Hope at the Border: Burma's Refugees
6/10/2010 6:41:16 PM
Above: Mrs Paw's daugter, Si Si (second from right)
Mrs Paw, a Burmese refugee, remembers clearly the day her village became a battle ground. She recalls the large guns, exploding bombs and some villagers killed. Mrs Paw recalls, “Our government’s army was trying to eliminate all the people. The war was right inside the village.”
A heavily pregnant Mrs Paw fled on foot from her village with her three small children and the other survivors. They walked for days through mountainous terrain in a desperate effort to reach a safe haven. The family had lost all their possessions when they were forced to flee and had only a small bag of rice to sustain them. The children struggled to keep walking day after day, but there was no choice but to keep moving. Mrs Paw gave birth to her fourth child during this perilous journey. Mrs Paw and her family were brought to the safety of a refugee camp on the Thailand-Burma border. Act for Peace is part of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) which provides food, shelter, other essential items and livelihood support to Burmese refugees.
Act for Peace has been a part of TBBC for more than twenty years and contributes much needed funds to its vital projects in the refugee camps. Mrs Paw’s younger children all attend schools in the camp. Mrs Paw helps raise funds to support her four children by taking on small sewing jobs. She also takes part in other projects such as the women’s committee, women’s rights training and sanitation training workshops.
Mrs Paw explains, “I would like to return to Burma but it is not possible as there is no peace in Burma; my hope is for my children to have a good education, stand on their own feet and be independent.”
Act for Peace continues to support TBBC to provide desperately needed resources to traumatised families fleeing conflict, violence and severe oppression in Burma
.
