Random thoughts

In every school we've visited, the number of migrant children is increasing, not decreasing. Thus, their need for funding is increasing and their requests to the Hussman Foundation are more urgent as well. Yet, Qibo and I have to tell them that the foundation's philosophy is to decrease funding by 10-20% each year, so that organizations and schools do not become dependent on one donor and seek other sources of funding. It's really dangerous to depend on one donor b/c anything can happen to the one donor or their policies can change and then the funded organization is in emergency mode. Thus, we've been visiting schools to help them in their capacity building, especially in their report and proposal writing skills. Yet the schools sometimes become confused when they feel like they can't get more money from us. Their needs are so great and are only increasing due to the influx of migrant and IDP students and the rising cost of living and Hussman's philosophy is to decrease, not increase funding each year. So if organizations are not proactive, they can't keep up with the cost difference.

Some schools have risen to the challenge and have amazing programs and seem truly sustainable in the longterm due to their relationship with multiple funders but others still want funding from just Hussman - which is really dangerous for them as an organization (e.g., what if John Hussman dies?). How to bridge that gap...

Another random blogging thought. It's hard to see the number of kids in the schools increase everywhere due to fighting in Burma and the collapsed economy. The schools provide literacy and numeracy but don't prepare them for advanced education - they just can't - their funds are limited and they don't have the infrastructure to compete with the Thai schools. Thus, the best that the students can usually attain to is vocational jobs or for the lucky few, work with NGOs, and even those jobs are unreliable b/c they don't have legal documentation to be in Thailand.

Arrests for lack of documentation are common around Mae Sot. Qibo and I constantly see police check points everywhere and we've been questioned four times now to see if we have legal documentation to be in Thailand since we look Asian. Once they hear our accents though, they always let us pass. When arrested, the migrant workers either have to pay a large fine that usually amounts to two months' salary, remain in jail, or if they're lucky, get deported. Families are constantly separated this way.

Anyhow, the root problem is the Burmese military dictatorship's ruthless grip on power even though no one wants them there. Because of their inhumane policies towards their own people (economic policies that boggle the mind, 8.8.88 and the recent Saffron revolution as well as ethnic genocide towards the ethnic minority groups like the Karen and Rohingya), people are leaving Burma by the millions. That exodus will only continue as long as the military dictatorship is in power. Burma and North Korea... how long will those dictators remain in power? So much suffering caused by the decisions of a few... and the aid of international organizations will only be a small drip in the ocean in making a longterm difference if the leadership of those countries do not change.