Travel
Asia Site Visits - Thailand (October 10)
Thai Action Committee for Democracy
TACDB provides legal aid to undocumented Burmese workers in Thailand (over 3 million), educating the Burmese about legal processes for protection, and also educates Thai government workers and employers about the plight of the undocumented workers and their rights under Thai law. They also supply educational resources to libraries in community centers and provide legal training for young people who want to become human rights lawyers. In Southern Thailand they provide health care and education services, but no legal aid. They hope to expand to provide services more widely as resources permit.
Pattanarak Foundation
We met with Mr. Thongmak, who founded this organization 10 years ago after doing agriculture and conservation work along the Burmese border for the Thai government. It was patterned after Grameen’s self-help model. Pattanarak has two field offices, one on the Burmese border and one on the Laos border. Major activities of the organization are malaria prevention, education and nutrition for children, HIV prevention and care, health prevention and sanitation, food production and alternative livelihood, working though local partners and authorities. Special concerns are food security for poor villages of displaced persons and migrants living along the border and sanitation in these villages. Mr. Thongmak seems to have much credibility and moves freely back and forth across the Burmese border and is able to facilitate between the Burmese and Thai officials.