And then they sang . . .and sang . . .

Child Labour

Rather than bore you with more failed trips to galleries, or endless enthusings about lazing beside the pool, we thought we'd post some of our numerous photos and tell you the story behind them.




'Are you coming out to play after school?'
'No, I've got to go to work.'


As we were walking home from school, we met these 2 pupils from the school. They were pushing their barrow up to the market to set up their stall for the evening. They had some very sad looking fruit and some very suspect looking cakes for sale.


Of course one buys something - not to eat but out of friendship and support for their effort.


We were told that the barrow was a big step up. Previously they had carried their wares in baskets on their heads!


Other children work as garbage collectors - that is they rummage through bins looking for things they can sell - bottles, cans, paper, anything that the garbage traders will buy.



'Fancy a take-away tonight?'
'Er . . um . . no thanks.'

The Burmese markets in Mae Sot were full of these food stalls. What the camera doesn't record is the smell! Perhaps if you have worked in the factory from 7am to midnight (that's right, those are the normal hours they have to work - 7 days a week and 1 day off each 6 weeks - for less the a pound a day - no overtime pay) then any food would be welcome.

Spare a thought for them next time you put on your Nike or Reebok gear!

Destined never to sightsee!

Woke up this morning, Monday 16 July, wondering where we were. Realised it was Chiang Mai and we were due to move on to Pattaya tomorrow, we were a bit underwhelmed with the thought of more change. Pattaya for us was meant to be 3 days relaxing in a resort, resting. But here in Chiang Mai, we can still be around the Burmese community a bit and we are really missing Mae Sot and our friends and the school so we decided to stay here till we leave.

We cancelled the next hotel, booked this one and changed our flight to Bangkok.

Then we set off to the Teacher Training Centre for Burmese Teachers & Migrant Learning Centre (www.educationburma.net) in our hotel minibus, much to their amusement as they are more used to folk going off to see a big wat (temple) or some other tourist spot, especially 'shopping'.

There we met and were given a lovely meal by the Principal Sai Hsai Lum Kham, Thein Win, Sai Som Pong, Maram Roi Ji and Kyaw Kyaw Min Htut. We had a great discussion about the situations of the Burmese people in Burma, Mae Sot, Chiang Mai and about educational methodology. Unfortunately we missed meeting the students cos it took so long to change flights, hotels etc so we will go back on Thursday night to meet them.

Murray Forgie, our Edinburgh mentor, had emailed us about the biggest exhibition of Burmese Art in North Thailand, which was being shown at the Chiang Mai University Art Museum. Our TTCBT friends put us in a songthaw to go there. Unfortunately they thought we wanted to go 'shopping' and dropped us off at a mall! We walked and we walked and we sweated then we walked some more, all round the university site. We saw their agriculture centre, their cropping centre, their language centre, their Thai Art building.... everything except their art centre. All the time we were thinking sweet thoughts of Murray (NOT!). Eventually with swollen hands, feet, legs, burnt backs of necks cos the sun was so hot, we found it......

.... and it's SHUT ON MONDAYS!! First time Sheila has sworn since she got to Thailand. We hailed a songthaw who took us straight through the exhaust fumes for about 20 mins, cough cough to .... the wrong hotel! Dying by this point, he proceeded to pick up 6 girl guides/schoolgirls who squeezed in beside us and finally dropped us at the hotel, 2.5 hrs after we left TTBT! This sightseeing doesn't work for us. Give up!

Are we going back to the exhibition, Murray? Eh NO!

Happy Floor Day!

...we stayed to help lay the new floor!

The sand was arriving on Saturday so we went to school and the sand hadn't arrived. About 20 children come to school on Saturday because their parents work and the teachers look after them. Fancy that Forthview? Suddenly there were shouts of, 'SAND... SAND'. The first car of sand had arrived! Here you see in order 1. The bricks with one of the Grade 4 (P7) boys, Bobo. 2. The school tuktuk driver and his daughter and the caretaker filling buckets and bowls of sand and carrying it through to the classroom. 3. The first three bricks are laid, suddenly we had the start of a floor! We were all very happy. 4. The caretaker mops his brow as even they found it hot work and they are used to it. I said, 'It's raining... oh no it's me, I'm raining! as sweat dripped off my brow! as you can see from the pictures. 5. The team on the bit of floor we finished with that load of sand. We are the caretaker, his wife and son, the tuktuk driver and his daughter, 3 lady teachers, our GA and a few friends of the school.

What an amazing experience, probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life! And that is why we missed the bus and we are so glad we did. On a sadder and scarier note, we also went to Phillip's house for a wee scotch after a meal on Saturday night and cycled (yes we hired bikes here!) past the jail, which is like an open cage with bars that you might find at the zoo and around 30 Burmese people were there waiting to be taken back across the Burma border. Just so chilling.

Sadness, separation and fear of the authorities is never far away for the Burmese people in Mae Sot.

STOP THAT BUS!!! Happy Saturday

Waiting to be collected to get the 8am Saturday bus to Chiang Mai.... waiting..... waiting.... (reminds me of a song we know!). A confusion between Burmese, Thai and English language meant our driver went to the wrong place to collect us. He arrived with the teachers and our friend at 3 mins to 8! We raced to the bus station, only to see the bus going down the other carriageway. We chased the bus but it vanished by the time we had turned round so we went to the bus station on the way out of town. No bus.

By this time we were saying, 'Don't worry, today is not the day to leave Mae Sot. We must stay and there will be a good reason.' Our friend was distraught. He felt he had let us down but we were actually really happy not to be leaving. So we drove back into town ....

.... and the Chiang Mai bus went racing past us again! We don't know where it had gone inbetween, probably a detour into town but by this time, we had decided to stay....

.. and we had the most magical day.... Why? What was the reason we stayed? Watch this space... we will tell you when/if we get to Chiang Mai....!

Last post was what makes us sad... this is what makes us angry!

Hle Bee School has 2 buildings. The second building has 5 small classrooms. The roof is leaves but the FLOOR IS MUD. We went over there so little because you can't walk as your shoes stick in the muddy ground and you have to pull your foot out every time. This is where 5 of the 7 classes of children work. The chairs and desks sink into the mud as the children lean on them. This is the rainy season and so mud splashes all over the place as the floor gets very wet. It is not safe or hygienic.

We asked the Headteacher - if you could choose one thing to improve your school now, what would it be?

A concrete floor for the second building, she said. We asked how much it would cost.

To get workers to work all day on a Saturday, for concrete blocks and for 3 cars of sand (!), the cost would be 137.50 pounds.

We both felt so angry that for such a small amount of british money, so much could be done to transform the educational experience and health of so many children. THIS WORLD IS SO UNFAIR.

We talked together and gave the headteacher the money she needed to do the floor this morning. By lunchtime the concrete blocks had arrived, the sand will come by tomorrow (thundershowers permitting) and when the children go to school on Monday, they will have a concrete floor!

The workers are here, the materials are cheap so it can happen so quickly. Imagine getting workmen so fast in Edinburgh! In fact, imagine getting workmen at all in Edinburgh!

We are not trying to say we are good samaritans but trying to show you how little it costs to change lives here. To walk away would be criminal.

As we leave behind our time together....

Today I wept to leave these beautiful people behind. They are such kind, caring, happy, smiling children but the pain of leaving their homeland is always there, barely under the surface.

Today, Grade 3 & 4 were telling us about themselves. One boy is always smiling and cheerful and helpful but his eyes clouded over and looked off into the distance as he told us that his mother is in Burma and he is here with his father who has to work very hard all day. His pain was tangible.

And then we had to leave for the last time (this year!). The whole school were singing like crazy. Their favourite song is I'm the only I. I looked at the children and teachers, all from Burma, all refugees, all living in fear because they are not safe in this place and was overwhelmed as they sang 'We're the only we in history'. To share this moment in history, being here amongst them, is a great honour for Geoff and I.

I wasn't going to play the leaving song AS WE GO NOW but our friend said, 'Yes, this will be good'. So we sang, 'as we leave behind our time together, may we walk with one another.... as we go into the future, may we realise how precious we are'. And then I had to speak and say goodbye to all the school. My voice kept breaking up. I told them, 'Remember each one of you is a special and wonderful person. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.' My goodness, it was so hard to leave. These people are treated by Burma and by Thailand like the scum of the earth and they deserve so much more.