On December fifth, I met up with Kam Li, the director of the Kachin Development Organization, to talk shop. The KDO started about two years ago, but have had an office and drop-in center for less than a year. When I met up with them last year, Kam Li wasn't working as the coordinator yet. A Kachin friend of mine in Chiang Mai put me in touch with his brother who lives in Malaysia; he works in a swanky restaurant in KL, but is also involved with the KDO. Kam Li came to meet me with a tape recorder, and as we sat in the tea shop he asked me about how they should organize, and what activities they should do.   more »

For my first full day here, the CRC had a meeting with the UNHCR to discuss re-opening registration, so I made arrangements to visit with Li from the Kachin Development Organization. We met up after my requisite breakfast of ijagwe, Chinese doughnuts made Burmese style, and sweet milky coffee.

When I was here a year ago, the KDO was just starting to get organized, and they didn't yet have a proper office to operate out of. They had asked me lots of questions about organizing and operating that I'm hardly qualified to answer, and told me that next time I visited, they would be able to show me their office. Li did just that. Besides the advocacy work he does, like helping Kachins with employment, getting referral letters for hospital visits, and networking with other NGOs, they are also starting up a Kachin radio program, and a handicraft program to generate income. He showed me the room where they have their office set up, with a computer on a low table, and a pile of equipment I didn't recognize that was used for their radio program. He asked what I thought of it and I told him it looked just like a student office. He asked if it didn't look like an 'underground' office - I'm not sure I've ever seen an underground office before, but said it probably did.   more »