By Jodi
The Karen Women's Organization offers services to people at all stages or their lives. Babies receive soap and diapers, for example. The organization also has a long tradition of caring for "unaccompanied children"--orphans and other children who come to refugee camps without their parents to study--securing funding to provide emotional support, housing, clothing, mosquito netting, bed mats, and blankets. Young people receive education about reproduction health. KWO also has a leadership training school. (Interestingly, the resettlement program has resulted in a brain drain, which we've heard about at other groups.) For women in refugee camps and IDPs, and group provides income-generation projects such as training on sewing machines and rice threshing. Safe houses provide shelter for those who suffer from violence. Elderly care includes home visits, extra fresh vegetables and meat to the older people when they are sick, and a ceremony to honor the elderly. The Shattering Silences report documents sexual violence committed by Burmese military against women in Karen state.
We were awed by the amount of services this organization--in exile, operating in Thailand illegally, with just 40 staff, all of whom volunteer, receiving only a small living stipend--offers. For our part, we bought hand-woven, beautifully embroidered merchandise--scarves, wallets, pants for Kedenard and Carl in vibrant colors, which they wore on this, our last full day in Thailand.
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