Ben and Jildou in Fang, Thailand: April 2008

Thursday, 3 April 2008

Keep in the loop about the situation in Burma

The demonstrations in Burma last September are now ended by the strong force of the military army but many monks and civilians have never returned back home. When this is no longer on our news bulletin it get easily forgotten...

Nothing has changed for the people. All we can do is to keep growing awareness about the tragic situation.

Were we are, in Fang northern Thailand, many Shan - Burmese refugees - are coming over the border to find a safe place for refugee. Earning hardly anything for dangerous work, whenever there might be work available.
Children are growing up in places like Lak Teang, Piang Luang, and supposed to be lucky to be in a relatively safe place. But they are without parents or other family. No papers, so no further education.

Let's not forget them, they need our help.

PLEASE watch this You Tube video; The first 18 minutes are a journalist's footage of a tracking through the jungle along with the Karen army along destroyed villages. A group of Karen people are trying to flee the Burmese to get to Thailand. Then there is information about the regime and the life in the cities. Just watch it to learn more.

Burma's secret war:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-YVdpQHdqo&NR=1

Today's article from the Bangkok post:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=126892

Some more video's (press photo's compilations with music):

Campaign for a free Burma:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbm8VTKI4NE

Free Burma:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXukjFnbnrI

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WEAVING PROJECT

Hidden away in the mountains, against the Thai-Burma border, many Burmese refugees are living an uncertain existence. Many fled their native Shan state in Myanmar after persecution by Burmese soldiers, who would coerce them to either join the army or deliver them into forced labour. Many of these people have suffered abuse and torture and for too many years have lead lives on the run.

Unlike other people groups fleeing Myanmar and taking refuge in Thailand, these Shan people *(the Thais call them Tai Yai or Big Thai) are not granted refugee status. This in turn means that they do not receive much support from the mutli-national NGOs. A great number are living without legal papers and live with the daily fear of being deported back to Myanmar which often ends in increased persecution, torture and death.

Even in Thailand, without land and without rights to live and work, their existence is highly precarious and they are extremely vulnerable. No land - no work - no money - no food. It says a lot about what life must have been like for them in Myanmar that they risk their lives to flee to this situation in Thailand.

In the north-west corner of Chiang Mai province there is a settlement camp of around 500 souls. The women are skilled weavers but have a hard time selling their products locally amid the crowded marketplace of Thai handicrafts. The project is helping this women's group by promoting these quality products to markets in the west. By buying these beautiful hand-made woven scarves you are tremendously helping these women to earn a decent living and receive an income which allows them to support their families towards a brighter future.

We are also offering hand made goods made by a Palaung hilltribe in the Fang region of Chiang Mai province. This hilltribe also migrated from Burma and have now found safe refuge in Thailand. Still the career options for young people are still very limited and by purchasing these colourful woven bags you are helping the community and encouraging girls to preserve their traditional weaving methods.

ENGLISH LEARNING PROJECT

One of the biggest challenges in learning english for rural Thai children is the absence of native speakers. Often the english teachers are not so good at speaking the language they are teaching and it makes it very hard for the students to progress. Also the style of teaching relies heavily on rote repetition and so the learning experience is limited and passive. Students are very shy and not used to speaking up in class.

Many students do have a strong desire to learn English and indeed there are big advantages for those children who are able to learn english. Competency in english provides career opportunities in tourism, hospitality, commerce and education as well as greater understanding of the wide world beyond Thailand, particularly through the internet.

The project uses available PCs and interactive CD-Roms to offer children another avenue to english learning. Providing the CDs, headsets and microphones allows the children the great benefit of listening to native speakers, testing their own pronunciation and progressing at their own individual pace.

One site where this project is proving very successful involves 150 boys at a high school for monks. These boys have ended up at a temple school because of necessity, either they are orphans or their families are too poor for them to attend regular schools. They are so motivated to improve their english and they get a great deal of benefit from using this technology.

OLPC XO-LAPTOP PROJECT

Nicholas Negroponte and others from M.I.T. media lab have created quite a stir over the last few years in their quest for a $100 laptop designed for children in developing countries. Running off virtually no energy and offering a host of learning programs for children it is a perfect tool for developing a project-based learning approach. With a built in camera and video functions it is ideal for doing field based research projects. When connected to the internet the laptop is a great tool for interactive learning for under resourced children.

We are working with a local government school in northern Thailand to implement a pilot project using 25 XO laptops. Located 3 km from the Burmese border and made up of Hilltribe students, Burmese refugees and Thai students, this school represents one of the first in Thailand to start using the XO's. We are involved in working with the teachers to develop project-based curriculum for the students as well as providing mentoring and facilitation.

Right now we are in the very initial stages of this project with deployment occurring only at the beginning of July 2008. In a few months we will evaluate the project with a view to expanding it.

FREE SCHOOLS - INFORMATION ABOUT THE LAST PROJECT WE WORKED WITH...

Voor de Nederlandse lezers onder ons is er nu ook een korte uitleg van het Free Schools project in het Nederlands. Meteen hieronder begint de Engelse uitleg van het project en de Nederlandse tekst is daaronder geplaatst. Na de Nederlandse tekst is er een tekst in het Engels waarin meer achtergrond informatie te lezen is over hoe het project in India is begonnen en over het Free Schools Model.

For our English readers you can find information about the project here in Thailand right under this. The text wich follows is in Dutch and after that you can read in English more info about how Free Schools started in India and about the original model.

FREE SCHOOLS THAILAND is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping minority groups in northern Thailand gain access to basic education. In this region there are many Hill Tribe groups such as the Lahu, Palong, Hmong, Lisu, and Akha as well as refugees from Myanmar, the Shan people. These groups have had great difficulty in settling in to Thai society and one of the biggest problems has been the education of the children. Deprived of a basic education the opportunities for these young ones are very limited and so to that end we are assisting them to go to school to learn Thai and Mathematics in order to offer them brighter prospects for the future.

Roughly one third of the students do not receive any other education than what is provided by Free Schools. The pupils who do attend government schools still remain severely disadvantaged by their low level of Thai language skills. All the hill-tribes and the various refugees from Myanmar have their own particular tongue which is completely different from Thai and so in a school situation this makes it awfully difficult for these “outside” children to fit in socially and to progress academically.

One of the most important functions of the Free Schools then is to develop basic Thai language literacy as well as to increase ability and confidence with spoken Thai. Importantly this takes place in a friendly atmosphere surrounded by their village friends and the lessons are imparted by a lady from the same language group as their own. This is very supportive in assisting the children to develop healthy learning habits as well as giving them the skills they need, socially and academically to succeed in the culturally alien situation of a Thai government School.

There are 2 types of Free Schools. One school is an evening school with various locations in different Hill Tribe villages where a local lady-teacher comes to teach for 2 hours each evening. The children are taught the basic Thai with a view to preparing them for government school. We focus on the younger children so as to impart the basic learning standards neccecesary for a good start to their education. Older children are also welcome especially those who are unable to attend a government school, these children learn to speak and write Thai as well as mathematics at these evening Free Schools.

The second type of Free Schools is where a teacher working at a government school gets her salary paid by Free Schools. The government schools here in the north of Thailand are getting a small budget from the government to pay for teachers so it often happens that there aren’t enough teachers for the students. The students who miss out on education are always the Hill Tribes and the Shan being as they are seen as second class citizens. We believe that if the children are willing to go that they must be given every opportunity to do so! So here Free Schools really makes a difference. One of the schools has 110 Hill Tribes students, a mix of Palong, Lahu, Lisu and Shan, and because Free School pays their two teachers and some study materials they now receive an education!

Free Schools Thailand is een non-profit organisatie die zich inzet om de minderheidsgroeperingen, de hill tribes (bergstammen) en vluchtelingen in Nooord Thailand toegang te geven tot onderwijs. In het Noorden van Thailand zijn vele hill tribes zoals de Lahu, Palong, Hmong, Lisu, Akha en ook groepen vluchtelingen uit Myanmar, de Shan, die overigens geen hill tribes zijn. Al deze groepen met hun eigen verschillende achtergronden hebben grote moeilijkheden om zich te vestigen in de Thaise maatschappij en een van de voornaamste problemen is onderwijs voor de kinderen. Vele kinderen gaan niet naar school en zonder enige (basis) scholing zij de mogelijkheden voor hun toekomst erg klein. Daarnaast zijn ongeschoolde kinderen veel vatbaarder voor misbruik en uitbuiting. Free Schools geeft deze hill tribe en vluchteling kinderen de mogelijkheid om naar school te gaan zodat ze de Thaise taal en wat rekenen kunnen leren.

Een van de voornaamste doelen van de Free Schools is dat de kinderen de Thaise taal leren verstaan, leren lezen en schrijven samen met hun dorpsgenootjes. De leerkracht is altijd een vrouw uit de nabije omgeving die dezelfde taal als de kinderen spreekt. Dit ook voor de veiligheid voor de meisjes die nog te vaak het slachtoffer worden van sexueel geweld door de Thaise politie en militairen. Door de kinderen een veilige leeromgeving te bieden hebben ze de kans om zich gezonde leergewoonten eigen te maken en de vaardigheden te ontwikkelen op sociaal en cognitief gebied zodat ze kunnen slagen in de Thaise samenleving.

Ongeveer een derde van de kinderen heeft geen toegang tot ander onderwijs dan wat door Free Schools verzorgd wordt. De kinderen die wel het geluk hebben om naar een regerings basisschool te kunnen gaan zijn desondanks nog steeds achtergesteld door hun gebrekkige kennis van de Thaise taal. Alle hill tribes en de Shan uit Myanmar spreken hun eigen taal dat in klank en geschrift totaal verschillend is dan Thais. De hill tribes hebben ook een eigen cultuur, gebruiken, manier van leven en kleden en ze worden door de meeste Thaise mensen als primitief en achterlijk gezien. De meeste hill tribe kinderen hebben geen geld om een schooluniform of de juiste boeken te kopen waardoor ze ‘buitenstaander’ blijven. Doordat er zelfs door de leerkrachten op ze neergekeken wordt is het voor deze kinderen een zware opgave om geaccepteert te worden en zich prettig te voelen op een regerings school. Dit samen met de taalbarriere maakt het niet moeilijk je voor te stellen dat kinderen zo ernstig achter raken, zich te onzeker voelen wat resulteert in dat er een groot aantal vroeg- school- verlaters zijn, soms zo jong als 8 jaar.

Free Schools organiseert twee vormen van onderwijs. Een vorm is een avondschool waar in verschillende dorpen van de hill tribes en Shans les wordt gegeven voor twee uur iedere avond door een locale vrouw. Door Thais en rekenen te leren worden de kinderen voorbereid om hopelijk naar een regerings school te gaan. We richten ons in eerste instantie op de jongere kinderen die nog jong genoeg zijn om zonder ernstige achterstand naar een regerings school te kunnen gaan. Oudere kinderen zijn ook van harte welkom en helemaal als ze geen enkele andere kans hebben om onderwijs te volgen om te leren lezen en schrijven. De meeste kinderen werken vanaf hun twaalfde volledig mee op het land met hun ouders en zullen zonder Free Schools geen mogelijkheid in hun leven krijgen om te leren.

De tweede vorm van Free Schools is dat een locale vrouw niet in het dorp les geeft maar op de regerings school terwijl Free School haar salaris betaalt. De scholen hier in het Noorden krijgen een aanzienelijk lager budget van de regering om leerkrachten aan te stellen. Zo gebeurt het maar al te vaak dat er niet genoeg leerkrachten zijn en er leerklingen naar huis gestuurd worden. De leerlingen die hiervan het dupe worden zijn nooit de Thaise kinderen maar de hill tribes en de Shan omdat ze gezien en behandeld worden als tweede rang burger. We zullen het eens zijn dat als de deze kinderen naar school willen om te leren, dat ze dezelfde kansen moeten krijgen als de Thaise kinderen. Op een van de regerings scholen waar Free Schools leerkrachten heeft, zijn er 110 hill tribe leerlingen, een mix van Palong, Lisu, Akha en Shan, die eerst geen onderwijs kregen omdat ze geen leerkracht hadden. Alleen omdat Free School twee leerkrachten heeft aangesteld om deze kinderen les te geven, hebben deze kinderen nu de mogelijkheid om naar school te gaan!

Sinds een maand gaan nu zes kinderen van een Lahu dorp naar de regerings school in het dichtsbijzijnde Thaise dorp door een beurs van Free Schools waarbij het schoolgeld, uniforms, boeken en transport kosten gesponserd worden. De Free School in het dorp van deze zes kinderen heeft hun een goede basis kennis gegeven waardoor ze nu op de regerings school verder kunnnen leren. Wij zien graag meer kinderen naar een regerings school gaan die maar een of geen ouders meer hebben en dus financieel gezienhier geen mogelijkheid toe hebben. Het volgen van het onderwijs op een regerings school zien wij als het meest effectief omdat de kinderen op deze manier zich in de Thaise samenleving leren handhaven, leren intergreren en ook in meer vakken onderwijs krijgen.

HOW FREE SCHOOLS BEGAN

The Free Schools models started around 1997 when Mark Bloomfield and Sister Crescence met while both were working with Mother Theresa in Calcutta. Mark is an English humanitarian who has worked all his life in Third World countries in projects ranging from protecting elephants in Africa work to arranging cataract operations for the poor throughout India . Sister Crescence belongs to the Sacred Heart Sisters in the state of Bihar in northern India. After their initial meeting Sr. Crescence invited Mark to her convent school in Motihari in Bihar. It was her that Sister Crescence showed him the empty classrooms in the late afternoon after the children had left. Her dream was to utilize these empty classrooms for the absolute poorest children who couldn’t even afford the very cheap convent schools of the nuns. Her vision was that these poorer children could come to school for two hours a day in the evening to receive a basic education instead of no education whatsoever. Mark stepped in and together they build the Free Schools model so that today some 50 schools are open every week-night. The schools provide free study materials, a nutritious snack, footwear and a set of clothes.

THE MODEL OF FREE SCHOOLS

The education is adapted to the needs of these poor children. The school syllabus concentrates on teaching children only the most important things without too much detail. Reading, writing, arithmetic, hygiene, crafts, income generating skills and civics (social duties) are the subjects taught in class. No children are turned away from school but priority is given to girls as they are severely disadvantaged in countries like India. In rural India daughters are considered a burden and are often made to work hard at a young age. If a teacher must pick only one child from a family, the brightest girl is chosen. After school she goes home to teach her brothers and sisters. This girl will likely grow up and become a mother and as she has received some education she will be able to teach her own children basic literacy and numeracy. This is an effective long term method of educating those people who need it most. - - - - - As Free Schools offers teaching positions strictly to lady teachers, another important benefit is that these impoverished women are given a respectable job as a teacher. The teachers earn more than the average wage and enjoy improved status in their communities.

FROM INDIA TO THAILAND

In India this project is run by the Catholic nuns and many children who otherwise would not be in school are receiving an education. Once the project was successfully set up in India, Mark left for the north of Thailand where he has set up 15 schools according to this same model. He has been receiving financial help from people in Canada who have set up a charity organisation - Free Schools World Literacy. They are committed to raising funds to support the existing schools as well as to support new schools. The difference in Thailand is that there is no sister Crescence or other charitable partner to oversee the operation. One of the aims of the Free Schools model is that the schools will be run mostly by the local people. Here in Thailand Mark couldn’t find a charitable partner to take over the daily care of the schools. This is were we, Ben and Jildou, stepped in and decided to come for a year to Thailand to oversee the running of the schools. Mark will leave for Africa to continue his journey to set up more and more Free Schools. He will do this no longer with finance from the Canadian organisation Free Schools World Literacy but with the help of generous sponsors. We wish him all the luck on his journey! - - - - - - So we are here in Fang to take over the Free Schools what means to visit each one of them two times a week, deliver study supplies and pay the teacher their monthly salaries. We are also responsible for the sourcing of new schools and the recruitment of the lady teachers.

THE PROJECT IN THAILAND

In Thailand there are many Hill Tribes like the Karens, Lahu, Lisu, Akha, Palong, Meo’s and others. These tribes are living according their own traditions; they have their own language, their own culture and customs. According to Thai official estimates there are some 500 000 hill tribal people living inside the geo-political region of Thailand. Importantly most of these are not Thai citizens leaving them as stateless people. Also there is a large group of Burmese refugees who fled from the military junta in their country. Many of these people are now 2nd generation refugees. The Tribes all speak their own language (some speak a bit of Thai) and the Burmese refugees speak their mother tongue, Burmese and so the Thai language is not familiar to these groups. Not being able to speak the local language prevents these groups from integration into society and the ability to earn a living. Therefore teaching the Thai language to these groups is essential. These refugees and the hill tribes have a very rich cultural tradition but tend to have the lowest standard of living. One of the biggest obstacles they face is that they do not have Thai citizenship. Without citizenship they have no right to own land, receive the minimum wage, travel outside their given regions and are sometimes denied access to health care. Without such rights these people are most vulnerable and often fall prey to abuse by the police, military personnel and employers. Girls especially are too often the victim of sexual abuse and violence by those in authority, this region near the Burmese border is also an area of significant drug trafficking. By giving these girls the chance to learn the basics they can grow in confidence and can create better opportunities for their future. The educational goals may look small by our western standards but for these children it can and does make a huge difference in their lives.