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World Refugee Day is an important time for citizens across the globe to recognise the plight of refugees. On UNHCR’s website they say it as a day that ‘commemorates the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees.’ This was shown through the coming together of the diverse groups within the camp to attend a small event in Karenni Refugee Camp 1. World Refugee Day was first celebrated on the 20th June 2001. This was to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees. It also coincided with the more widespread Africa Refugee Day. In 2001, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees stated this day would be used to recognise the plight of the approximately 14 million refugees in the world. With the global refugee situation in mind, it is important to get a scope of the current refugee crisis within the world. At this moment, more than 43 million people are forcibly displaced across...

I currently live in Karenni Refugee Camp 1 with my sister but I come from Shadaw. I came to camp in 2009 because there were many problems in my community and I wanted to study. My father passed away in 2010 because of alcohol. Inside Karenni State, we were unable to make a living or farm. Fighting often occurred in my village in Shadaw. I couldn’t understand about this because I was too young. We always hid in bunkers that we dug under our houses. I was not afraid. I always believed that when I became an adult, I would be a Karenni soldier and fight back against the Burmese soldiers. The Burmese soldiers beat our community leaders. Many people moved to the refugee Camps like me. We could not face this discrimination. I decided to study at SDC because we have no human rights in my village. Therefore, I wanted to know about them. I wanted to know why we...

Q: What is your background? A: I am from Karenni State in Burma. I have been in Karenni Refugee Camp 1 since 2010. My family lives in Karenni State now. I came to the camp alone. I didn’t come with my family so now I live alone. In 2010, I started to study in the camp and in 2014, I completed my education. I have graduated from the high school, the SDC basic course and the SDC Advanced course. Now, I have been working in my community for over one year. I work as a coordinator for vocational training in Karenni Refugee Camp 1. Q: What was your experience at SDC like? A: When I studied for one year and a half at SDC, I was very happy and enjoyed studying there. I enjoyed my time there because I liked the subjects and they are very related to our community and society. For example, in our community, there are abuses of human rights...

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...

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....