Children and Women Artisans Live Safely on Thai-Burma Border

Muga Pado: Pioneer Embroiderer and Leader

Muga Pado (Big Aunty, literally, in the Karen language) is Karen by ethnicity. and has been one of the pioneer embroiderers of WEAVE’s handicraft project.

Muga Pado’s family escaped to Thailand in 1990 from the human rights atrocities perpetrated by the Burmese military junta.

As displaced persons and without a government to turn to, Muga Pado and her family have to depend to international humanitarian organizations in order to survive.

In 1996, the Huay Kaloke refugee camp in Thailand was burned down, and all 700 houses were destroyed, which prompted Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment (WEAVE) to accelerate its Women’s Income Generation Program through the production of Karen handicrafts.

Since then, Muga Pado not only became an embroiderer, but became an active and highly committed quality leader – and living WEAVE’s mission of providing safe income to many Karen refugee women in Umpiem Mai camp on the Thai-Burma Border.

WEAVE’s accomplishments in 2011 focused on refugee women and children on the Thai-Burma border.

Nurturing a New Generation

There are over 3,000 nursery school children in the WEAVE assisted nursery schools in the 2 Karenni refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border.

WEAVE supported over 3,000 nursery school children (ages 2.8 to 5 years old) in 25 nursery schools on the Thai-Burma border. According to the teacher’s reports, children generally are growing healthy and socially active.

We also extended humanitarian assistance to RANIR (a network of community-based organizations in Laiza, Kachin State) to support displaced young school children.

Last December 9, 2011, WEAVE launched the Children’s Book during the Festivals in Burma. The event was highlighted with presentations on various ethnic Burmese dances, music, and food as well as ethnic fashion shows.

It also featured a storytelling portion to nursery school kids.

Women Artisans Find Safe Employment, Support

Over 180 women refugee artisans are receiving regular safe employment under WEAVE’s handicrafts project and are able to supplement their family’s food requirements. Women refugee artisans create beautiful handicrafts which in turn provide them with regular and safe employment.

Also, more than 30 producer organizations are involved in the FairTrade Shop, a WEAVE and Thai Tribal Craft’s collective marketing space in Northern Thailand. An estimated 3,000 local artisans are able to regularly benefit from this collective.

We provided vocational training sessions on product design and quality control to over 100 refugee women artisans who are now skillfully making beautiful, traditionally-inspired handicrafts.

WEAVE’s Livelihoods Learning and Linking Event was held for over 30 income-generating practitioners from Burma and Thailand on December 6 to 8, 2011, at our Fair Trade shop in Mae Sod, Thailand. The event provided a space for livelihood practitioners to share best practices, and also, a platform for networking.

Karenni Women Enroll in Women’s Study Program

Young Karenni women attend a Women Study Program where they learn subjects on Conflict Transformation, Community Development and Women Issues and Development.

WEAVE has supported the education of 25 young Karenni women ages 16 to 32 years, who enrolled in the Women’s Study Program. The young women are learning Peace Education, Community Development and Women Issues and Development.

These activities have continued to strengthen WEAVE’s leading role in children’s learning and women’s capacity development towards economic self-reliance on the Thai-Burma border.

2011: A Challenging Year

Children waiting for food ration in Kachin IDP area.

The year 2011 was quite challenging to WEAVE and caused a lot of instability in our staff and constituencies on the Thai-Burma border.

In July, the ceasefire agreement between the Burmese military government and the ethnic Kachin Independent Organization collapsed – which resulted in the resumption of fighting and internal displacement of over 65,000 in the towns bordering Burma-China.

The food crisis in Kachin State was high, from July to December. Fortunately, aid agencies – including the United Nations, are now permitted to deliver humanitarian aid.

However, those who are displaced in the deep jungles of Burma (Kachin State) are still without food, shelter and medicines. Moreover, the Kachin Women’s Association in Thailand reported that rape to women in IDP (internally displacement) by Burmese military is still going on.

Interview with Internally Displaced Persons along the China-Burma border in Kachin State on 23 June 2011

In September, the flooding in Northern Thailand – including the areas where WEAVE operates (refugee camps), has destroyed many people’s lives, properties, and livelihoods.

Click on a photo to view a larger version. More photos at WEAVE’s Facebook page.

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Back home in her village in Karen State, Burma, Naw Wah May Paw sold rice and curry at the roadside to make money for her family. But her livelihood and safety were threatened when the Burmese military began attacking nearby villages. She endured the constant fear and threat, until an attack occurred close to her home. She and her family had to flee.

The trek to safety was perilous, as they crossed the river separating northwestern Thailand from Burma. They were fortunate to arrange a truck to pick them up on the Thai side, taking her whole family, including her nine siblings and four children.

Although safe for the time being, life in a refugee camp was far from being an exciting new start. “I can’t go everywhere (I want),” she said, referring to restriction of movement placed on refugees in Thai camps.

In Umpiem Mai Camp, where she has lived since 1999, she and the other 4,000 refugees there have very few options for livelihoods inside the camps. They are eager to make money for their families, yet unless they are one of the lucky few to get jobs with aid agencies working inside the camps, there is nothing available.

Adding to this, under Thai government policy refugees are not legally entitled to work outside the camps. Those who find ways to leave the camps for the day to work on nearby Thai farms do so at their own risk. Exploitation is common for these day laborers- legal wages are not always respected by land owners or tenants and refugees found outside the camps are vulnerable to harassment and arrest.

This creates a vicious cycle as displaced persons want to provide for their families, yet are not allowed to have jobs and must rely on international aid agencies for provisions. This aid covers only the most immediate relief needs and is not guaranteed long term.

The cycle has the further negative impact of not only denying refugees the human right to livelihoods, but also eroding their independence and sense of self worth. These emotions are piled on to the trauma and powerlessness of displacement.

Despite all of these risks, some refugees still take them, emphasizing their need for meaningful work and self-sufficiency. “There is no other work to do,” said Naw Wah May Paw.

Throughout its 21 years of existence, WEAVE has sought to empower women through the encouragement of meaningful work that leads to economic self-sufficiency. WEAVE’s founders recognized an opportunity to help displaced women from Burma and other marginalized women in northern Thailand. When founders were introduced to beautiful handicrafts women made in their homes, they saw an opportunity to help women generate income through fair trade.

This opportunity became the Income Generation Project (IGP). Launched in 1996, it sought various ways to support women through capacity building and economic literacy. WEAVE also trains women leaders in each of the three camps where it runs the project, so they are empowered to do capacity building with other women and build a community of artisans.

Naw Wah May Paw already had a talent for embroidery, but she didn’t have the resources nor distribution channels to make best use of them.

Now, her work as a self-employed producer means organizing her own working hours, depending on her family’s schedule and how much money she wants to earn that month She said, “I use (the money) for children’s clothes or curry and meat.” The food supplements the basic camp rations she receives.

Work for economic self-sufficiency is a fundamental human right. While all who lack this right suffer, women and children are most affected. WEAVE believes that improving market access for these underserved artisans will raise income levels, reduce income variability, foster job creation and, ultimately, facilitate sustained economic development.

With IGP’s capacity development and income generation opportunities, Naw Wah May Paw and other women can once again create a livelihood and begin to support themselves and their families on their own.

About WEAVE (Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment)

Founded in 1990, WEAVE is a non-profit organization that helps and supports the needs of marginalized women along the Thai-Burma border. WEAVE advances the status of women and children to become socially, economically and politically empowered. Through programs for education and capacity development, WEAVE’s goal is to elevate women and children from poverty and vulnerability, to self-sufficiency and hope.   www.weave-women.org

Names and some other identifying details have been changed to protect identities.

(By Sarah Matsushita)

For over 10 years, Naw Tha Blay Paw has lived in Umpiem Mai Camp, her second refugee camp. Her hometown is in Karen State, Burma, but she fled to Thailand after being continually harassed by the Burmese military looking for her brother, a supporter of the Karen separatist revolution. The harassment took its toll, making her fearful for her own safety, as well as for that of her family.

Studies have shown that the constant threat of harm to individuals or their family members causes anxiety, depression and distrust of people around them and weakens people’s ability to focus on their daily lives, including jobs and income. The Burmese military regime uses such tactics to oppress and control its people.  For Naw Tha Blay Paw, she could no longer endure the threats and escaped on foot, taking four days and staying overnight in villages on the way.

When she arrived in the camp she “felt safe and had food”. Yet she couldn’t leave the camp and didn’t have anything to do to remain active during the day.

She was eager to join WEAVE’s Income Generation Project (IGP) when it began in 1996. She could use her sewing skills, an advantage purposely included as part of IGP’s design to build on the skills and traditional designs from Karen and Karenni culture. IGP seeks to empower Karen and Karenni refugees to generate their own income making handicrafts.

Her work provides her with a purpose every day and connects her to a supportive group of women with which to share experiences and memories, both happy and haunting.

With her home business, she first used her earnings for her three children’s school needs, such as uniforms and extra books and pens. Now that they are finished school, she contributes 10% for her church tithing (approximately 65% of Karen refugees are Christians) and uses the remaining funds for extra food like fish and salt.

For Naw Tha Blay Paw, wearing a beautiful green jacket she made herself, another added benefit of being part of IGP is the sense of pride and confidence she gains making the high quality products sold in WEAVE’s fair trade shops. She boasts that the handcrafted goods “are different than others, which are made by machine and are low quality,” referring to products available in markets and small shops along the Thai-Burma border.

IGP has brought her the opportunity to become a leader, joining the Quality Control team to gather more women to join the program, and teach them skills to earn income.

She wants people to understand that, “we don’t have chances to go out- there is no other work to save our lives, so we want people to support us.” To date, over 1,000 women have been trained in IGP and over 500 women have become home-based entrepreneurs.

As for the future of the camp, Naw Tha Blay Paw doesn’t expect to stay in the camp forever because she “doesn’t see a future here.” Refugees in the camps do not know what the future will hold. She misses her birthplace and would like to return.

Yet as the Karen and other ethnic peoples continue to face many human rights abuses in their home country, the prospect of returning to a safe Burma is bleak. Harassment, rape, burning of villages and forced labor are among other tactics used by the military to oppress ethnic groups. This means that even if displaced persons return, their family and communities are likely gone.

Her comments reveal just some of the complexities displaced persons from Burma face, especially women. These problems won’t be easily solved. However, through WEAVE’s Income Generation Project, Naw Tha Blay Paw has the chance to regain a sense of security, empower others and work toward more permanent solutions, with hope for the future.

About WEAVE (Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment)

Founded in 1990, WEAVE is a non-profit organization that helps and supports the needs of marginalized women along the Thai-Burma border. WEAVE advances the status of women and children to become socially, economically and politically empowered. Through programs for education and capacity development, WEAVE’s goal is to elevate women and children from poverty and vulnerability, to self-sufficiency and hope.   www.weave-women.org

Names and some other identifying details have been changed to protect identities.

(By Sarah Matsushita)