Silence and Sorrow

One of the usual Monday mornings when Mae Toe Clinic supplied free nutrition supplements and vaccinations to the babies, I was volunteering at the CPPCR registration booth which was closed to the child centre of the clinic. Babies' cry and Mothers' talk were making noises to the surroundings. A suffocated atmosphere filled with medicine smell, odor of human sweat and dusty air gave me a headache.

Often, I was quite puzzling and hard to fill their babies' birth-registration forms based on the answers from the parents and guardians who plainly said ‘don’t know’, ‘approximately, and ‘anonymous’ on the biographical data of their families. During my work there, I was told many genuine heartbreaking stories from these people. It was a bit funny I had no idea how to take the foot-prints of just-born babies.Meanwhile, a young mother in her mid-thirty and four year old child checked in. She showed up without her birth record from the clinic. I asked her to get her preganancy record from the clinic. She came back later with the record in which I found that she was HIV Positive, and bottle-fed her child.

Then, I looked at them. The mother in her slender shape looked good, clean and healthy instead of being transmitted by deathly threatened HIV disease. Her innocent look showed she didn’t know what record written in English said about her health condition. Her lovely baby girl was enjoying sugary snacks and coughing as normal. Again, I looked through the medical record to prove myself that she is positive. While filling her registration form, I learnt that her child would be registered at a local school next year using the birth certificate that we would provide.I told her it was a wonderful plan and good for the baby while I was taking the baby’s foot-print. Upon touching very soft feet of the baby, I was shock to see the baby was already contracted HIV infection. It was the first time I encountered and contacted HIV patients. With the knowledge that the clinic had very limited pills for HIV patients, I questioned myself whether she would send her girl to school or not if she knew her child was infected.

Eventually, the woman and her little girl thanked me with smiles and left. The women might be imagining of her child in a classroom and the child might be thinking of playing with other children on the school playgrounds. Staring at their backs, I remained silence and sorrow with a deep sigh.

We are the children...we are the world

“The Bush administration is expected to allow children aged 15 or younger with parental consent to be allowed to cross the borders at land and sea entry points with a certified copy of their birth certificates rather than passports.” AP Feb 22 2007

The above news reminds me of the children who have no birth certificates. Generally, a registered hospital or clinic provides birth certificate as soon as a child was born. However, I wonder how many illegal Burmese migrant women in Thailand have a chance to delivery their offsprings in those Thai hospitals and clinics. Usually, they come to an unregistered clinic known as Dr Cynthia's Mae Toe Clinic which welcomes every human being indiscriminately.

A piece of paper that the clinic provides to the patient is called a birth record which includes a signature of a nurse or mid-wife from the clinic with records such as birth time and date, weight of an infant and name of the mother. The data of those child births were kept on old and low quality papers of the clinic which often has to negotiate with Thai authorities to get a tiny space on the land of Thai people.

On the crowded market streets of Mae Sot, many children in dirty outfits are meandering. Those country-less children were born in Thailand. They are not only neglected by their illegal migrant parents from Burma but also both of the Burmese and Thai governments. No one except child traffickers cares their existence. Often, those children are gazing around the snack bars. Sometimes, they are staring at other children who are in Thai school uniforms and waiting for their school bus coming.

Those pictures generated an idea to a group of people who founded the Committee for Protection and Promotion of Child Right (Burma) called CPPCR. Currently, the committee is providing a birth certificate and child certificate with the approval of Dr. Cynthia Maung who is a head of the Mae Tao Clinic and chair of the committee.

Although the Mae Sot Burmese migrants these days receive the CPPCR approval birth-certificates and can send their children to schools in Mae Sot, the CPPCR is still facing many barriers and ways to overcome their issued birth-certificates to be recognized as legal and be fully used locally and internationally. In this situation, the CPPCR certificates are, meantime, helping to protect chidren from those unscrupulous child traffickers and child sex exploiters in the border town.

One day, I believe that our innocent children will have a chance to become a full citizen of a peaceful country and be able to travel as far as they can using their birth certificates.

Youth of Burma

On a day in the first week of May 2007, I got a chance to participate in a youth symposium of the American University. Thanks to Myatnoe, who encouraged me to join the symposium. I presented the education of youth from Burma and their potential for Burma's democratic movement by dividing into three classes.

The first one belongs to the families and relatives of the top generals and their cronies. Their children get excellent education at private international schools in Burma and were sent to study in overseas. They simply take over the businesses protected by and interests of their parents. To them, education is a privilege but not a right. Their schools are equipped with modern facilities and supports. This group is not interested in rights and freedom of people.

The second group is so-called a middle class or working class. Children from this group attend public schools those are severely unfunded, shortage of teachers and insufficient facilities. I defined myself as a member of the second group in Burma. We did not have a choice but tried to get whatever education available. We were under strict control and no rights and freedom in our learning. Often, the regime shut down schools for political reasons and suppression. That’s why affordable families find ways to send their children to neighboring countries for further education. As a result, there are lots of young people from Burma studying in Thialand, Singapore and other Asian countries. Those young people know why Burma is poor and how to change it but they are hesitant to take a risk to fight this cruel regime that oppresses ruthlessly to its opponents. Eventually, they do not return to Burma and find jobs in overseas after graduation. If we can find some ways to motivate or lead them to join our democratic movement, they will be very useful.

The last class is poor and underprivileged who cannot afford even basic education. They are the majority. Because of political instability and mismanagement of the regime, economy in Burma is deteriorating with high rate of inflation, unemployment and corruption. In this class, poverty is the greatest barrier to accessing primary and secondary education in Burma. These days, young people drop out of schools and left home and look for jobs in neighboring countries. Today there are lots of young people working as illegal workers in Thailand, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. They cannot live long time outside of the country and often are deported to Burma because of their illegal status. Those people are willing to change the country. Of course, they are the most suffering from the crisis of Burma. If we can provide certain education to them, they will take the knowledge and skill back to Burma.

On the other hand, there are hundreds and thousands of young people living in the refugee camps along Thai Burma border. I met these young refugees when I studied in Bangkok. Very lucky few of us got scholarships and had a chance to study at the international college. However, many potential young people in refugee camps and on the border are losing their future. As scholarships are always limited, we need more educational programs that can effectively help the majority of the young people.
I also mentioned Dr. Thein Lwin, who is the Director of migrant learning center and teacher training programs. I informed the audience to visit his website at http://www.educationburma.net for more information. That's my two cents.

May Yesterday's tears be Tomorrow's rainbow

It was 1999 when I just saw my grade that was qualified to get an admission from the medical school of Burma. Unfortunately, I was one of them who were in line waiting for the opening day of the universities in Burma. At that time, Brazil was celebrating its World Club Championship but my mom and I were preparing to leave home.

My first step to Thailand made me free from the detection of the military dictators, on the other hand, insecure and fear as an illegal person in the border town called Maesot where plenty of crimes and transmitted diseases were alive.As soon as I fell in sleep on the floor of factory workers’ dormitory, I dreamt about my dad who was arrested in the military detention centre so called guest house for his boycott against the unfair law of the military tyrant and my mom who was struggling to attend the local NLD office regularly.

One morning after I woke up and went to a garment factory for a dollar per day, I found many young faces those I was supposed to see on my school days. I was quite relieved that I was not alone there but indignant that we were getting a wrong place. Some of them were freshers like me who just graduated from high school. Some are senior students with the majors of the economics, history and others.I was wondering…..

Were they learning the economics by working in a garment factory, as an illegal worker, earning low wages?

Were they making Burma history by leaving their homeland for Thailand?

Most people were familiar with Thai Custody but they would never tell anyone in Burma. Some people were teachers in Burma but they said they had left their degrees hanging on the fence of Burma border and underemployed in Thailand.I cried everyday and felt sorrowful for my hopeless future until I met some people who were pro-democratic activists of Burma.

Nowadays, I am working as a professional in the United States and living with my family but I never forget the days I cried and the tears of my friends on those days.I wish those tears be rainbow for tomorrow.