News with hope from Irrawaddy

Today, Christmas Day 2008, the Irrawady website (http://www.irrawaddy.org/) posted this news that the new Government in Thailand will be more supportive of the Burmese people. We wait with hope to see what this means for our friends in Mae Sot.

Speaking at an academic conference on December 19, Thailand's new Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromya, said that Thailand would now run “an ethical foreign policy,” in contrast to that of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his hand-picked successors.

“From now on, there will be no personal business dealings on the side. This government will not mix business and politics,” he said. “We shall have no [personal] business deals with the [Burmese] junta; we shall observe human rights and environmental concerns; we shall treat Burmese as we do Thais.”

Hle Bee Christmas Party

Forthview children raised enough money during Children in Need to give Hle Bee children a Christmas Party. You can see the photos of Forthview Christmas parties on http://www.forthviewschool.blogspot.com/. Soon you will be able to see the photos of Hle Bee Christmas party here. Meanwhile Happy Christmas to all our friends and in Burmese....

The Burma Book

Murray Forgie visited Edinburgh briefly in early December. He had hoped to be here for longer but he was held up by the protests in Bangkok Airport. Eventually he flew to Edinburgh via Phuket, after an 18 hr wait in Phuket Airport, only to discover his luggage had not followed him!

My main worry was not Murray's sophisticated clothing going missing but Murray was bringing back the etchings printed by Kyaw Win in Chiang Mai. Thankfully they arrived safely and in January, I will be taking these to Balgreen, St Mary's, Tollcross and Pirniehall Primaries. Meanwhile Kyaw Win is taking these prints and the children's writing and creating The Burma Book. Watch out for a launch near you - in Edinburgh and in Chiang Mai and in Mae Sot! We are becoming veterans of International Exhibitions of Burmese-Scottish Children's Art!

Floods in Mae Sot

Yesterday Guardian Angel was telling me on the phone that Mae Sot is really badly flooded. Today I saw a photo of this on http://www.irrawaddy.org/ . The worrying thing is that the Rainy Season should be over and this should be the Cold Season with no rain and yet rainstorms keeps coming. Many businesses and homes have been flooded and are covered in mud. Our friends find it very depressing. We don't know yet how Hle Bee School has been affected.

Update - Hle Bee School is not flooded and the rains seem to be lessening. However they still have no long term funding although it is hoped this will come through soon.

He just said, "YELLOW!"

In September 08, Kyaw Win, the Burmese link teacher between Hle Bee and Forthview, spent 2 weeks in Scotland. It was a whirlwind of activity but a very special moment was when Kyaw Win recited 2 poems from his childhood in Forthview Assembly. He read first in Burmese and then in English. You can see and hear him on this video clip.

You can also hear the nursery trying hard to do good listening until Kyaw Win says Patsy's favourite colour and then you can hear her, "He just said YELLOW!" Sweet.





And after all that hard work, how does a Burmese teacher wind down? On a beanbag, reading Angeline Ballerina!


Now go to Forthview School's blog and learn about Hle Bee and Forthview's joint handwashing campaign.
http://www.forthviewschool.blogspot.com/

Kilts and Longyis Ceilidh = £713

We had a splendid evening of Scottish Dance with many kilties, of Burmese food but only one longyi (well done Mary Ryan Gillespie!) on Friday night. Around 80 folk of all ages danced away and listened to stories from the Thai Burma border. We were a richly diverse group of folk, who had not met together before and that made for a really interesting and enjoyable evening.

Thank you to St James Church for use of their building, which was looking lovely. Thank you to all the Burmese and Scottish people who cooked such delicious food (apart from Sheila's mashed potato!). Thank you to everyone who bid so generously in Murray's auction of Burmese handcrafts.

Thanks to you all, we raised £713 for Hle Bee School.

Jesu Chin Barry!

Opening of OUR LIVES - again!

The 4th showing of the OUR LIVES exhibition was celebrated at its opening today in North Edinburgh Arts, Pennywell Court, Edinburgh. This is in Forthview's own community. The exhibition was organised by the P7s you can see standing in this photo. You can also see our Burmese visitor Kyaw Win speaking to everyone. He said that he will always remember this work. He translated the Scottish children's writing into Burmese and said it was really tricky because he didn't know what a Quiet Room was or a Feeling Book or Wrestling! You can also see Pirniehall Primary 7s and staff because they were our guests at the Opening. We would like to say a special thanks to Lisa at NEA for helping us so much and teaching us how to curate an exhibition.