The class I've been teaching for the last three months is no more. Originally, our plan was that I would volunteer with these guys, who are from the AKSYU, until I went home at Christmas - doing research training, and helping with editing or whatever else came up. But Tuesday night they cracked open the beer after dinner, and announced that there would be no more classes. A surprise going away party for me, I guess they thought beer would soften the blow. Its terribly dissapointing, for so many reasons. But, where they've been living has been operating as sort of a satellite office for their organizations, and there just isn't the funding to keep it open anymore.

Its also incredibly dissapointing to get this news a day after I read this. USAID has awarded the IRC an annual funding of $24.4 million for an "ambitious five-year program aimed at improving education and health services for Burmese refugees and migrants in Thailand." Part of this new program will also include working with local organizations on capacity building in the areas of education and health care.   more »

What is Books for Burma? Books for Burma is a project to bring educational resources to the people who need them - refugees and exiled activists who for political and financial reasons have been unable to continue their higher education.

You can read about some of my own students here. They're doing some great work here; research, community development, and journalism. But for the most part they have to learn as they go. Right now, the best chance they have for furthering their knowledge is through independent study. When the time comes, these guys, and others like them, will be on the front lines of rebuilding their nation - an education is not only something they deserve in its own right, but it is essential to the success of their cause and their nation.
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