October 16th 2018

H4FA has supported this small Bible College in Ban Mae Surin, Karenni Refugee Camp on the Thai Burma border since 2001. Sadly it was completely destroyed by fire in March 2013. A third of the entire camp was burnt down killing 37 camp residents including a member of the Bible School’s committee, and injuring over 200. Over 400 homes were destroyed. A fire hit the camp again in March 2015 but this time did not affect the College. H4FA sent £400 towards the needs of the fire victims. H4FA, Karenaid (a Finnish Church) and the Thai Baptist Church all contributed to rebuilding the Bible College and replacing the lost equipment. The new Bible College was opened on the 2nd July 2013 and despite the trials of losing so much, and the sheer hard work of rebuilding, the staff and students have been very happy in the new buildings. Now, despite the threat of camp closure, the Bible School has taken on new students. There are currently 40 students and 12 teaching staff and the college has become full of life once again and a source of comfort and support to the camp population of over 2,204 (August 2018 figure).

October 15th 2018

Emmanuel School is a small Anglican primary school in Mae La refugee camp. The camp, which has a population of 35,401 (August 2018 figure) is the largest of nine camps strung along the Thai-Burma border, which between them have a total population of 97,202 (August 2018 figure The Border Consortium). Mae La camp is about 40 km from the town of Mae Sot, a Thai town with an airport.

The school is nominally Anglican, but is open to children of all religions and includes Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Animists. There are currently 157 students, 81 boys and 76 girls, and 9 teachers. H4FA sends four quarterly payments to pay teachers, buy school equipment and stationary, make repairs and pay for any other necessities for the running of the school. The school is run by Emmanuel Church, the school committee, the teachers and parents and they send us full reports each quarter. We endeavour to visit at least once a year.

The school was founded in 2002 when it became crucial to integrating new, often traumatised, arrivals from the war zones on the other side of the border. For some of these “internally displaced persons”, this was their first experience of formal education, something prized by the Karen. It grew from a Sunday school attached to Emmanuel Church, into a primary school to accommodate the overflow from existing camp schools of these newly arrived children. This was at a time of an escalation of the civil war within Karen State.

Since January 2012 peace negotiations with the Burma Army have been ongoing. With the NLD’s landslide victory of 2015 in Myanmar and the “peace process” there were hopes that the camps would be disbanded and the people able to go home. Recent political developments, a strong Burma Army presence in Karen State near the border and sporadic breakdown of the ceasefire now make this less likely.

You can view the latest report from the Head Teacher, Gloria, by following this link: Emmanuel School Report 2018

This year as well as Emmanuel School continuing to grow and flourish there have been two new exciting developments:

Each year we provide a small grant to a dwindling band of veterans and widows from World War II. These old soldiers were amongst Britain’s most loyal allies in the war against Japan (1942-45). Now elderly and enduring extreme poverty, they are stranded in crowded refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border or struggling in Burma/Mayanmar, where for many years they were seen as enemies of the state. These grants can make all the difference between pure subsistence and getting a few "comforts" such as medicines, vegetables, or clothing.

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October 28th 2016

Care Villa is home to a group of 11 male land-mine victims in Mae La refugee camp. The men at Care Villa spend their lives disabled by blindness and immobility, and sit under a hot tin roof with little to do. For the most part they are ex Karen soldiers and lost their sight while attempting to defuse land-mines, or lost their legs by stepping on one. Most have lived at Care Villa for many years.