Hooked On Asia

I would be surprised to find Mae Sot in Thailand on many holiday itineraries. This bustling town sits on the border with Myanmar (Burma) and is an important conduit between the two countries; but as far as I can gather there is little to commend it to the mainstream tourist.

I have not been there so I am happy to stand corrected but in the meantime the student making his travel plans is no tourist, mainstream or otherwise. Steve Gomersall is a 2^nd year psychology student at the University of Bath: in 2008 he spent the summer teaching English to Burmese refugees living in Mae Sot as part of a scheme organised by Hong Kong University called Migrant Outreach Education Initiative (MOEI).

Steve with his students at the school in Mae Sot in 2008

Now he is returning - for two years! He is taking a sabbatical to establish a sixth-form school for young people who have fled from the regime in Burma.

This is just the type of initiative that I am committed to promoting via this blog: as Steve says: “An education [for these 6^th form students] will mean the difference between spending their lives in a refugee camp and being able to get a job and start to rebuild their community.”

Steve has managed to raise over £2500 thus far for the school: this money will buy mosquito nets, class partitions and blankets for a number of schools. Steve told me “Mosquito nets are the priority for the prevention of the spread of malaria. One of my students was infected on my previous visit and seeing her in pain was heart breaking.”

At the time of writing Steve is still looking for sponsorship for this school for refugee children in Thailand: he needs 10 sponsors at £10 per month for 10 months. He explains: “The money which I’m trying to collect now, ideally by standing order, is to support my school for the first year. With it being a new school we can’t get secured funding through BMWEC [The Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee]; however after the first year, when we have results, we will be better placed and should receive full running costs. So basically our running costs are £400 a month, this includes teacher stipends, electricity, food (all students will be living at the school for various reasons), water and sanitation.” Contact Steve: smg24 at bath dot ac dot uk

During his last trip Steve produced a blog: he hopes to do so again and if he does I will publish a link on the Education page.

I wish Steve the very best of luck and hopefully look forward to hearing more as the project progresses in Mae Sot.