Is your resource looting making refugees afraid to return?

Is your resource looting making refugees afraid to return?

By Sue Meh for Kantarawaddy Times. August 2014. Translated and edited by SDC students, staff and volunteers. For a long time, the eastern side of the Salween River had a lot of natural greenery, resources and animals. If there is a sustainable ceasefire and true peace, Karenni Refugees hope they can return to live there interdependent on the natural resources. But, their hope cannot materialise. The government and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) have signed and had a ceasefire agreement since 2012. During the last three years, there has been a lot of deforestation on the eastern side of the Salween River.   Nobody can say if the ceasefire is stable enough for safe refugee repatriation. During the ceasefire period, some of the refugees have gone back to visit their old area. There is less forest than before. In Karenni Camp 1, there are 15,000 people. Khu Ee Reh said they are hopeful and excited to go back in Karenni State, but they...
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2015 – Free and fair election campaign

Our SDC is currently running a free and fair election campaign inside Karenni State. Our inside trainers are sharing information to communities in Karenni State about what a free and fair election is. They are also distributing a leaflet about free and fair elections. We will update more about this activity when our trainers return soon....
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5th Advanced Course Graduation Ceremony

5th Advanced Course Graduation Ceremony

On 10th December 2014, we held a graduation ceremony for the students who have completed our 5th Advanced Community Management Training Course. This course is run in collaboration with our partner organisation, EarthRights.   The graduation day was celebrated in a joint ceremony along with human rights day. Prior to the celebration, on the 9th December, we organised a variety of competitions. The competitions included sports such as volleyball and caneball. There was also poetry writing and singing. SDC students participated in the competitions alongside students from other schools within our community.   During the graduation day, we held speeches from community leaders and gave out prizes to the students. After the ceremony, staff, guests and students enjoyed food and drinks together as our community celebrated their achievements.   The 5th Advanced Community Management Training Course included the subjects of; campaigning and lobbying; community organisation and mobilisation; report writing; project planning; proposal writing; international law; sustainable development; office and organisation management ; and computer. The next...
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Mudee Paw’s Story

Mudee Paw’s Story

Can you tell me about your history? I was born on December 10th 1991. I lived with my parents until I was 12 years old. When I was 12 years old, I left my parent’s home to go to the refugee camp. I left because my family had a lot of problems with Burmese soldiers and we are very poor. I wanted to continue my education so I travelled to Karenni Refugee Camp 1. Burmese soldiers lived near us and we were afraid of them. My parents were worried about the women in our family and they told me to go to the refugee camp 1. I started studying at grade 5 in Karenni Refugee Camp 1. After high school, I applied to the SDC basic course.   Before I studied at SDC, I didn’t know anything about law and human rights. During my time at SDC I learnt the basic knowledge of human rights. I have learnt about human rights, democracy and...
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Learning about Consultations

Learning about Consultations

In the final week of this year’s advanced course we provided some introductory lessons into public consultations. These lessons were as a result of the kind and generous support we are receiving from an organisation made up of Canadian lawyers named Lawyers for Social Change. The lessons were split into three parts. During the first part we watched and focused on understanding consultations through the presentation provided by Lawyers for Social Change. This presentation was incredibly useful to provide a background to the students. One student even requested a personal copy of the presentation (he of course received it!). After watching the presentation, we used the structure laid out to plan a consultation together. During the class the students decided to plan a consultation about health problems within the camp and collect information that could be provided either to the administrative camp committee or to a donor organisation. Finally, for the third part, students acted out a consultation together. Five groups of students...
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SDC ACMTC students organise a human rights workshop

SDC ACMTC students organise a human rights workshop

During our SDC advanced course, students prepared and conducted a workshop for members of the local community. This is a report of the workshop by an SDC student, Oo Reh.   Our workshop was about Human Rights. Firstly, we prepared this project’s plan. Then, ACMTC students interviewed. After that, we analysed information from the interviews. This workshop was successful so we were happy with our workshop. In this report, we will write activities, results, monitoring and evaluation. Activities Preparation On 9th October, Teacher Julia and ACMTC’s students discussed about Human Rights. Then, all students talked about interview questions and who we will go to interview. All students had different groups. There were Pa Pa Moe’s group, Soe Meh’s group and Shar Myar Kay’s group.   Interviews Secondly, all students prepared the interview questions. Then groups of students went to interview different places. We went to interview the local parents, Bible School, KSWDC, KNCC and staff of KnRC on Monday 13th October. We asked questions about Human Rights. We...
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Students research, intern and write reports

Students research, intern and write reports

During October, students on the basic course split into two groups. One group went to conduct research and one group went to do internships. This activity is aimed at building both work and research skills. The students researched about issues in and around Karenni Refugee Camp 1. They researched issues including Education, social delinquency, domestic violence, deforestation, Waste problems and the culture of Karenni society. After completing their research, they wrote reports on their issues. Students interned at a number of organisations inside the camp. Students practiced working in a legal environment at the Karenni Camp Justice. Students also learnt about office work in the Karenni Education Department. Another organisation students interned at was our partners Karenni Social Welfare and Development Center where they looked at office work in a community based organisation. The students who took on internships began making their presentations on Friday October 31st. The presentations about research took place on Monday November 2nd. We will publish some of these...
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Naw Ah Mu Htoo’s Story

Naw Ah Mu Htoo’s Story

Q: What is your background?   A: I was born in Loikaw. I studied in Loikaw but I didn’t graduate high school. In 2003, I arrived in Karenni Refugee Camp 1 and studied in high school again.   After successfully graduating from high school, I joined SDC and studied in their second group of basic course students. After graduating SDC, I worked with camp security for seven months.   Later, I was lucky to have the chance to further improve my English on a course by Karenni Student Development Program for 4 months. After this course, I started working with an environmental organisation, Karenni Evergreen. However, after only one month, I had the opportunity to go to EarthRights School Burma.   I studied at EarthRights School between 2006-2007. At EarthRights, I learnt more about the connection between human rights and the environment. After completing EarthRights School, I came back to be an office staff member with Karenni Evergreen. I became the director of Evergreen in 2009.   Q: What does...
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Meeting with our partners, ERI

Meeting with our partners, ERI

On September 26th, we met with some representatives of our partners, EarthRights International. Two of ERI’s representatives were from their office in Chiang Mai, Thailand and two were from their office in Washington DC, USA.   At our meeting, we introduced our staff members and discussed about the progress of both of our organisations’ work. We explained the programs we are implementing on our basic, advanced and inside program. Additionally, we talked about achievements in the past and thoughts for the future. We also gave our visitors the opportunity to watch our classes in action. After the meeting, we took our visitors to see the local long neck village.   It is always enjoyable to share information and discuss the progress of our projects. We are very thankful of EarthRights International for always supporting us and showing a keen interest in our program. We hope our connection can go from strength to strength in the future....
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Soe Meh’s story

Q: Can you say a little bit about your history? A: I was born in Loikaw Township, in 1989. I grew up in Daw Kraw Aw village. I stayed there until I was 13 years old. After this, I arrived to Karenni Refugee Camp 3 in 2000. I attended middle school there. I stayed with my uncle and my cousin. I didn’t stay with my mother. After a year, my mother came to camp 1 so I moved there and continued my schooling. After I finished high school, I attended the SDC basic course 2009-2010.   Q: How was your experience at SDC School?   A: When I attended SDC School, I was very happy to attend and I was very interested in the subjects. I tried hard to speak Burmese and English. Before I attended the school, I couldn’t speak Burmese very well. I was very happy to attend SDC School. My favourite subjects were Environment and English. I enjoyed studying environment because all...
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