A Refugee School in Mae Sot
Some podcast listeners may recall hearing the interview with Bhikkhu Mokkhita, a German monk who learned meditation through the Goenka Vipassana centers and at Pa Auk Monastery. As he describes in the podcast interview, before the coup he had established a holistic school in Nyaungshwe that combined Western education with traditional meditation instruction, as well as a model for promoting sustainable living. However, the school was burned down by military supporters, and he had to flee the country as a manhunt developed after him.
Now disrobed, he has returned to Southeast Asia, where he is running a school in Mae Sot for refugee families, while gaining support from the local community in doing so. Currently 35 children attend, although they have 100 more on a waiting list, and more clamoring to join as well, as the organizers work to find resources to support these numbers. They also seek to set up a vocational school which may foster skills-building courses, and ultimately provide job opportunities in a sustainable way.
As many children have now gone over two years without attending any classes (the consequence of a pandemic followed by a military coup), it is extremely helpful to re-introduce this sense of normalcy, while encouraging growth, education, and socialization. Topics are based in the holistic model of the Nyaungshwe monastic school, with a particular focus on English, Arts, and Ecology. Hopes to link up with a Western school are currently being explored.
The students how in attendance come after having fled conflict areas, and do not have legal status in Thailand. Although they are now more physically safe, relatively speaking, the fighting from across the border back in Burma comes so close that it can be heard from the school grounds.
Overall, the environment is described as extremely tense, with many refugees arriving with devastating tales of the horror they’ve endured, and the massive trauma they still have in even recalling it. And the safety in Thailand is only tenuous, as corrupt Thai police along with pro-military spies who pretend to be refugees spy on the people, converting information that leads to capture into a profit for them. The dangers are everywhere.
Additionally, some refugee camps have been set up hastily from whatever ground can be found to host them, as one was urgently transformed from a former cattle camp.
More information about the refugee school in Mae Sot will be coming shortly. We ask that donors consider supporting this noble effort. To contribute, please write us after your donation, informing us that you wish to earmark this school.