Today the Marist Mission Ranong team gathered for a staff training day which we try to have together once every month.

In co-operation with “Save the Children” (U.K.) we are running a Child Protection programme for some of the most disadvantaged young people in Ranong. We bring about 50 of these children, who have had no formal education at all, into our Marist Education Centre every morning. Slowly we try to help them become used to a class-room situation and encourage them to go to a more formal learning centre as soon as they are able.

In this context, and in all our works in Ranong, we need to be clear that we are working together in a child-friendly environment. To this end, we are slowly formulating a Child Care policy. Perhaps the work of crafting the policy is as important as the final document.

We had a good day working together.

We pondered the different approaches of Buddhism and Christianity and what it meant to be a child. We considered both the teachings of the Gospel and of the Buddhist Suttas.

Next we spent some valuable time with the United Nations Charter on the Rights of Children and the document that came from “Save the Children” (U.K.) This presentation was led by one of our volunteers from New Zealand, Nuala Moraes, who is a lawyer.

For most of the afternoon we worked on our own draft of a  Marist Child Care policy. What could have been a fairly dry activity was in fact a very fruitful exercise and should lead to a well rounded document owned and implemented by the whole MMR family.

The day began and ended with a time of prayer … quiet meditation in the morning and a beautiful power-point meditation designed by Ian John Magarao, our Marist Lay Missionary in the afternoon.

Our Bishop, Most Reverend Joseph Pratthan SDB, was in Ranong today for the patronal fiesta of our Parish in Ranong, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Since he has a vast diocese and visits Ranong only occasionally, the Bishop requested a visit to our Marist Education Centre after the parish celebration. Being a Sunday, there were not many students there (although even on Sunday there were a few), and the Bishop was warmly welcomed by those present. It was his first visit to the centre which is now into it’s second semester of classes.

Bishop Joseph with Frs. Kevin and John, Mr. Kyi Thar and computer students

He asked many questions about our various programmes there – the Marist Training Programme for secondary school age Burmese children, the Child Protection Programme for children who have had no education at all, the programmes that reach out from the centre to the Thai government schools, and the classes we hold in the Centre for Thai people who want to learn English.

Bishop Joseph Pratthan seemed delighted with the visit and we were very happy to experience his continued support, a support which he has shown since our arrival to his diocese, a bit lost and very disappointed from our having had to leave Myanmar.

Today our Marist team working with people who are HIV+ or who have full-blown AIDS spent their time visiting the mountainous areas around Ranong. Here, ten patients have been referred to us by the local Thai government health clinics. We try to assist them in any way we can. We  bring them some food, transport them to hospital when they have an appointment and follow up on their medication.

Unlike our work in the township of Ranong where almost all our patients are from Burma/Myanmar, the patients in the mountains around Ranong are almost all Thai. After all, they are referred to us by the Thai government clinics.

What struck us yesterday was the crucial role played by grandparents, especially grandmothers.

Many of the people referred to us are children whose parents have already died of the dreaded HIV virus. Sometimes they may be HIV+ themselves, sometimes they are free of the virus but do not have anyone to care for them. Grandparents so often fill in as care-givers. Yesterday we met with several grandparents who have taken over full responsibility for their grandchildren. The impression they give is that they have had the responsibility thrust on them. They have already suffered the death of one of their children – the parent of the grandchild – and now they want to rest. Instead, they have to become parents once again at such a late stage in their lives. They also carry the stigma of having a child who has died of a disease that is so feared and despised.

Still, these grandparents have taken on the challenge and continue to struggle to make ends meet and provide the best opportunities they can to their orphaned grandchildren.

If you had chanced upon the beach today at Bang Ben, you might have thought you’d struck another end-of-school year outing for kids.

But this one was different.

The thirty three students are the first batch about to complete their first year of the “Marist Training Programme” (M.T.P.), and most of them have never ventured out of the small town of Ranong in their lives.

The Marist Training Programme is for children from migrant families, aged 11 – 17. Their parents have come across to Thailand from Burma looking for work. Some of the families are legal, many illegal. But none of them can travel more than a few kilometres out of Ranong. There are carefully positioned check-points all around Ranong to see that no-one “escapes” further afield.

So these children have, for the most part, never left Ranong. Many of them are stateless. They have neither Thai nor Burmese citizenship, nor do they have any identity cards. They are meant to be neither seen nor heard. Their future, apart from undertaking harsh manual labour that no-one else wants to do, is most uncertain.

The Marist Mission in Ranong sought the permission of the Thai police to allow us to take the children to a beautiful beach that is about forty kilometres south of the town. Armed with our official papers (that the Thai authorities gave us, to their credit) we were able to brave the check points and take the children further into Thailand than they’d ever been before.

They enjoyed the trip. They enjoyed the beach. And we enjoyed it with them.

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Volunteering abroad is a way to make a worthwhile contribution to another country while simultaneously broadening your life experiences.

Volunteering can be a life-changing experience. You will be immersed in the culture and language of the people. Learning about them first proves to the people whom you deal with that your interest is “them”.

Whether for a career break or just a mere vacation, volunteering on the Thai-Burma border is the best place to be. The great beauty of Thailand and its environment, and the welcoming attitude of both the Thai and Burmese people are some of the reasons why Thailand is an ideal place to volunteer as an English teacher.

Although Thailand is a hugely popular tourist destination, the level of English is quite low in most areas. Volunteer English teachers are desperately needed to build students’ confidence and encourage them to use their language skills.

If you want more of a challenge, you could volunteer to teach in the Burmese refugee camps or to teach Burmese migrant workers in the border parts of Thailand and Myanmar. The Burmese people are known for their superb hospitality. Young or old alike, they are very eager to learn and to be educated. Since they are the most vulnerable people in Thailand, it just makes your effort all the more meaningful.

As a volunteer teacher in the Thai-Burma border, you are making a difference to the lives of the people you are teaching. I really encourage you to offer some of your talents and time to teach as a volunteer here in Ranong.

Mr. Ronald Lida