Eyes to Burma

By Dr. Lavinia Allary, Ph.D.

Click here for the article in its published format on
The Fulcrum, “How Not to Be a Voluntourist”.
The Fulcrum is the independent English-language
student newspaper at the University of Ottawa.

I like to travel and discover new places and new cultures. I also like to do volunteer work whenever it’s possible. Just like many other people, I dream of a better world. But after so many years of doing all this, I finally got to understand that something was really problematic. I’ve fallen into the trap of “voluntourism”.  The aim of this article is to raise awareness about the negative impact of voluntourism in the field, and it is intended for an audience of volunteers and researchers who work with vulnerable communities.

I spent three months this summer [2015] in Thailand and worked, or more precisely, thinking I was working, not for one, but for two NGOs. My experience was very enriching for me, I got to better understand social and political issues in the region, I got to make new friends, better understand the Thai culture, got introduced to the exquisite Thai culinary art, did some nice projects with children and for children, and I got to visit very beautiful places. I experienced all these things. I did. The kids I worked with and worked for? I don’t know.

To be sincere to you and to myself, I am not sure my presence made any difference. Spending a week in the field with a deeply involved project manager, who only had harsh words for me – so I thought at the moment – was a wake-up call.[1] My voluntourism experience that week turned out to be a descent into the hell’s flames for my Ego.

I have heard multiple times three words from NGO staff: “Do no harm”. But it took me three months to realize their meaning. Why on earth would I do harm? Why would people doubt my real and sincere intentions to help them?

This deeply involved project manager helped me answer these questions and even more, at the end of this experience. “Why are you here? Are you like them? Just look around this little city here. There are more white western female volunteers and paid humanitarians than locals and beneficiaries altogether. We have an army of humanitarians here. Did you come to join this army? Fine, you will spend your week with me, if that’s what you want, even if I don’t trust you or think you’ll be of any help here. A week… you need to spend a full year before you get to understand what on earth is going on here, lady! It takes years of hard work and commitment to really make a difference in somebody’s life, so don’t start already to feel good about yourself thinking you’ll do something good here!…”

And with the next occasion he continued his tirade: “…So you say you have a PhD in Human Rights and International Relations? Oh! You came down here to do research on us, publish your books and go to conferences pretending you’re an expert… We’ve seen these academics, journalists and photographers around here, but we’ve never seen some of the money they make selling their books being put back into our projects… Look, I have medical emergencies here every day, I carry dead babies in my own truck, but I have no money to buy better god dammed equipment! Nobody really cares!…”

Behind these words there was a cruel truth for my ego: this man was so right. Asking for some guidance back home from a friend who also works in international development, he just laughed at me:

“Sure he’s right! And you were lucky he accepted you there. In my case, I’ve never accepted volunteers in my field projects. They just mess up the place and the people. They go there with their cameras, take pictures of hungry people and naked kids, and the next day they’re gone to their next destination, probably to the beach so they can forget how emotionally hard the previous day was. You know, those communities are not a zoo!”

What started like a tremor turned into an earthquake that week. I was deeply shaken in my beliefs, my intentions, and especially in my ego. And my mentor just kept pouring at me his frustration with us.

“You know, people who come here are not bad people. I will never say that. But they have a problem they should do well to address. They fantasize in their innocence about helping others when in fact they avoid dealing with their own problems back home. They fantasize of saving the world like Christ or like Superman and they come here looking for a meaning to their own lives. Looking for self-esteem and looking for love. It’s all about their own needs and not about the people here. They come here to take not to give. And when they finish taking, they leave. This is why we don’t welcome volunteers and paid humanitarians altogether. This is why communities don’t trust them and don’t care about their intentions to help. And young people are the worst. They just come here for parties and drugs. You see that note over there on the door of our respectable doctor?” And he pointed towards a disturbing message written in a medium level English on the door: “Sorry, white people are not welcome here.” “It’s not racism,” he said, “It’s a way for this doctor to say that he doesn’t want to sell drugs to the volunteers who come here.”

It’s not just that I was feeling terribly useless despite my strong educational background and work experience, I was also starting to feel ashamed. Ashamed to be associated with these young foreigners, ashamed to be white, ashamed to be a volunteer. Nothing prepared me back home for this difficult moment.

Back home we are encouraged to go overseas and do volunteer work as much as possible. It’s good for your CV, it’s good for your career, it’s good for your life experience. There is something very wrong and very disturbing with the idea of some parents today encouraging their children to leave their comfortable life and get “exposed” to poverty and poor people in the world so that they could come back home alcohol-free, wiser and with some clearer idea of what they want to do in life!…

We don’t know back home that they know all about this in the field. They know it all because they are poor but not stupid. They won’t tell you what’s in their mind like my angry mentor did, but they will avoid getting into a real encounter with you, from heart to heart. They will let themselves be photographed, they will smile for you, they will be nice and polite for you, they will let you play and teach English to their children. They will accept the circus we make of them. But we will never get to know what they really have in their heart. And without knowing them and knowing their needs, there is no way we can help them.

These people have been harmed by volunteers and other humanitarian dreamers. Children have been heartbroken when their white friend left and never brought them to America. Community projects have been cancelled when volunteers had to leave back home. Mothers have been left to deal alone with their financial problems and broken dreams when donors pulled out their funding for their children. Information retrieved from community members got distorted by the media and created a negative impact on people and harmed their relations with local authorities. Academics have used communities as a pool of information for their own papers and never have given back the credit for their ideas to those communities. All kinds of researchers have showed up pretending to help just so they could get access to communities and better research complex social issues, hoping to publish something that will bring them fame and money.

Do no harm. Now I understand the meaning of this three-word message I received in Thailand during my voluntourism experience. I am writing this article for a public audience, not just to share my own experience, but also as an awareness message. Our volunteer humanitarian impulse can do a lot of harm to the people we think we help. Please do your research, address your own personal needs and get some good training before you engage in a humanitarian experience abroad.

Make up your mind before you leave if you’re doing this for yourself or for the others. Make up your mind before you leave if you want to do tourism, have fun, have a nice CV, and a nice Facebook page, or do some real and sincere volunteer work, without the fuss, the social media exposure or your publication plans in the background. But don’t do both. You will harm not just communities but you will also harm the image and the credibility we have abroad. There are already enough insecure places for western white people in the world. Do not create new ones. Be the change.

Project managers will understand that sometimes volunteers are young and inexperienced. They will encourage young volunteers in getting the exposure they need to help them find their own answers and career path in life. But they are also expecting you to be fully engaged with the project. Be ethical in your work, professional in your attitude, responsible for your own actions, respectful with the people you will meet overseas, open to their needs and ideas and don’t judge the culture that will receive you. Just don’t do voluntourism.

[1] People and places are not named in this paper in order to protect communities and field projects. Dialogues are not accurately reproduced but reconstructed based on real conversations. I assume the sole responsibility for the content of these dialogues.

Lavinia Allary holds a PhD in Political Science with the specialization in International Relations from the University of Ottawa, Canada. Her research interests are migration, human rights, migrants’ labour rights, slavery, child labour and corporate social responsibility. Working with different NGOs and UN agencies, she has gained an extensive understanding of these issues in Europe, North America and South-Eastern Asia. Also holding a License in Law, she hopes in the near future to serve the migrants’ cause not just as a researcher and policy analyst, but also as a human rights lawyer. She recently published her first book, “Less Than a Human: The Politics of Legal Protection of Migrants with Irregular Status“.

I am a final year medical student, from the UK, who was volunteering in Mae Sot at the Mae Tao Clinic (providing free healthcare to the migrant population), and I had the pleasure of meeting Fred whilst he was doing his charitable work. He very kindly invited me to join him to see the work he does. Little did I know, the visit to see Fred’s work would be a life-changing experience.

Initially, I was astonished and appalled to see the living circumstances of the community in Mae Sot who Fred serves; they live and work within the dump site – as you can imagine, teeming with insects and bad smells. Nevertheless, it didn’t take me long to realise the community was filled with some of the most generous and most content-looking people I’ve come across in a long time. The kids on the site were playing with our old rubbish, kicking around a flat football, cutting leaves with an old tin lid and creating a make-shift shop with empty rubbish cans, leaves and twigs. It didn’t take me long at all to realise the safe environment, clean water facilities, social structures, transport and supplies were largely thanks to the work of Fred; it’s very obvious that the community appreciates his work immensely. However, what struck me the most is unlike other charities, Fred doesn’t come and just make changes, Fred directly works with them in order to help bring about the most suitable changes, and only changes the community there wants and would, therefore, productively utilise.

Another valuable lesson I learnt from Fred, which has since influenced me (and I’m sure this lesson will always stay with me) is how rapidly and efficiently he acts. In times of disaster, such as when floods were affecting Mae Sot, Fred isn’t the sort to wait around but instead he immediately acts with the most sincere intentions for the well-being of aiding the community.

The work Eyes to Burma does is remarkable. After witnessing all of the above, I felt a strong impulse to donate towards the cause and when mentioning this to Fred his response stays with me. So far, other charities I’ve expressed a desire to donate to would prefer to take the funds into their own hands or into a particular pot; however, Fred instead told me how I can use that money myself to help that community and he highlighted how all 20+ kids there are in need of new school uniforms. That’s exactly what we did, Fred took me and the kids into town and I purchased all of them new school uniforms – I certainly can’t forget the joy in those lovely young children’s faces, a truly wonderful experience.

Thank you Fred, and thank you Eyes to Burma. I wish you continued on-going success.

Continued from June 2015: Kara, Part One…

Nawe Win leading a painting project where students copied her painting on the wall of a motorbike

One of my most treasured experiences was seeing teens and children make art and teach each other friendship bracelet patterns, painting, drawing, crochet, and more.

Donating art materials over the course of the school break was part of my independent project to conduct art classes. The youth who came to the community center were interested in learning to use the materials and exploring on their own. Then, ETB staff person Nawe Win and another teen stepped in and led students in painting and other art activities. Like children anywhere in the world, their creativity was wonderful to see. I have hundreds of the students’ drawings and paintings that I look forward to sharing with the Ashland, Oregon, community this fall at ETB’s fundraiser and celebration on September 27*.

Student art on display at the ETB community center

Students making friendship bracelets at the ETB community center

Watching students teach each other was incredibly gratifying for me. For example, with the friendship bracelets, I started out teaching one pattern to three students, then independent from me, those three students taught another group, which started a domino effect of students teaching students. Within a few weeks, over two dozen children, some as young as 4 years old, were showing me the bracelets they’d made on their own. I was beyond impressed.

Braid by Ei Ei

Also, Nick and I put together and shared with the students many educational videos, from language learning to hair styling. In one instance, after watching a how-to video for a complicated braided up-do, two teens sat down and started practicing. The result of one student’s first try is in the photo to the left.

Students enjoy learning to cook new dishes at Borderline Cafe

Then, through Fred’s introductions and my own networking, I met, and in some cases got to collaborate with, several organizations and individuals also working with Burmese communities in Mae Sot, including:

Sky Blue School, Children’s Development Centre (CDC), Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, Adolescent Reproductive Health Network (ARHN), Mae Tao Clinic, UNHCR, SAW and one of their Mobile Medical Clinic doctors, Solidarite International, Team Rubicon, Shanti Volunteer Association, Help Without Frontiers, Borderline, and Passport Restaurant.

I enjoyed learning about other organizations and working with them on projects for the community. The people I met were very kind and helpful, sharing their knowledge and experiences either with me or the community depending on the situation. Borderline Cafe helped us bring two groups of students from the community to take cooking classes. An ARHN volunteer familiar with ETB’s work introduced me to ARHN staff who led two sex education classes at the ETB community center. The CDC teachers and staff I met and worked with were very welcoming and appreciative of ETB’s work with our students.

See the photos and captions below for more about some of the other groups we worked with while I was there.

Kara and Shi Ko at the ETB community center

The largest part of my work for ETB and the community involved assisting with emails and communications, picking up supplies in town, and helping with CDC new student registration as well as managing the daily meals at the community center.

I also helped with a few first-aid cases, which was a unique and valuable experience. The two first-aid cases that I took lead on showed me (1) how much my mom taught me about taking care of others when they’re sick, (2) thanks to Tarja’s and Fred’s lessons, how to take care of a healing burn and care for a cut so it heals quickly and without infection, and (3) that taking care of someone involves teaching them to treat their condition themselves, with you as their assistant.

ETB-supported CDC students’ first day of school 2015. Not pictured: one of ETB’s sponsored students and three students who attend CDC on their own

The project I learned the most from was education, in particular helping Fred, Joe, and students’ families with the registration process for new students attending CDC. We ended up helping enroll 16 students, which included assisting a Sky Blue teacher who handled the transfer process for three of his students who had graduated in March.

There are now 20 students from the community attending CDC, 16 with full or partial ETB support and 4 whose families can afford to send them on their own. This is a supremely important achievement for the community and for ETB.

Families at Mae Tao Clinic in the CPPR offices working on birth registration paperwork

The process required many steps, including: community meetings; transporting 15 families to MTC where they worked with the Committee for the Protection and Promotion of Child Rights (CPPCR) to get birth registration paperwork started for their children; taking student photos; transporting students and parents to CDC for new and old student registration days; buying uniforms for 18 students (that was a crazy day ~ thankfully we had excellent helpers, some of last year’s CDC crew, Hani, Pisi, and Bye Sone); and, working daily with Nawe Win and Joe to refine the daily meals.

It was hard work, but it was incredibly rewarding ~ seeing Ei Ei’s radiant smile on the first day of school made everything worthwhile.

For some background, Sky Blue School, located next to my-pohn, goes from pre-school to 4th grade. When students graduate they have the option to attend other schools in the area to continue their education. However, CDC is near enough to my-pohn that it allows students to live at home, while the other options are boarding programs. Through the headman, many families let us  know they wanted their children to go to CDC. Keeping families together, supporting education, and working with the community on what they want are all part of ETB’s mission. It was exciting to help bring it all together.

Most people work at night when the garbage trucks come in two waves, first around 8 and again after midnight

Next, what I will remember most are the people I got to know in the community.

The friendships and connections I formed with people there are incredibly important to me, and I do not take them lightly. They were extremely kind, open, and giving. Some of the women always made sure I’d eaten.

In observing individual community members working and living their lives, I was struck by their resiliency, resourcefulness, creativity, and work ethic. It is not an easy life. Another thing I saw and was impressed by, although I shouldn’t have been surprised, was the variety of skills  among community members. People were working or donating their skills within the community as shop owners, hair cutters, roof makers, house builders, artists, gardeners, electricians, and more. As Fred told me many times, it’s a village; it’s a society like anywhere else, with rich and poor, everyday problems, successes, entrepreneurship, and people with specialized skills.

The woman in the foreground makes this thatch roofing. We’re helping deliver it to a family who’s rebuilding their house.

In several cases, I saw ETB’s direct impact, how past projects developed into sustainable ventures. When ETB began buying thatch roofing several years ago for housing projects, a few community members saw the profitability in making their own thatch, like the woman in the photo to the right. In other instances, ETB provides tools and supplies for people to get started with their own businesses, including laundry, a beverage and fruit stand, and vegetable and flower gardens.

This family’s garden is already making a profit, selling chilies. Soon, they’ll be selling flowers and more vegetables. ETB donated the seeds and we are all excited about the many gardens started on Buddha Land.

In the coming year, I look forward to: seeing our CDC students’ progress over the school year; the weekend students continuing their language, music, and computer lessons; the families with their own businesses continuing to grow and be successful; the young people on the garbage trucks, who work hard and help their families, finding other work or training opportunities if they want them; and, more individual community members developing their particular skills and profiting from them (e.g, house and roof construction, cooking, creating beautiful jewelry, growing vegetables and flowers, sewing).

A small group of ETB weekend students created and practiced dance routines and songs to perform for the community in a joint birthday and going-away party, for a community member and for me, respectively. I loved seeing their creativity, organizational skills, and community-building abilities in action.

I feel incredibly grateful to have worked with ETB and the community. I learned about life’s realities and raw human strength and caring, more so than I had from my previous life experiences. My heart was deeply touched by people’s kindness and openness toward me. I felt the camaraderie of the community, and that was my reward for the volunteer work. When a group of guys from the community yelled ‘Hey Kara’ from the top of a garbage truck in Mae Sot while I drove by on my motorbike waving, I felt like part of the team. It was very difficult to leave everyone and stop helping with ETB projects in person.

The builders, the headman, a translator, and Fred look at the structure of the new community center and classroom being built on Buddha Land

I want to share my gratitude for all the hard work and community support done by Fred, Joe, Zulu, George, Headman Oo Zaw, Nawe Win, Moon, our students, their families, the builders, and the many other community members and outside supporters who make ETB projects happen.

I saw first-hand how ETB walks a difficult path, assisting with basic human needs but being careful not to create dependency; serving so many while on a small budget; and, constantly moving forward, even through difficult situations. This approach works because it’s the right thing to do and it’s done as a community. We’re all in this together. And, there’s nothing more gratifying than seeing community members’ successes, when they are not just surviving but thriving, through their own work and abilities.

Woman uses sickle to dig through the debris and look for sellable plastics

Finally, I want to share one more thing. While in Mae Sot, I became hyper-aware of what I threw away. Walking through the piles of garbage at my-pohn and also knowing that my friends were picking plastic out of what I was throwing away changed my perspective and my behavior. Nick and I ended up collecting our recyclables, eventually selling them to a plastic seller at my-pohn and donating the earnings to a family. Also, we composted our fruit and food leftovers, used reusable containers for restaurant leftovers, reused plastic bags, and brought our own bags as much as possible when shopping. Even though I am back in the US, I’m going to continue limiting how much I throw away.

ETB benefit in Ashland, Oregon, 2014

*Save the date: September 27, 2015, for ETB Love Day, when people around the world will be celebrating the community’s and ETB’s progress over the year and fundraising for continuing ETB’s work. Fred will be in Ashland, Oregon, for a week to reconnect with Ashland supporters and share ETB news in person. No matter where you are in the world, everyone is invited to take part in ETB Love Day! Stay tuned for more information…

Kara and her boyfriend Nick are ETB board members from Ashland, Oregon, who have volunteered for ETB from the US since 2012. Kara, accompanied by Nick, recently finished a five-month volunteer work position with ETB in Mae Sot. With a background in photojournalism and education coordination for an arts non-profit, she was excited to utilize her skills and work directly with the community. 

From Kara, May 26, 2015:

Photo by Pisi

“I’m writing this from inside the house of a family whose daughter is getting married. For the past fifteen or more minutes, various family members and friends have been coming up one-by-one to the wedding couple, dipping strings in food and drink laid out in front of them, and then tying the strings around the young man’s and woman’s extended wrists. Next the couple moves outside and three monks are invited to sit at a table inside. Fresh food, tea, and coffee are brought out for them.

Photo by Ta Twe Sho

Many people from the community have been here to eat and take part in the festivities. Romantic pop music is playing loudly from a speaker system set up in the home, attached to a battery. There is delicious pork stew, fish soup, and rice that’s served to everyone, including ETB’s CDC students who were there eating when I arrived at 7:30. It’s casual dress for some, but men from the couple’s families are dressed finely in button-down shirts and stately longyi and the women look beautiful in colorful scarves with longyi and skirts in a variety of patterns. People are invited to put money into a bowl resting in front of the wedding couple next to a large bouquet of roses.

Photo by Ta Twe Sho

I’ll type these notes up later on a computer, and I hope when I do I remember the music (‘My Heart Will Go On’ played a couple times, a song Moon, an ETB translator and community member, said she really liked), the laughter, the kind offerings of pink-frosting cookies and tea, one of the women from the community cheerfully teaching me phrases in Thai, and the general bustle of party preparations and chatter.

I feel very humbled and honored to be here and to feel so welcome.”

Preparing these notes to share with you, I am reliving the happiness I felt during my time working with the community at my-pohn* and volunteering for ETB.

Drawing by Bo Bo

 

*’My-pohn’ is my phonetic spelling of what people call the rubbish dump in Burmese, which a few people translated into English as “garbage bin”

Two community members by their house, which they have to move in order to make room for new ground for the garbage trucks to dump on. ETB helped, providing water, nails, and roofing material. (Story continued in next photo and caption.)

My five months in Mae Sot feels difficult to describe. It was a challenging emotional journey that was important to take. It gave me more perspective and a better understanding of the complexities surrounding the issues of poverty and human rights. I worked with, and learned from, people with diverse skills and talents, from first aid to teaching to house-building, and who also possessed great emotional strength and fortitude as well as a deep commitment to helping others.

I am excited to have the opportunity to share some of the highlights from my experience, including getting to know people in the community, working with Fred and Joe, seeing community-based projects in action, and being in awe of community members’ kindness and talents.

Neighbors came together and helped each other re-build the houses, which were moved about 15 feet from their original locations. They only requested help with water, nails, and roofing, which Fred supplied as needed over the several days it took to do the moving.

To give readers some context, I was in Mae Sot from late January to the first week of June. For most of the time I was there, it was “summer vacation” from school. Many in the community were working agricultural jobs in addition to collecting plastic and preparing for the rainy season. ETB was focusing on the water project in addition to several other priorities, including: handling emergencies, assisting Sky Blue School with transportation, working with the community on school registration, providing daily recreational and educational offerings at the ETB community center, and getting ready for the new school year, including managing daily breakfasts for CDC students.

To start, I want to introduce some of the people I met and worked with on the ETB team.

ETB has Burmese staff, including people from the community, and local volunteers, like our English teacher in the city. There are also people who support ETB from afar, including Canada, US, Denmark, and Australia, and they visit ETB and the community each year to make donations, volunteer, and see the progress made. In January and February we also had a couple short-term volunteers from abroad.

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Continue to Part Two for more highlights…

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From Suz and Geoff of Aussie Friends of Eyes to Burma. 

April is a pretty hot and humid time of year in Mae Sot and, even though the Thai and Burmese families that live in Mae Sot say it’s hot, they never appear to perspire as much as we ‘farang’ do. I swear there is something wrong with me! It’s so easy to dehydrate and you need to keep up the water. Note to self….

Community members and Fred delivering water to an ETB tank.

Interestingly though, even the families living on the dump are not immune to dehydration – it’s easy to forget to drink water and before you know it, you’re unwell. It’s something that seems simple, but could end up quite serious, and this is where Eyes to Burma comes in. ETB takes great pride in being a non profit, non religious, humanitarian organisation assisting wherever possible – even with something as simple as dehydration.

Since ETB started over 7 years ago, the Burmese community living here have come a long way. They still hold their traditions and beliefs in high regard, but they’ve taken on some new ideas, balancing them in perspective to how they wish to live.

One of the homes on Buddha Land, ETB’s rented land next to but away from the landfill.

We’ve seen first hand the difference. From our initial visit three years ago to now, there have been so many positive changes. Families still require assistance, but the help now is different. No longer worried about basic necessities, ETB’s working on the next step. This includes education for children wishing to attend school after Sky Blue, training programmes for those looking to earn a living outside of picking rubbish on the dump, sex and health education, community farming for sustainability and profit; and improving the living conditions for those wishing to stay working on the dump, but not wanting to live on the dump itself.

Once again though, these changes and new programs will not happen overnight, they will take time and they will require the community to come on board and to assist in the facilitation of these changes. Careful management is required however – it can’t be a short term fix, but a long term solution.

ETB’s CDC students going through their new text books.

To date, the education program is going well and it’s the girls especially who are really embracing school and language lessons. The results so far have been inspiring. Some of the kids are able to speak three languages – Burmese, Thai and English. No mean feat. ETB has determined that it costs less than AUD$650 per year to ‘school’ one child who goes to Children’s Development Centre (CDC). This includes the cost of their uniform, shoes, books, transport (including a bike), daily meals, and other education costs. Pretty inexpensive in the scheme of an education, but quite a cost when you take into account the number of children looking to take part. Regardless, it’s important ETB continue to educate as many of the kids as possible.

The new ETB community center in progress. It will double as flood relief if needed during the rainy season.

Fred has negotiated to lease some land adjoining the dump and this land has been earmarked for a new community centre, playing field, vegetable and herb gardens (for community sustainability and profit), and space for families to live (if they wish to). It’s a fabulous space with a water body along one side – perfect for watering, and some of the gardens are looking fantastic. The only challenge for this land will be during the rainy season. The water will rise and the land (and one access point) will become flooded and, quite possibly, impassable. Fred is working with the community in an attempt to minimise this as much as possible, but only time will tell. At the end of the day though, this new space is a definite move in the right direction, especially from a ‘bringing the community together’ perspective.

Another major step forward is that many of the families are now in the position of being able to purchase (subsidised) products including rice, batteries, headlights, knives, ice etc. The self sustainability vision shines through here and it’s great to see. No longer is ETB having to 100% fund these items, thus freeing up dollars to put towards other initiatives such as education and health.

Community member, and ETB staff person, Nwe Win braiding Suz’s hair.

Without question, the organisation is here purely to help. It doesn’t impose its beliefs or will onto the families living on the Mae Sot dump, it doesn’t provide aid with a caveat, it’s just there to provide support wherever and whenever it is needed.

Although we only had a few days this visit, the difference is astounding. It’s difficult to clearly articulate just how much has been achieved, but without a doubt the donations that the ETB supporters provide have, and will continue to have, a massive impact. From 2012 (our first visit) to now, we cannot believe just how far this community has come. It is extraordinary, inspiring and truly wonderful to see and we cannot thank the supporters enough, especially our Aussie Friends. Your ongoing support is immeasurable.

Kara is an ETB board member and is currently volunteering in Mae Sot, helping update the ETB website and working with Fred and Saya Joe on education projects.

I first learned about Eyes to Burma from a talk Fred gave at my workplace in Ashland, Oregon. My boyfriend, Nick, and I were already planning a trip to Thailand later that year, in December 2012, and we wanted to visit and see if we could help with anything while we were there.

In a whirlwind five days, we helped build a shelf in the community center and take a child with an infected cut on her leg to the Mae Tao Clinic. It was a life-changing week, which propelled us to continue volunteering from home over the next two years.

I called Fred on a regular basis starting in January 2013 to get his updates and put together information for ETB newsletters. We worked with the ETB board on annual fundraisers. Also, Nick taught Fred how to use Dropbox in order to upload photos and videos of ETB’s projects.

My perspective on Fred and his work is one of immense respect. Since I’ve known him, he puts almost all of his time and energy into working with the community, and he’s stayed with the work, even through very difficult times, over the past 7 years.

Three weeks ago, the community brought a respected monk from Burma to Buddha Land, the property ETB rents for people to live and recreate, and invited us to attend this special community-led event.

I value ETB’s approach: build a safety net of essential needs (transportation to Mae Tao Clinic, clean water, emergency food assistance), listen to the community about what they need help with, provide tools people need to do things for themselves, engage in continuous problem-solving, support community-led events, help individuals and families start their own businesses, provide educational and recreational opportunities that give students and youth connections to life outside the dump.

It’s more complicated than that and involves setbacks, sweat and frustration, and some heart-breaking situations. ETB’s methods are not perfect, nor is Fred a saint (he loses his temper when he sees waste and injustice and he does not have patience for some things), yet he is extremely honest and open. And regardless: Hard work is being done by our team and for the right reasons.

Fred appreciates when I tell him about the positive changes I notice in the people I met two years ago to what they are like today. But, he says, there’s a long way to go, a lot of responsibility and many problems to keep working through. Instead of sounding overwhelmed, like I feel when I think about things too much or get sad when I see the hard realities of life there, he sounds resolute:

“There are no easy solutions. It takes time, consistency, hard work, doing the right thing, and respecting the culture and the people we’re working with.”

With everything we’re doing, I am learning from Fred the importance of caution and respect for every individual in the community. He’s taught me to listen and watch to see what the students are interested in learning and doing, to not make promises I can’t keep, and to always consider a project’s cost, or a supply purchase, based on its long-term advantages and whether it will truly benefit someone or a group of people (and to make sure that I’m getting the best price). The latter is both for the benefit of the community, so ETB donations go as far as possible, and to respect the money donors entrust to ETB.

Now, I’ve definitely made mistakes and unintentionally done the opposite of all those things since coming here in January, although rest assured my expenses have been with my own money; but, it’s a completely different world here with different stakes and situations than I’m used to. It’s a learning process.

The woman in the foreground makes this thatch roofing. We’re helping deliver it to a family who’s rebuilding their house.

I feel very grateful for the work ETB does as well as for the work being done by countless other individuals and organizations assisting vulnerable communities in and around Mae Sot, including those who also work with the community at the dump. A very short list (that does not include everyone) are the donors and teachers of Sky Blue School, Mae Tao Clinic and its many programs (like Children’s Development Centre, CDC), SAW, Help Without Frontiers, Borderline Cafe, Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, The Border Consortium, Solidarite International, UNHCR, and so many more.

While I’m here for the next couple months, I’ll be working with Fred, the community, and ETB’s invaluable teachers and helpers, Joe, Zulu and George. I look forward to updating ETB’s website with current information about ETB’s work, including our clean water and education projects.

Filling the water tank at Sky Blue with three of the many helpers who are eager to do the water runs with Fred.

 “I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what to do. I was faced with the common dilemma: Do I give a fish so they can eat for a day? Or do I teach them to fish, so they can live forever?”

“They know how to fish,” he realized. “They just don’t have the right equipment.” – Fred, October 2009 article

ETB’s Thai teacher leading a Saturday morning class. The chairs and large white boards were donated by a school that closed nearby.

“All of these experiences have helped me realize that medical aid and education are the most valuable things that can be provided to people.” – Fred, October 2009 article

 

Caroline is a teacher trainer for CfBT Education Trust, working with English teachers in Alexandria, Egypt.

For some strange unknown reason I have always been interested in the people who search the garbage for recyclable products to earn a living. I was doing some volunteer teacher training work at one of the refugee camps and staying in Mae Sot in 2011 when I saw this happening there. I just happened to mention my interest to someone and they put me in touch with Fred – he was the man to see regarding garbage in Mae Sot.

Fred was more than happy to talk about his work and take me to the dump just outside Mae Sot so I could see for myself what was happening. This was a whole different set up compared to what I’d seen on the streets. It amazed me that there was anything left to find once the garbage reached the dump. It was great to see the young kids happily playing with whatever they could lay their hands on to entertain themselves and yet, at the same time, harrowing to see the conditions in which the families had to live.

I was very fortunate to spend more time talking with Fred about the situation and see first-hand the wonderful work he is doing to improve the quality of life for the community there. It was obvious that the people, especially the children, trusted and liked Fred a lot and as a result warmly accepted my presence. Seeing what a real difference he is making meant that I was more than happy to contribute a fraction of my time while I was there helping with administrative tasks for Eyes to Burma (not Fred’s strong point). I also didn’t hesitate in making a few small financial contributions myself and encouraging others to do the same.

In September 2013 I returned for a further three month visit and saw what progress had been made. The situation is constantly changing and Fred is well placed on the ground to respond to the new challenges that arise. I’m back working in Egypt now (sadly my poor Arabic language skills mean that I can’t talk to the people I see on a daily basis here collecting garbage, but I have been known to run after them holding out my empty water bottle and shouting ‘plastic!’)  and am very much looking forward to returning to Mae Sot for a few days in February 2015. Going to visit a garbage dump may not feature in most people’s holidays plans, but for me catching up with Fred and seeing how things are developing will be a great way to end my trip to SE Asia and hopefully there’ll be less tourists than at Angkor Wat (although the dump does get its fair share and not always for the right reasons).