Sometimes it's overwhelming to think about making a dent in such a complex and overwhelming situation, but we've decided to take it on - as this project is the perfect example of how we work. Going to the heart of the situation, talking with those involved, and facilitating what they feel they need. It's all about empowerment.

After launching our back to school program in Cambodia, we took a trip to the Thai/Burma border to get a feel for the situation - and were lucky enough to have met Phil and Kanchana Thornton interviewing groups and individuals along the border. It's very difficult to try and create a program when you haven't heard first hand what is needed, seen the area, and to actually meet the people you will be working alongside. The fact that we met Phil and Kanchana was a godsend, as they are probably the most knowledgeable people regarding the situation in Burma along with the issues facing the refugees.

As we discussed immediate needs, we have come up with a plan to enact change, and to provide not only supplies and their transport - but also a way to bring their story to the world. The basics of the plan are based on addressing the problems of these specific groups, with a more detailed description below. For a cost breakdown or to sponsor a portion of the project, contact barton@globalcolors.org

THE GC BURMA CENTER

Our planned center in Mae Sot will be a multi-use facility directly aiding the IDP's from the ongoing conflict in Burma. The center will be the headquarters for the Bleeding Hearts Media and Youth Journalism Team, home to the radio station, act as a records collection and preservation center, have a workroom for the women working on our World Wish campaign, and a meeting place for international journalists to come and collect and write their stories.

  • There will be a room and recording center for GC radio. This will be a place to record interviews, compile music and stories for entertainment, and create tapes for broadcast on our mobile radio system.
  • We will be launching our World Wish Campaign in March, and anticipate the hiring of over 100 women to join our women in Africa in creating the product. This will be their workspace.
  • The Bleeding Hearts Media and Youth Journalism Organization is a group headed by author, Phil Thornton - teaching local students how to find, gather, and write the stories of their own people. His journalists contribute to "Inside News" the Newsletter of the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), and other publications. They currently don't have a central location to type their stories, gather news, or compile information. The GC Center will be their home.
  • One of the main issues regarding international media covering stories in Burma is the crackdown and censorship on information in Rangoon and other places within Burma. By building the GC Center in Thailand on the border, there will be no censorship, finally allowing the international media a look at the depth of the human rights abuses, and hopefully creating action in the international community. Foreign journalists can visit the center and have full reign of information compiled, have access to photos, and hear first hand accounts. The best comparison we can think of is - what if the west would have been able to read about the horrors of the concentration camps, view pictures, and hear stories of the Jews during the Holocaust right when it started in 1941? Would we have allowed it to continue?
  • The main reason for our center is to have a place to compile information. We are inspired with what the Shoah Foundation has done for the survivors of the holocaust, and aim to create the same sort of service for the refugees of this conflict. Millions of people have either been killed or displaced, and there is no visible end to their situation. While there we were told of thousands of photo negatives currently decaying, stories being lost and hundreds of thousands of people who have yet to be heard. By creating the GC Center, we aim to collect everything we can such as photos, interviews, and history, so the struggles of these people won't be lost forever. Currently there is discussion regarding whether or not there was an Armenian genocide in the 19th and 20th century. There isn't enough hard information or documentation to prove anything.
There is a genocide going on in Burma. We will do our best to stop it by giving outlet to their stories, protecting their history, and making sure the international media is aware of what is really going on. With the creation of the GC house, their voices will be heard - as we make the case against the ruling military junta for international Involvement. Join us in aiding their struggle.

BOATS

  • There are groups along the border that spend days hauling supplies on their backs, by car over horrible roads, or waiting for another group to take them where they are needed. We could aid them greatly with a boat to move supplies and monitor the camps through the CIDKP (Committee for the Internally Displaced Karen People).
  • Often there are medical situations where people die because they couldn't get to a clinic fast enough, or that medical supplies weren't able to reach them fast enough. Answer? Think ambulance on the border river in the Jungle - Boat for the BPHWT (Back Pack Health Worker Team).
  • The roads and footpaths along the border into the camps are riddled with landmines. Bleeding Hearts Media focuses on teaching high school age students journalism, and how to get into the camps to collect the stories to bring more awareness to the struggle. Last year on of our students lost her leg to a land mine collecting stories about land mine victims. Boats would allow them to move more swiftly and with added safety.


A MEDICAL VAN

We are honored with our association with Kanchana Thornton and the amazing work done by for children through the BURMA CHILDREN MEDICAL FUND. Global Colors is the U.S. non-profit partnered with The Burma Children Medical fund, and we have seen first hand the wonderful work that they accomplish. Currently they have to hire a car or van to transport children to and from hospitals or for surgery, and have been at times been forced to put children in the back of trucks because there was no other way to get them to the hospital. We'd like to outfit them with one that suits the children's medical needs, so they have it at their disposal 24 hours a day.

THE RADIO STATION

There are hundreds of thousands of people that live near the Thai/Burma border that have absolutely no resource for information from or about their own people. The majority of these communities have hand crank radios, or access to them, but only get government sponsored (their oppressors) programming, but lack a voice amongst them.

It makes it nearly impossible to create a cohesive stance towards the government, when you can't even communicate with your own people. We have a group with the technology to build a small radio station, being manned by our student journalists that could offer the refugees news, entertainment, traditional stories, and act as an emergency broadcast system. The emergency broadcast system could save thousands of lives, as currently there is no warning system whatsoever of governmnet forces coming to destroy a village.

The actual radio station transmitter would be mobile to prevent detection.