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News on Migrants & Refugees- 17 March, 2010 (English & Burmese)
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HEADLINES
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NEWS ON REFUGEES
Karen IDPs protest dam projects on Salween RiverBlackboard Memories
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NEWS ON REFUGEES*************************************************************
Karen IDPs protest dam projects on Salween RiverTuesday, 16 March 2010 18:40E-tu Hta Karen refugee camp
(Mizzima) - Hundreds of men, women and children thronged the sand bank of Salween river in the boat-stop area of E-tu Hta temporary Karen Refugee Camp. Theycame together on March 14 to observe the International Day of Action for Rivers andto protest against dam projects on the Salween.People listened to speakers providing information, support and encouragement beforefloating a raft with a poster saying "No Dam" down the Salween. The villagers areInternally Displaced Persons (IDP) from Ho Kay, Por Ka Der and E-tu Hta refugeecamp.E-tu Hta temporary refugee camp lies on the banks of the Salween river, the borderbetween Karen state in Burma and Mae Hong Son Province in Thailand. The yearmarks the sixth consecutive anti-dam event focused on the Salween River,coordinated by Karen Rivers Watch, a coalition of Karen social groups along withvillagers. They have been organizing events annually since 2004.“This annual event of anti-dam day aims to keep the spirit of awareness of dams on
the Salween River up-to-date and show the solidarity that our Karen people havetowards broader anti-dam movement (or global movement) organized by other peopleaffected by dams. We are against mega dams; full stop”, said Saw Johnny Lay, thespokesperson for KRW and the primary event organiser.There are three dams proposed for the Salween River - the Wei Gyi, Dagwei and HatGyi in a conflict zone.Villagers are concerned that these dams will repeat the mistakes of previous damconstruction projects; people being forcibly removed from their livelihood and homes;Karen people being the target of vicious assaults and random killings; destruction of the ecological balance of the area; and people’s traditional way of life. Many of themshared their bitter experience of the Law Pi Ta dam construction in Karenni State andongoing issues.One day before the event, there was a women's forum with local villagers and achildren's forum with basic education for students in the area organized to educate thevillagers, with more than a hundred women and children participating in one dayworkshops. These activities included an update on the dam situation and encouragedparticipation in environmental protection.Saw Lawplah, one of the organisers said, "We need a people-to-people advocatingstrategy--to expand our idea, and to make sure that environmental idea is in all ourKaren hearts. Karen for Karen people."This message of "No Dam" by the protesters loudly proclaims to all those peopleliving along the Salween that there is a concerted effort to protect the Salween fromdams.http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/3673-karen-idps-protest-dam-projects-on-salween-river.html
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Blackboard MemoriesBy JIM ANDREWS MARCH, 2010 - VOLUME 18 NO.3A teacher finds fulfillment at a school for young Shan refugees
Bernice Koehler Johnson discovered Burma and its problems late in life. TheAmerican teacher was nearly 70 when she applied for a job teaching Shan refugees inThailand.Johnson had already taught in more than half a dozen countries around the world, andThailand promised to be just one more on her teaching itinerary. “I liked adding newcountries to the list,” she confessed.Her job in Thailand, however, took hold of her like no other. It wasn’t so muchThailand or Burma that captured her heart but her Shan pupils—“bright-eyed youngpeople who looked not at all like the ragged refugees I had imagined.”
From them, she learned about the human rights abuses that had caused their familiesto flee. Her students’ harrowing accounts of atrocities committed by the Burmesearmy—including the gang rape of a young Shan girl—fueled an anger that smouldersthroughout the book.Johnson developed a deep rapport with her Shan students, who returned herdedication with respect and even love. One former student, a girl whose classroomwork was rewarded with a job with a nongovernmental organization, wrote toJohnson: “I miss you so much. Wherever you are, whatever you do, I will always missyou.”One student called her “mother,” while another assured the American woman whohad devoted so much time to his education that he would look after her in her old age.There can’t be many teachers in the world who receive such testimonials from theirstudents.Johnson left her home in the US to teach at the School for Youth from Shan State innorthern Thailand and was welcomed there by a “girl dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt”—the founder and director, Charm Tong.She watched with pleasure as Charm Tong matured into an energetic human rightscampaigner, winning international fame and awards.“Remembering the 20-year-old girl in blue jeans I met in 2002, I chuckle,” she writes.“It’s the kind of chuckle I might emit in front of a Burmese military general, if I werebold enough, the kind of chuckle that means ‘Ha, ha, this young woman whoseparents feared for her safety under your murderous regime, this young woman whogrew up in an orphanage, has achieved more than you have!’”Johnson spent Christmas 2005 with Charm Tong in the orphanage that had been theyoung campaigner’s early home. That was the year Charm Tong was named an“Asian Hero” by Time magazine and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.Charm Tong is the best known name in a “Where are they now?” chapter profiling thestudents Johnson has taught. They included two young women who were sent to theUS to represent Shan State at a Denver peace conference; and a young man workingin the health and safety department of a nongovernmental agency, investigating theoften appalling conditions under which Shan workers toil.“When I met these young people in 2002, they were frightened and discouraged,”writes Johnson. “Accustomed to hunger and deprivation, they had little hope for afuture they could not imagine.“Thinking about them now, I wonder if ever young people have accomplished somuch under such difficult circumstances.”Acknowledging that young Shan people in Thailand are helped by NGO trainingprograms and individual benefactors, Johnson says that, nevertheless, “it is they, myformer students themselves, who accepted each tiny seed of opportunity and
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