OUR LIVES goes live in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland!

Mark Lazarowicz, MP for Leith and North Edinburgh, opens the exhibition with praise for the connection between the Scottish and Burmese children. Mark has always supported our link with Hle Bee School very actively so it was very fitting that he opened the exhibition.

John Loughton, Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament & winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2008 encouraged the children to be proud and to keep connecting with their Burmese penpals and with children all over the world.

Can you spot John's wee brother Christopher near the back row? He's the one with red hair like John listening really carefully because he is so proud of his brother and today it was Christopher' who was the star with his work on display.

Here is the Anglo-Burmese artist Chris Robinson and his wife Dang enjoying the exhibition which Chris has worked so very hard to produce with Simone and Ross.

The opening was a lovely event with many friends of Burma joining us, many of the children's families and many friends of Forthview.
Marjorie from Kindness Scotland was there. Mrs Ryan Gillespie, Headteacher of Pirniehall Primary joined us. Pirniehall is our next door school in Pilton and they are linking with Say Ta Nar School in Mae Sot. Mrs Ryan Gillespie and her family are going to Mae Sot at the same time as Ms Laing next month. (You can read all about the Pirniehall journey on http://www.pirniehall.blogspot.com/ in the months to come.) Alastair Greig and his mum, Aunty Maureen are Burmese Scots and always support Forthview. Tom came from the Maitre Trust, who support Prospect Burma and Dr Thein Lwin's work. Rowena Arshad and her family joined in. Our old friend, Elric Honore came along and it's always great to see Elric.

Now did you spot a guy with bare feet there? His name is Ewen Hardie. Ewen has been going out and about in bare feet since the Burmese monks started to protest against the way the military leaders were treating their people last September. Check out his blog on http://www.barefeetforburma.blogspot.com/. He is about to walk from Edinburgh to London barefoot to show his support for the Burmese people. He is asking for sponsorship on www.justgiving.com/barefeetforburma and the money all goes to Burma Educational Scholarship Trust to support Burmese students in education around the world.

SO MAKE SURE YOU GET DOWN TO OCEAN TERMINAL TO SEE THE EXHIBITION BEFORE THE END OF JUNE 08.
The exhibition also opens in Mae Sot on 19 June 2008, which is Dau Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday and our Hle Bee friends are now very busy getting the exhibition ready. Over the next few weeks, we will post some of the children's etchings and writings for you to see on this blog.