Going Home 2008 - Greetings

August 31, 2008

Dear Friends of Going Home Where We Belong Program:

Warm greetings. I am pleased to inform you that we had just successfully executed our Going Home 2008 program and that we are now back in school again for another academic year.

Before I go on, I need to acknowledge you and apologize to some of you that our plan did not quite go as we anticipated and therefore there were some miscommunications. The reason for that was that all three of us here at Indiana University did not receive our necessary travel documents on time back from the Homeland Security Department. Therefore although we planned to begin our trip by May 7, we could not actually leave the U.S until July 1. We did apply for our travel document six months ahead and that’s why we did not anticipate that it would have caused us such trouble.

Nevertheless, we are pleased to inform you that the much delayed program went very well although it was severely cut short. There were some minor changes in all the activities, but generally we were able to do most of the things we planned to do with the unwavering cooperation from our colleagues back home. We spent a week with the KSU and other organizations in the Karenni Camp 1 for a workshop on Understanding Local Government, which was originally planned to be a joint program with KSNG. After that, we spent another brief period in Mutraw District (5th Brigade) with our officers from the four northern brigades (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th). Together with our officers, we had a 2-day session of critical discussion on Civilian and Military Administrations with a focused look into the importance of accountability and transparency. Following our time in 5th Brigade, we continued the last part of our Going Home program in the Mergui/Tavoy District (4th Brigade) and spent one full week there for a course on Understanding Local Government: Public Policy Making and Analyzing and Critical Thinking. It was a refresher course for the district leadership and we had the most incredibly enriching time learning and sharing with our leaders.

In the following segments, we would like to update you with the situation back home, about the people, and hope for the future of our peoples and our country.

We would like to thank each and every one of you for your generous contribution to this Going Home Where We Belong and we very much hope that many of you will be able to join us in person in the near future. No matter how far and for how long we have been apart from the beloved land, it remains true that the land is a home we belong to just as much as it belongs to us. Please join us whenever you can and reclaim it.

Sincerely Yours,
Going Home Coordinating Team