Woman and child in Bagan, Burma

A friend came around this week to talk about her experience on the Thai Burma border with displaced people. There are a number of reasons the people are displaced – some have had to flee in the wake of advancing Burmese troops, some of the children are sold into sexual slavery by desperate parents, while others that have lost limbs in the fighting  come to Thailand to get a prosthetic.

Given my recent visit to Burma and the refugees I have met in north Thailand in the past, it was interesting to get an update on the situation and also check out the organisation she went over there to help.

Burmese woman near Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

Partner’s is a non-profit organisation that assists refugees and displaced people in Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. Their website gives a lot of information on Burmese refugees and their plight.

Here are some excerpts:

“There are over 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) in Burma, most of them living in remote jungle locations, hiding for fear of further violation from the Burma Army. Partners works to provide aid and hope to those suffering and displaced by one of the planets most brutal military regimes.

“Over one million refugees from Burma have fled out of Burma to neighboring countries. 150,000 are in refugee camps in Thailand and Bangladesh, while the rest are scattered throughout the region. Partners works with these refugees, focusing on the needs of orphaned children and leadership training.”

Partner’s has a number of fantastic programs to assist these people and some great ways you can involved. One of them is via their 5 Alive program. A donation of just $50 helps a family of five survive for a month in the jungle should they have to flee their homes through the provision of:
1. 75 kilograms of rice; 5 kilograms of salt
2. 1 cooking pot
3. 1 lighter
4. 1 machete
5. 1 large plastic sheet for making a roof in the jungle

Visited Planet has embraced 5 Alive as one of its current donation projects. Visited Planet raises money for causes through the sale of images from the on-line database and greeting cards/calendars.

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Feel free to email Jo at [email protected] with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations.  See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com