Going Home 2008 - Karenni First

The following is a memo on our Going Home Where We Belong – Summer 2008 trip which we started on July 2 and ended on August 20, 2008.

In Karenni Camp 1 (July 7 – 12, 2008)

With the initiative of Karenni Students Union (KSU), Going Home team participated in a workshop entitled Understanding Local Government. The participants were mostly from the Social Development Course, Karenni Leadership and Management Course, and other individuals working with different camp-based organizations.

The intention was to strengthen their understanding of how things are done at local government level, the systems and bureaucracy, and how to make and analyze public policy. The course was more of discussions based on the practical means available in their community. We hoped that discussions on various issues concerning local government or public policy would encourage our participants to take part in public works, or to be interested in public services.

Though we had a great short week with our participants, on the other hand, it was disheartening to see and know that most of our participants, especially young students, were drifting in the dream to go to third-countries. While it is perfectly understandable that every human being searches for green pasture where life offers hope – in their struggle and for their brighter future – and that our peoples are of no exception, just to see them drifting reluctantly simply because the current situation is so bleak even to maintain hope is heartbreaking.

Most of them participated so enthusiastically but the uncertain tomorrows in the refugee camps keep them far from being settled.

We found that it was part of the negative impact created by the resettlement programs currently so popular in the refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. However, the root-causes of such situation go deeper – the 60 years old unresolved civil war, the continuation of oppression based on ethnicities and religions, and the uncertainties of refugee-camp life.

We would like to thank KSU for organizing the workshop despite the situation that was not so encouraging. Such initiative was a long-shot but necessary one, for we must not give up on believing and hoping that situation must change and we must overcome any and all the difficulties in order for us to rebuild our nation, a nation undergoing desertion on daily basis now because of the unbearable oppressions.

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