Fleeing from Brutality

The first voice heard in this feature is that of Charm Tong (photo inset by caption) who, after fleeing her childhood home in Shan state Burma, has won numerous international awards for her courageous work. At the age of 17 this remarkable young woman gave an impassioned speech to the UN Commission on Human Rights in the presence of Burmese officials. She went on to set up a unique school for young Shan in northern Thailand which trains a new generation of human rights activists. She is also a founding member of the Shan Women’s Action Network whose reports have documented the rape of hundreds of women and girls by Burmese soldiers.

Like the Shan, the Karen are one of a number of ethnic peoples who lived in Burma for many centuries. They have their own culture, language and history but in recent decades have suffered oppression under Burmese rule. Their lands were nationalised, their culture absorbed and their schools destroyed. By the turn of this new century, over one hundred thousand Karen were in refugee camps in Thailand.

Peter Sagar, a teacher from north east England (pictured above) talks here about meeting the Karen in the Mae Ra Ma refugee camp where he worked in a school. Back home he has helped to organise the Karen Education Partnership that works in conjunction with NGOs to provide funds for books and other school materials needed in the refugee camps and in Burma. And schools children in the north east of England are now in regular contact with Karen schools. More information on the Karen is available at www.karenpeople.org

Length 21 mins

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