This month, I got a chance to talked to UNICEF Club about refugee crisis that had been going on since WWII. I focused on the effect of the issue on the children, since it is the club ideal. Before I hosted the meeting, I did some research on the issue effect on children specifically, since I want to provide as much information as I can. From the research I did, I realized that the issue doesn't stop when the refugee crossed the border to another country. The refugee's children would need to go to new schools, speaks new languages, and most importantly find new friends. From watching a UNICEF's documentary, I learnt that it is very hard from refugee's children to adapt into their new life because sometime people in the community don't acknowledge their presence and are mean to them. Many refugee's children are having emotional problems while living their new life. UNICEF created a program that provide spaces in refugee camps from refugee's children to adapt to their new conditions. This program makes the children to become physically and emotionally stronger than before.
Attach to this post are short videos that I had watched over the past month, and please consider donating to organization like UNICEF to help these children. Thank you, PB
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There are many issues going on with the Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh and South Asia, and these are the suggested news sources. UNICEF is working on a campaign related to the Myanmar refugees, so it provides multiple facts about the issue.
My plan this month is to work on the powerpoint for the presentation that I was planning to make this winter break. However, I contacted the primary school to find a time to present my project, and I learnt that I couldn't present to them during Winter break, since the Thai school also has break at that time. The school suggested that I can present my project during spring break, since it is the last few weeks of their school year. After hearing back from the Thai primary school, I have to adjust my signature's milestone according to my new schedule. This month instead of working on the power point, I finished the book called Burmese Refugees: Letters from the Thai-Burma Border, and I did some follow up with the ongoing news about Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh.
Some articles about the ongoing issue: This month, my goal was to follow news from around the world about the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. One of the most surprising news that I came across is that Bangladesh and Myanmar governments signed a deal to repatriate the Myanmar refugees, who had been living at the border town of Cox's Bazar after the military violence in their country. Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin told Al Jazeera said, "I didn't find any clear statement how these refugees will be repatriated. I'm not sure whether they will be allowed to return to their original village," On the other hand, Amnesty reported that the Bangladesh government approved a $280 million plan to develop the isolated, flood-prone and uninhabitable island to be a temporary housing for the refugees. Minister Mustafa Kamal said that it would take some time to repatriate all the refugees, so in the meanwhile they need a place to live in. "The humanitarian community has warned of the dangers to the Rohingya refugees if they are relocated to what is widely considered an uninhabitable island, making it harder for humanitarian assistance to reach the refugees," said Amnesty. By reading these news I could see the tension that the Myanmar refugees need to live in. They are being move around like puppets, while not knowing what will happen to their future. Citation: "Amnesty International." Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees must not be relocated to uninhabitable island. November 28, 2017. Accessed November 30, 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/bangladesh-rohingya-refugees-must-not-be-relocated-to-uninhabitable-island/. Jazeera, Al. "Myanmar, Bangladesh sign Rohingya return deal." Myanmar News | Al Jazeera. November 23, 2017. Accessed November 30, 2017. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/myanmar-bangladesh-sign-rohingya-return-deal-171123103014940.html. After listening to Ms. Tena Tyler from the Times Union about the finer points of interviewing. I went on and interview an off campus expert for my signature project. Luckily, I got a chance to do a video call with a history/humanity teacher in Bangkok, Thailand. Before talking to her, I came up with some questions I wanted to ask her, since we have only limited time to talk. In our conversation, I tried to use open ended questions, so I can get more informations about the topic. She told me that she wanted to educate the student about the refugee crisis because she doesn't want her students to be ignorant in important humanitarian issues. She believes that her students can make a different in world in the future. She said "all my students can make a different, but it's their choice if they want to do it or not, my role is to provide them with informations." I asked her about the students reaction toward the issue when she identified it to them, and she told me that most of them were surprised that there are many kids of their age running away from their home. She said that during Parents' night at the school, many parents told her that what she is teaching their children are also new to them. Most of the parents didn't know about that there are Displaced people camp in Thailand until their children told them. The teacher is surprised by how ignorant people are. After teaching her students about refugee for a semester, she thinks that she is very successful with her program because students start to acknowledge and discuss about the issue to each other. She is hoping that in the future she can find more information about the topic and have guest speaker to her class, so the students are more engage in her class. This month, I decided to change my signature plan a little bit. I wanted to do some more research about Myanmar Refugee crisis, since it has been breaking news in every country. I read many articles and news report from around the globes, but most of the news are from other country's perspective on the issue. I started with researching for books that will help me understand more about the issues in Myanmar. I focused story told by Myanmar people, not outsider source, since I don't want any biased in the topic. I started with talking to my mentor in Thailand, and she recommended me to a book called Burmese Refugee, Letter from Thai-Burmese Border. By reading this book, I learnt that the issue between the Myanmar government and the minority group has been going on for more than ten years. The Narrator of the book is an English Teacher who taught his students (Myanmar Refugees) to write letters in English. The stories are being told by a first hand account. This is one of the book that I hope more people would know about, since it is really helpful for people to learn more about issues before writing about it.
Next month, I will start reading a book called Ethnic Politics in Burma: State of Conflict by Ashley South SEPTEMBER 2017: CREATE BLOG AND TALK TO MENTORS ABOUT SUMMER INTERNSHIP
OCTOBER 2017: WRITE BLOGPOST ABOUT BACKGROUND INFORMATION IN DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP AND ALSO FOLLOW THE NEWS ABOUT UNITED NATION MEETING IN NEW YORK CITY NOVEMBER 2017: PREPARE POWERPOINT TO PRESENT AT LOCAL SCHOOL IN THAILAND TO RAISE AWARENESS IN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS DECEMBER 2017: PRESENT MY POWERPOINT AS PLAN IN NOVEMBER, AND ALSO VISIT UNHCR HEADQUARTER IN THAILAND TO GETHER MORE INFORMATION JANUARY 2018: WRITE BLOG POST ABOUT THE NUTRITION AND HYGIENIC IN THE DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP FEBRUARY 2018: WRITE BLOG POST ABOUT BIRTH CERTIFICATE IN THE CAMP MARCH 2018: READ MORE BOOKS RELATED TO THE TOPIC AND WRITE BLOG POST ABOUT IT. MIGHT START FUNDRAISING FOR UNHCR THROUGH MY BLOG APRIL 2018: CONCLUDE ALL IDEAS AND BLOGPOST. STOP THE FUNDRAISE MAY 2018: SIGNATURE PRESENTATION TO THE SCHOOL |
AuthorI AM PRIM AND I AM CURRENTLY A JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL WHO'S INTERESTED IN HUMANITARIAN ISSUE Archives
April 2018
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