First days for the XO laptop

The first days of the XO laptop project have gone pretty good! The kids are getting quickly familiar with the XO laptop and seem to explore all the possibilities. We take it easy and give the students time to learn. The young ones hardly have experience with computers so for them it takes a bit longer. The older students are quite quick and managed to start teaching me how to put a photo in a writing document. The young kids are just exited about everything... I can show one students how to brighten up the screen and than he would just glow from excitement and show all his friends. Very funny!

Making photo's is a hit but first we continue with exploring the writing programme. XO has Linux system and does not have Windows because it takes too much space. The XO has only one gig in total and only 700 MB free space. Not a lot but I downloaded so many activities and it's still 300 MB free. I find the Writing programme not easy in use. Letters just change position in tables and I got pretty frustrated.













For the kids the mouse pad is hard to use. It's small and very sensitive. When you touch the sides of the screen with the arrow more options show up long the edges. Pretty annoying.
I had a 6 year old spending some hours with me yesterday and I gave her the laptop. She has little fingers but struggled so much with the mouse pad. It does takes time to get used to it. I showed her different things and she loved the drawings and a letter game where the letter fall out of the sky and you have to type them before they touch the ground. A really good way to get familiar with the alphabet!

Refugees in Thailand

TREATMENT OF REFUGEES_Thailand ranked as one of worst places, Bangkok Post

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Thailand ranks as one of the world’s worst places for refugees due to its poor treatment of Burmese and Hmong asylum seekers and of the long-necked Padaung tribe, according to a survey released on World Refugee Day yesterday. Other countries listed among the worst places for refugees are Bangladesh, China, several European Union (EU) countries, India, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Russia, and Sudan, according to a 18-page report conducted by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).

The ranking is based on a country’s treatment of refugees such as giving them the right to earn a livelihood, physical protection, access to the courts, and freedom of movement and residence in the country surveyed.

USCRI country director Dares Chusri said Thailand’s ranking fell from the previous survey, particularly in terms of refugee freedom and residence, due to the forced deportation of Burmese and Hmong asylum seekers and the Padaung tribe, who fled their homes in Burma to escape armed hostilities between government troops and ethnic rebels more than 15 years ago.
Thai authorities moved the long-necked Karen people from their present village in Mae Hong Son’s Muang district to a new holding centre in the same district last year.

Around 7,500 ethnic Hmong living at Ban Huay Nam Khao camp in Phetchabun province have been forced to relocate to a barbed-wire camp by the authorities, who have also started to repatriate many of them back to Laos.

The USCRI surveyed a total of 60 countries which together account for 90% of the refugees in the world.

Unlike the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which has recognised an improvement in Thailand’s refugee policy, the USCRI viewed that refugee rights were still not well-protected here.
Last year, up to 22,000 refugees, mostly Karen, left Thailand to resettle in third countries.

The UNHCR has also recognised Thailand’s efforts to treat the refugees better with the issuance of identity cards and the inclusion of refugees in the national HIV/Aids prevention and treatment programme.

The UNHCR, however, shared NGO concerns that no major progress has been made in development of self-reliance, and access to the labour market and opportunities for higher education, which are still limited.

There are around 145,700 refugees camped along the Thai-Burmese border and some 50,000 outside the camps plus many hundred thousands of asylum seekers in the country.

ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

Posted in Other Migration Issues in Mekong

Shan people raided in Fang

Shan migrant workers in Fang raided

Newly settled houses of Shan migrant workers in Chiangmai's Fang district were raided by the Thai authorities yesterday morning and 19 people have been detained at the Fang police station until now.

http://www.shanland.org/
18 June 2008
By Hseng Khio Fah

Officials from Royal Forest Department, Immigration Police, Border Patrol Police and local Thai troops raided the community which is settled in a lychee plantation, near Wiangwai village, Mornpin village tract, and arrested both those holding red-edged green ID cards issued to alien highlanders and those without any ID.

Around 50 people were taken to the monastery of Mornpin for interrogation. The authorities asked, “Where did you get permission to seek asylum? Why did you come here? What are you doing here?

Those holding labour registration documents were released and the rest were taken to the Fang police station.

Until now, there has been no information from the authorities whether those 19 people will be released or not.According to a villager, the authorities are still raiding nearby Banlan village today. The reason for the raid was not disclosed, although according to some official sources, the land in which the Shans had settled was owned by a local drug trafficker who was recently arrested.

It was the second time of this year that the Thai authorities raided Shan migrant workers. The first time was on 3 April when a community of foreign highlanders in Sor Por Kor 4-01 land at Moo 18, Inthakhin Subdistrict, Mae Tang District, Chiang Mai was raided and 60 people were arrested.

Hmong refugees fear forced return to Laos

MSF has been trying to get the world to react on the forced return of Hmong refugees to Laos. In Laos the Hmong are facing persecution ever since they sided the USA against their Vietnam war against the communist. (Cambodja, Lao and Vietnam) Since 1973 the Lao communistic government is ruling and the Hmong are not safe.
Please read the Briefing Paper (see link) for background information.

Medicins Sans Frontieres MSF
Field News
March 17, 2008 Thailand: Small Group of Hmong Refugees Returned to Laos, Heightening Concerns

Press Release
MSF Calls on Thailand to Halt Forcible Return of Hmong Refugees to Laos

Briefing Paper
The Situation of the Lao Hmong Refugees in Petchabun, Thailand

Slideshow
Fearing a Forced Return: Lao Hmong Refugees in Northern Thailand

“I never said I wanted to go back to Laos—no one has told me why I’m on this voluntary list. I don’t want to go back to Laos—I’m afraid of what will happen to me if I go back there.”
-Young man, 27, registered on the list of voluntary returnees

“I don’t know why I’m on this list, but I do not want to go back to Laos. If I return to Laos they’re going to kill me.”
-Man, 50 years old, head of a family of 9

On Wednesday, February 27, 2008, four ethnic Hmong families from the Huai Nam Khao refugee camp in Thailand were sent back to Laos. This confirmed fears expressed by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in October 2007 with respect to the Thai government’s plans to forcibly repatriate 8,000 Hmong before the end of 2008. The refugees are currently confined to this camp in northern Thailand’s Petchabun province and claim to have fled violence and persecution in Laos.

According to Thai authorities, the four families of Hmong refugees sent back to Laos in February from the Huai Nam Khao camp were registered on a list of voluntary returnees. But statements from witnesses in the camp do not corroborate this account. On that day, Thai soldiers examined their registration cards and screened them. They then separated 12 people from the group and had them board military vehicles. According to these witnesses, several people were clearly being forced to board the vehicles.

“A mother of 5 children ages 2 to 15 was compelled to board military vehicles, even though her children were still in the camp,” said Gilles Isard, MSF head of mission in Thailand. “It’s hard to believe this woman was voluntarily returning to Laos without her children,”

MSF was able to interview four families registered on this so-called voluntary list of returnees. Their statements disclosed that none of them had expressed the desire to return Laos. Indeed, they fear for their safety if they return. There has been no independent assessment of the safety or conditions under which these refugees are being repatriated to Laos.

Between December 2007 and January 2008, Thai soldiers conducted a screening process of the Hmong refugees in Huai Nam Khao camp. The purpose of this operation was to separate refugees fleeing persecution in Laos from those migrating for economic reasons. It was conducted with no third party involved and its results were not communicated to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or any other international refugee rights organization.

It is urgent that a third-party organization, such as UNHCR, be allowed to judge whether repatriation requests made by the Hmong in Huai Nam Khao are valid, ensure that their rights are respected, and that any repatriation to Laos is voluntary, all of which should be performed in accordance with international standards protecting refugees.

Since July 2005, MSF has assisted the Hmong refugees in Huai Nam Khao in Petchabun province. MSF provides medical and relief assistance to the 8,000 refugees, including health care, psychosocial care, food, relief supplies, water, and sanitation.

Parents meeting XO Laptop project

Aaike handed out the laptops to the kids to be hold on the groups photo. Coming Thursday will be the real start of the project.






Nearly all parents managed to come to the meeting. I didn't expect that because they of course are working. They have given the responsibility that their kid buys or makes a bag for the XO laptop. Also they need to bring some extension cords for charging the 20 laptops. This to get the parents and students more involved and to create a sense of ownership.






The boxes with the OLPC XO laptops were very carefully opened. Of course this laptop is very durable and because it doesn't have a hard drive, it doesn't crash easily. Also you can put in in water but all those things we didn't tell the kids and parents! ;)








The parents waiting before the meeting. There are 7 Thai students, 7 Shan (Burmese refugees), 4 Palaung and 2 Lahu (hilltribe) students in the XO laptop project.

Parents meeting XO Laptop project

Groups photo from the students who are going to be part of the XO Laptop project and their parents.

XO Laptop conference Lampang - OLPC

Last weekend we had a conference about the XO Laptop - One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)- in Lampang.
Ben, Jo (Aaike), Pui and I undertook the long car drive down to Lampang. It was nice to spend time like this with Pui. The other teacher from Moung Choum came from Chiang Mai and met us later.

It was for Ben and I more the case of just being there and making contacts because we couldn't follow the Thai language... The main facilitator was Professor Paron from the Mongkot university in Bangkok. He decides where the laptops are being places and we have nothing to do with that project but we were nevertheless invited to come and learn together.
The other schools which are having laptops are very different schools than Moung Choum because they already are following non- traditional education (some are privet schools) and are familiar with constructivist learning. But we know that the XO laptop is really made for schools like this, in a rural setting with not a lot of help from the government like city schools. The school would not score well in the national statistics because the combination of Hilltribes, Burmese refugees and rural Thai people. Last year only 5 students continued their high school education after grade 3. Let's see what this project can mean for this children!




All the teachers were from all over Thailand. We stayed with all teacher at the SIAM cement factory where they have a lux resort for guests. Siam cement sponsors a lot of educational things and looked after us very well. Ben, Jo and I stayed in the VIP apartment so we felt we were on a nice holiday. The food was great as well!








Khun Pui and Jo at a workshop to learn more about the XO laptop.

Visit Enrica and Rob

My cousin Enrica and husband Rob came to visit us. We stayed with them in a fantastic resort for a night and did some fun trips in the area. Great to se them again!
Here we were in Mae Salong, high in the mountains.








The rain has started early this year...














The Golden Buddha statue in the Golden Triangle.

Visit James and Emmelyn

James (Ben's brother), Emmelyn and Ben enjoying a beer with the view on The Mekong river at the Golden Triangle. James and Emmelyn visited us for a few days and we had a great time. We had a nice time catching up with them in the Golden Triangle and Mae Salong.

The view over The Mekong is just beautifull. Many fisherman working or just resting in their boats.
















With a boat we went over the the other side over the river, to Laos.













The two brothers.


















Palaung weaving.

Volunteer needed in Thailand!

Fang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

We are seeking a volunteer English teacher for a minimum of 2 months in a school in northern Thailand.

The volunteer will support a group of 23 students with an age ranging from 8 – 12 years old who are taking part of a project-based learning program, using OLPC XO laptops. For this project the students will come together every day to work with their XO laptop and learn English. The children will be doing creative learning projects covering their school subject such as maths, writing, art, biology and music. An important part of this project is that the students need to be engaged in the English language that will open up their possibilities of using the laptop online.

To make the laptop project successful we need the help of an enthusiastic teacher who can provide lessons for these children. With lessons we do mean fun activities and active interaction. It is most important to get the students exited about learning a new language and develop a intrinsic motivation for learning. We look for a teacher who is aware that children have different learning styles and is able to adapt lessons and activities to the needs of the individual child. So this is not boring ‘chalk and talk’ job but a chance to make learning fun and active!

There is help from the local teachers as well as from the project facilitator. The work is in a supervised environment yet with a lot of room for personal input. The local teacher has great English skills and will be available for translation and help whenever needed.


The XO laptop project has also a need for involvement from the volunteer teacher. Even though the first task is to teach English, it would be desirable to support the local teacher with ideas for projects and creative ways to get the children excited to learn and explore.

Concrete tasks will be:
- Prepare, plan and guide lessons.
- Plan language activities and games.
- Support the local teacher in developing simple projects about e.g. animals, different countries, nature etc.

The candidate does not require teaching qualifications but should have an interest in education and a basic knowledge of computers and the internet. While not required to be a native speaker they should possess good English skills in speaking, reading and writing. Most importantly they should posses an enthusiasm and resourcefulness to engage children. The candidate will be given lodgings and will receive support and instruction from both the local teachers running the project as well as the project facilitator, Jildou Brouwer. All up the position is for 25 - 30 hours per week with plenty of free time to explore this beautiful area. A scooter is provided for transport. This is a great opportunity to be involved with an early implementation of the world famous OLPC children’s laptop. What we learn from this project could well be useful be for future projects around Thailand and even the wider developing world in an ongoing effort to help children develop themselves through the great power of LEARNING.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Jildou Brouwer at: jildou.brouwer@gmail.com


For those who would like to learn more about the XO laptop:
The XO, also known as the $100 Laptop or Children's Machine, is an inexpensive laptop computer to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge and opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves by using constructionist learning. The laptop is developed by the One Laptop per Child (OLPC). For more information about One Laptop per Child go to: www.laptop.org

English learning at the monastery

The last few days I spend on the monastery school to start the E-Learning project with English software. It was quite hectic because a lot of the younger boys never used too often a computer. There were 8 different classes over the 2 days and I was running around every first class to get them to sign in but it was sooo funny! Just to type their name in English was problematic for the young ones and because two boys are sharing a computer they kept combining their names instead of having one account each. They are most exited. Now we need to keep encouraging the students to speak up and repeat the voice they hear. They are like any other student here too shy to speak up. The younger boys are less shy and practiced with full enthusiasm.

Yesterday evening I went with one of the Sister from the church to a Akkha hilltribe village. There is one family with a severe handicapped boy. He is partially blind and can't communicate other than pussing his sister or uncle in the direction he wants. He bangs his head a lot and dribbles all the time. He loves music and that keeps him happy. He hardly sleeps and that makes it real hard for his family who are working on the fields every day.

One of the boys in the village got shot dead not long ago because he had a fight with one of his classmates. The boys father is a policeman and lend the boy his gun!!! But the shooter shot his brother instead. Just horrible.
To tell an other policeman story; last Sunday there was a memorial service for a western priest from Fang who was killed on the road by 3 drunken policemen.... I tell you, the police here are the worst. They drink like crazy and feel far too superior. Anyway, the policemen of course got in no troubles whatsoever and even worse, they used the pictures of the accident, of the just killed priest, for posters to show around town what happens if you drink and drive!!!!

Taking stock

Our friends and family already heard the story but for those who didn't, here an update for where we are at.

In a nutshell, all our worst fears about Jon Peters have come true. He has completely abandoned the project, reneged on his agreement to us, failed to pay wages and expenses and worst of all trashed the hopes of the poor and vulnerable people who were led to believe that help was on it's way.

We are however moving on with a number of inertesting projects and doing our best to follow through on helping the people who had been promised so much.

Now we are geared up for a new start with the learning projects as well as with monasteries and tourism that will provide us with some income. Besides that we continue to do non-profit activities as before but we need to look for funding.
25 Laptops were already on it's way when Jon Peters abandoned the project and they will arrive in the next few days for Pui's school in Moung Choum. But now we are left without financial support as well as no people to take on the OLPC project.
So if anyone is interested (or you know someone who might be) in deploying OLPC laptops in a school as a volunteer based work experience.... you are very welcome to get in contact with us. OLPC is world wide known and will look great on your cv for sure!

So, that's it for now... All is well and we are full of positive energy to make the best out of the remaining part of the year. I will keep you up to date!

Love Ben & Jildou (Dao)

English camp

We organised an English camp together with Charrin from the monk school from the monastery Wat Sribunruang. For the boys it was a few days of camping in an national park with lots of activities. For most boys it was the first time to be on such a trip.
The boys from this school are here because they are too poor to get a regular education. They are lucky to have this opportunity in life.
We had lots of fun the days together. Charrin said that the boys were very exited afterwards to keep studying English during their holidays.


We camped at the Fang hot springs with it's beautiful surroundings.



















I had a full programme with many games and activities.













We now will need to do a bit of fundraising to be able to organise another camp for them.

English camp 2

Some Lahu children from the mountain of the national park were working to collect bamboo. For them no school or English camp. They were curious and watched us for a while doing games.

















The life of these boys is very quiet and they are not allowed to do sports. Activities like this are fun for them.












On is a great guitar player. We had fun singing songs together.

















Here the group had to guess what the boy was doing. Practicing verbs but more so the acting because Thai children are mostly too shy to speak up let alone act something out.