News letter

Writer Opinion

            Many people around the world deserve the freedom to travel and freedom to work. Others have learned to take for granted that they are unable to do so. Thousands of refugees from Burma have lived confined to the camps in Thailand for 30 years ago. Although refugee camps are hardly natural places to live, thousands have been born in the camps and never left. For the vast majority of them, the only way of life they have ever known is one forced to be dependent on outside assistance. For many young refugees, refugee camps are where they were born and where they grew up, and the only reality they have ever seen exists within the fences of the camp. Nowadays, there are over 140,000 refugees along Thai-Burma border. Among these, around 80,000 are new arrivals in refugee camps.

            No one suspected that they have to live in refugee camp for the whole life. Majority of the refugees in the camps are Karen (79.1%) or Karenni (10.3%) from eastern Burma (TBC, December, 2014), who have fled armed conflicts and terrible human rights abuse and torture by the junta Burmese military.

            Many new refugees arrival are asking only one question in these years. They are curious what the difference between refugee and new refugee is. However, it hugely caused the misunderstanding among them. Majority new arrival refugees assume that;

“The meaning of the refugee means someone who has been forced to leave a country because of war or for religious or political Reasons. However, new refugee arrival’s meaning is different in camp. People called they are not refugees because they just come and take the advantages from camp. Then, they are not registered by UNHCR.” New arrival from Mae La Camp

There are several authorities control the refugee camps in Thai-Burma border. They are MOI, UNHCR, KRC and Camp Commander. Within these organization, they all are link together in working officially.

All in all, this report mainly focus on why new arrivals should go to third country. You may also concern the advantages, disadvantages and challenges of living in refugee camp or repatriation to Burma. Finally, this report is going to show the good points of resettlement in third country.

Partner Links

Partner Links

http://widehorizonsacitvies.blogspot.com/  Kay Thi Thant Zin

http://thinzaraungmyint.blogspot.com/  Kyi Khala

http://dogcrazy09.blogspot.com/# Edward

http://background012.blogspot.com/  day wah

http://creativeidea16.blogspot.com/ Zoaw Htaw

http://article1993.blogspot.com/ Mya Win

http://cherrywin20.blogspot.com/#     Cherry Win

http://jalornhtaw.blogspot.com/ Jalorn

http://ahremorganization.blogspot.com/ john soe

http://phyoachitchit.blogspot.com/     Phyo Wai Lin

http://lisuadvertisement.blogspot.com/ avyar

http://floweringmeyou.blogspot.com/ Than Maung

http://mytraditionalderss.blogspot.com/ Pa Pa Moe

http://ohnshipvillage.blogspot.com/# - Jhon

http://snowmary2016.blogspot.com/ mary

http://nayhlaingkoko.blogspot.com/ koko

http://maelarefugee.blogspot.com/ wah ku paw

http://juwuthainote07.blogspot.com/  J Ah Dau

http://pyawtawschool.blogspot.com/     Mu Ku

http://communitybenefitorganization.blogspot.com/  Pakaw Mol

Video

Elpis Dormitory Project Photo

SAW Safe House Project Photo

New wave School Project Photo

New wave School Project

Hsa Mu Htaw School Project Photo

Inside Bathroom

First Day Of Implementation

Evaluation After Project 

The Last of Implementation 

The Last of Implementation 

Evaluation After Project 

Hsa Mu Htaw School Project

Building girls' bathroom to improve living standard condition

First Day Implemtation

In Hsa Mu Htaw School, female students and teachers who live in the dormitory are facing insufficient bathrooms and water supply. Currently, there is only 1 female bathroom, and it is used for toilet and shower. As a result, the small open-air washing place used to clean feet now serves as a second bathroom.  This washing area has no water tank to store water and the water pressure is very low. This creates many security and privacy problems as well as schooling problems for those who live in the dorm. For these problems to be solved, we propose to install a water tank and build a brick wall so the feet-washing area can be turned into a proper shower place for female students and teachers.

There are currently 27 female students and 3 teachers living in the dorm and all 30 of them have to share 1 bathroom. Students of average age are 8 to 17 years old. The adult students usually take a bath 2 times per day and the rest of the younger children only bathe one time per day. The bathroom and toilet are combined, so if someone is using the toilet, other people who want to take a shower have to wait one by one. Usually, students take a shower before and after schooling hours which is between 9:00am – 5:00pm and long queue to shower becomes very boring. Sometimes the last student to take a shower is at 8:30pm.  

Therefore, the open-aired place used to clean feet in front of the girl’s dorm has become a makeshift shower place and it has reduced waiting time to a little. At present, this showering place is very narrow and its wide 4×4 feet. There are no walls for privacy and it is located near the school’s entrance (refer to figure:1). As a result neighbors can clearly see students showering from their house porch. Apart from that, male students and teachers who need to walk through the area for work, cannot pass through when there is someone taking a shower to respect their privacy.

According to a teacher, he saw a man from Pa.oh organization located next to school peep and took photographs of the girls showering (refer to figure:2).  According to a female grade ten student, she feels very shy when she takes a shower and runs up to the dorm when she sees someone coming towards the shower area. Due to the small size of this showering area sometimes students argue with each other about who should shower first because the place is very narrow and just can accommodate two people at one time.

          Another problem is insufficient water for showering. Usually water comes from 5:00am to 10:00pm but water pressure is very low during shower time even during rainy season. Furthermore, there is no water tank to store the water when they need to use. As a result, it takes a long time to shower and causes some students to be late for dinner. By the time they arrive for dinner, the food would run out. Sometimes, water does not come for 5 days so they have to stay without showering 3 or 4 days and often they have to travel for about 30 minutes to their teacher’s house for showering.

          To solve this girl’s bathroom problem, we propose to build a brick wall around the makeshift bathroom and expand the showering area to about two feet from the girl’s dorm. This will allow at least four children to shower at the same time and further reduce the time to take a shower.

         We also propose to install a water tank with a capacity of 1000 liters of water. Due to the narrow area, the water tank will be elevated above the bathroom with aluminum poles. If they get a water tank, they will be able to store 1000 liters water. This will allow them to collect water even when they are not showering and allow them to have steady water supply whenever they need to use it. 1000 liters is enough for all female students and teachers to take shower and also be on time for their daily errands. Students can concentrate more on their lessons. Furthermore, a wall will make students feel secure when they shower and prevent incidents of people peeping or photographing them.

English

Now day, English is very a big communication among diversities race.

After English Class

According to the UNDP, this is the second tranche from the Nordic country towards UNDP’s five-year country programme for Myanmar (2013-2017), following allocation of 2 million Euros in 2014 which contributed to implementation of such important UNDP initiatives in Myanmar as strengthening of the parliament; rule of law; local governance mapping; public administration reform and many other programmes.

UNDP Country Director, Toily Kurbanov said that he was encouraged by the confidence and generous funding provided by the Government of Finland.

“With funding from Finland, UNDP has supported Myanmar’s transition in many ways. We helped rural women have a greater voice through the formation of the Rural Women’s Network. We are helping government improve service delivery through the step up of one-stop shops. At the Union level, we have supported the Hluttaw staff and the incoming parliamentarians,” he said.

- See more at: http://www.mizzima.com/development-news/finland-gives-4m-euros-undp-myanmar-development#sthash.9KaUCV88.dpuf

Computer Class

Computer Class Is One Of  The Most Important Skill To Improve Communities.

Wide Horizons Computer class situation

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has received 4 million Euros (approx. US$ 4.4 M) from the Finland government to support the agency’s work in Myanmar in the areas of democratic governance, local development and environmental sustainability.

Jarmo Kuuttila, Chargé d' Affaires of the Diplomatic Mission of Finland said his government looked forward to deepening their partnership with UNDP. 

“One of Finland’s development priorities is to support the democratization of political institutions and to improve equal opportunities of all people to participate in political decision-making. Similarly we aim to support the strengthening of public administration and the judiciary to produce better public services that are accessible to people," he said. 

- See more at: http://www.mizzima.com/development-news/finland-gives-4m-euros-undp-myanmar-development#sthash.9KaUCV88.dpuf

Community Development

Community Development Is Changing For New Generation 

After Community Development 

The Syrian army had been gaining ground for several days, supported by Russian air strikes. Military sources say the army now has "full control".

IS seized the Unesco World Heritage site and modern town in May 2015.

Images released by the Syrian military on Saturday showed helicopters and tanks firing at positions in Palmyra.

The date of the footage could not be independently verified.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said there was still gunfire in the eastern part of the city, but the bulk of the IS force had pulled out and retreated further east.

About us

• Start date

  Founded on 15 January 2006
• Short description

  A 2-year leadership development program dedicated to building the capacity of young adults from Burma to work effectively in civil society organizations
• Long description

  The Wide Horizons Community Development Program is a professional development course for young staff members from grassroots organizations on the Thai-Burma border. The program consists of a 10 month intensive study and field work course in community development followed by a one year internship with an organization. The program brings in young adults from a wide variety of ethnicities from Burma to live and work together while learning the skills to build community services in a collaborative way. Since it was established in 2006, WH has trained hundreds of young adults who are now community workers and leaders.

  

  2015-2016 Academic Year Students

Knowing nothing is better than knowing a little

Finding one who left me