Screen Key regularly. You probably will too once you get the hang of it! Now, for those who have read this far, we are going to share another neat little feature of the Windows Print Screen Key. Pressing Alt + Print Screen

http://techcrew.wordpress.com

...will take a screenshot of the currently selected window, not the entire screen like the normal screenshot function. This allows you to target that specific window that you have open and nothing else. No more cropping those screenshots to grab the content you were after!

www.codinghorror.com

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Welcome, new interns!

BIRTHDAY CELEBRANTS

July

Michael JAUNG Michael joins us as an intern with the Regional Migration Health Unit at the IOM Regional Office until mid-August 2009. He holds a BS in Microbiology and BA in International Studies from the Ohio State Universtiy. He is currently an MD Candidate at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Christopher LEE Christopher joins us as an intern with the Regional Migration Health Unit at the IOM Regional Office until midAugust 2009. He holds a BSc in Neuroscience and English Literature from the McGill University. He is currently an MD Candidate at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Wannaprapa KAROM Wannaprapa will be interning with the Counter-Trafficking Unit in Bangkok for 6 months until mid-December 2009 She holds a BA in Social Work from Thammasart University, Bangkok. At present, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Studies, major in Social Work at the Lund University, Sweden.

DIRECTORY By Arthit Intakaew The IOM Thailand telephone directory is regularly updated by our Receptionist Khun O. Please keep him informed in case you change your contact numbers. Click here to download the updated directory.

Note that this e-publication is produced exclusively for IOM staff in Thailand and is for internal distribution only. Comments, suggestions, and contributions will be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact Ms. Kimberly Santos at [email protected].

DoB 1 3 3 5 5 5 6 9 12 14 14 14 17 17 18 18 18 21 22 25 30

Last name SIMOVSKA-NIKOLIC SRIPANGPONG NGAOJALAR PRAYADSAB LIKHITRUNGRAT FONGSAMUTR SUPPASOET POTHIPOCH MICHAUD NAISANGUANSRI HIRANMEKAWANICH PIYASIL KOWIRIYAWATE PINYOMATUSKUN BASTIANSEN GIATMOLEE KOTHU SRIKEERATIKARN INTAPHAD YAMBUPA WANNHONG

First name Mirjana Lalitsa Piengpaga Sugunya Chalermpon Kajontip Prapai Anchalee Thanaporn Varaporn Waranya Chawarat Atchara Mary Stein Walaipan Arkom Anusit Charoensin Songwoot Narongrit

HOLIDAY Wednesday, 8th July

BUDDHIST LENT DAY

The tradition of Buddhist Lent or the annual three-month Rains Retreat known in Thai as "Phansa" dates back to the time of early Buddhism in ancient India. All holy men, mendicants and sages spent three months of the annual rainy season in permanent dwellings. They avoided unnecessary travel during the period when crops were still new for fear they might accidentally step on young plants. Lord Buddha decreed that his followers should also abide by this ancient tradition, and thus began to gather in groups of simple dwellings. http://sunsite.au.ac.th