September 2010

 

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A Desire for Peace in Burma Drives Art and Drama Workshop
for Refugees in Thailand

Bruce Van Voorhis

Refugees from Burma living in a camp in Thailand’s Tak Province because of conflict and violence in their homeland took part in an art and drama workshop in their camp on Sept. 3 and 4, 2010. Using the theme “My Life and My Dream of Peace,” the 43 participants in the Umpium refugee camp, ranging in age from 8 to 20 years old, shared with each other the happy and sad moments of their young lives and their worries and hopes for the future. After verbally expressing their experiences and their visions of the future, the participants used their new art and drama skills to communicate their thoughts and feelings to others.

The first audience for their work was an event attended by 175 other refugees in the camp at the conclusion of the workshop. This program included the singing of songs about the Karen culture and the lives of the Karen people as well as a showing of the participants’ drawings and a presentation of their drama production. The movie Our Lives and Our Education about children living in the armed conflict area in the eastern part of Burma produced by BI was also shown.

The day after the workshop concluded the children and students who had taken part in the workshop brought pens, pencils, notebooks and other items to donate to internally displaced children living in Burma. They also wrote a letter to the internally displaced children across the border to encourage them to continue their education and not to give up in the face of many hardships.

Art and drama workshops for refugees in three other camps in Thailand—the Mae La, Mae Ra Moe and Mae La Oo refugee camps—are planned for the future.


Young Karen refugees from Burma take part in an art and drama workshop in their camp
in Thailand to learn how to share the stories of their lives and their dreams for the
future as a first step toward enjoying peace in their homeland
.