Burmese (Mon) refugees flooding into Thailand, call for help from Baan Unrak Refugee Service Center

Di Di has been doing this for years, and this comes through trusted mutual friends. Please help.

Dear friends of Baan Unrak,


You might have heard about the latest events in Myanmar. The 20 years old ceasefire between the military junta and the ethnics armies is about to be broken, as the junta is asking the ethnics armies to become border guards, to reduce troops numbers and be under the military junta's authority, with a deadline on April 22nd. Which the ethnics groups did not accept. All those ethnics groups agreed to fight together against the junta if they had to.

The Mon state, which is the state next to Sangklaburi, in Myanmar is one of the group which said loudly they will not accept those conditions, as Mon people do not have any rights. In consequences, the junta has started to send troops in Mon state, ready to fight .

We are all hoping the governement will not start the fight, as they have planned elections for the end of the year, to show the international community that they are going toward democracy. If the fight has not started before rainy season (June), then it might be posponed after the election, as nobody knows what the outcome will be.


As a consequence since April 22nd hundreds of women and children are fleeing their land to come close to the border of Thailand. In case the civil war starts, they would be ready to cross the border quickly. So only 25 kilometers from Sangklaburi,along the border, in a former refugee camp called Halockhani, over 600 people ( as per Thursday 29 May when we went to deliver a truck of food) arrived to be safe.

Unfortunately, Halockhani is not meant to receive so many people so suddenly. In the 2 villages of Halockhani the conditions of life for the refugees is very bad. They are staying in the school ( which are 2 big wooden buildings ) with no toilet, which implies a cholera risk, and not enough water. As it is the dry season, there is a shortage of water, which will also imply some sanitary risks.

Those people have left their house with just what they are wearing, as the few trucks which drove them to Halockhani are already full, they can not carry anything.

MSF ( Medecin sans Frontiere ), an international NGO, will provide them with some basic kits including : mats, mosquito nets, blanquets, buckets, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, plates, spoons, glasses, cooking sets and sarongs.

They will build some toilets, a kitchen shelter, a drainage system, dust bins and drying lines. They will clean the water and install filters for the drinking water to avoid Cholera.


An other organization, TBBC ( Thai Burmese Border Consortium ), is providing the rice to all those refugies.

Along with Baan Dada and Children of the Forest ( organisations in Sangklaburi ) we will provide the food they need : noodles, cooking oil, beans, vegetables, dry fish, can fish and fish paste.


In order for us to provide this growing number of people with enough food, we need your help. If each one of you donates just 10 euro/dollars, we will be able to provide them with enough food, so the children will not suffer from malnutrition. 10 Euros will feed 1 child for 1 month.

Please visit our website : www.baanunrak.org to make a donation.


Spread the word around you.

We all thank you very much for your help and support to Baan Unrak.



Neo Humanist Foundation - Baan Unrak Project
Sangklaburi, Kanchanaburi 71240
Tel/Fax (66) 034 595428 – 0899362426 (didi)
Website: www.baanunrak.org,facebook: Baan Unrak Children Home