Below is a field report from Ann, one of the tireless volunteers at Help without Frontiers (HwF). HwF is currently providing emergency food packages to displaced people from Myanmar in Thailand who have seen their income being wiped out in the wake of COVID-19. (You can read more here: COVID-19 Response)
Today we delivered "Food Sets for Life" to 101 families in 2 communities: Ban Tu Muay Ki and Ban Pa Kha Mai. Both communities share similar challenges. The Ban Tu Muay Ki community members are mostly Karen, while Ban Pa Mai Mai are mostly migrants. In both communities, we are assisted by a committee of learning centers and teachers who know the area and the community very well.
We have found many children who have never studied. The most common reason for this is not having enough income to send their children to school. We also encountered children that have to work on a farm to help their families and also children with disabilities. The largest families have many children. Many mothers have children at a young age and end up having many more in a short period of time.
As of today, we've delivered "Food Sets for Fife" to 762 families. Tomorrow, we will divide the work into 2 big teams. The team that will deliver "Food Sets for Life" are young leaders of Rays of Youth who will be going to 2 communities in Mae Sot. An educational team will also begin training teachers on home-based learning preparedness.
You can help Help Without Frontiers with their emergency response to the COVID-19 crisis. For donations, please see our dedicated page on how you can support them: COVID-19 Response. If you are not in a position to donate, please consider sharing this message on social media to spread the word.