Daylight School

DAYLIGHT SCHOOL FOR SHAN MIGRANTS

 

In late 2009, we were alerted to the predicament of a number of Shan migrant families living on orange farms hard along the Thai-Burma border. Many of these were recent arrivals to Thailand, having fled the conflict in their native homeland. Being in Thailand with no papers and not speaking Thai language makes them extremely vulnerable to the point that many of the families dare not leave the farm of their employment for fear of being arrested and sent back to Burma.

 

Working on the orange farms of Fang is the staple job for the local migrant labour. The working conditions are dangerous on account of the many poisons used and the living conditions are extremely basic, with most families living in a tin shed.

 

So the opportunity for the Daylight school was proposed to us by Shan teacher Kru Lan Mao who we know and have worked with before. He organised the families and found more than 20 students who were not attending any school.

 

Daylight School opened under blue skies on February 2^nd 2010. During the annual school holidays in April and May we refurbished the building on the bottom of the farm and it was ready for the first day of the new school year on May 17. We are deeply grateful to Chris Savard as well as Graham and Mew for their efforts in so beautifully restoring the old building.

 

Now the school has 18 students in fulltime primary education. There are another 10 younger ones in the nursery which is now run by the families themselves. We provide a warm meal at lunchtime and the students are studying Thai language, Mathematics, English as well as Shan language and culture.

 

The school costs around UDS$500/month to run and we are actively seeking funding to secure the future of this important project.