At the heart of Partners Asia: Impoverished ethnic minorities, girls and youth vulnerable to labor exploitation, and migrants displaced by conflict and land grabbing. They are our strength—and Myanmar-Burma’s future. I am leading Partners Asia along with Executive Director Therese Caouette, who has 30 years of experience in Southeast Asia mobilizing a global network to train and support refugees and migrants in disrupted, isolated communities.

Thanks to your steadfast support providing funds for resources and training, the innovative indigenous leaders we’ve partnered with over the years are now on the leading edge to guide their communities through the current social and political flux. Opportunities and risks vary greatly between fast-thawing cities, tense rural ethnic areas, and migrant worker enclaves straddling the border. Our local partners tailor local solutions to fit local needs—training teachers in urban slums; piping water to displaced villagers; providing safe shelter and counseling for trafficked women and girls; organizing job training and savings circles to bolster independence.

We admire our courageous local partners’ hard work and ingenuity. And we are deeply grateful to all of you in our generous global network of friends, foundations and organizations.

We believe the people of Burma/Myanmar are and should be the drivers of change in their own communities, so we remain committed to limiting the size of our international staff. Our small international team includes Zunetta Liddell, an advisor to the United Nations, governments and international nongovernmental organizations on Burma / Myanmar issues for more than two decades; Paula Bock, a longtime Mae Tao Clinic volunteer who has more than 20 years professional experience as an award-winning journalist and nonprofit communications and development specialist; and a notable Board of Directors including Jack Kornfield, one of the leading Buddhist teachers in America, Jane Dudley, Eileen Monceour, U Tin-Wa and Pwint Htun.

Finally, a word about names. We’ll start using Myanmar more often in keeping with the times and political sensitivities, but this does not change our focus on the diverse and often excluded ethnic minority populations. Also, please note: We’re no longer Community Partners International (CPI). Our new name is Partners Asia.  Please go  to Partners Asia for latest news and updates.

Please explore our new website—and read about us on NPR’s global health and poverty blog – Humanosphere.

Deepest bows for your caring and spirit.

With gratitude and hope,

Hal

Dear Friends,

We would be delighted if you would join us for a performance of Ben Stiller and Edie Falco in the much-anticipated revival of The House of Blue Leaves to benefit the Foundation for the People of Burma.

As some of you know, Suki Sandler and I took part in a truly awe inspiring trip to Myanmar (Burma) in January. The trip was organized by the Foundation for the People of Burma, a nonprofit that does humanitarian work in health, education and community development with people of all ethnic backgrounds and religions.

Burma is a magnificent country with lovely and peaceful people ruled by a repressive dictatorship. What causes me to use the expression “awe inspiring” was the privilege of seeing the work that the founder, Hal Nathan, and FPB’s local community partners, are doing. We saw schools, orphanages and entire villages vastly affected by the help they receive through this organization.

· We saw the sweetest smiles on the faces of the children in an orphanage for HIV-positive children.

· A few of us sang the ABCs with the most precious 4-year-old children in a monastery school that could not operate without FPB’s support.

· We went by boat to meet with people in a village that had been devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Through local partners, FPB had been amongst the first to get aid to them. Sadly, the junta had blocked large-scale international aid.

A few dollars goes a long way in Burma and makes a tremendous difference. In order to help FPB continue its important work, we are eager to have you join us at this theater party. After the performance, available cast members will join us for an informal visit and Hal will answer questions about FPB’s exciting work in Burma.

The House of Blue Leaves starring Edie Falco and Ben Stiller:

Walter Kerr Theater
219 West 48th Street, NYC
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
8 P.M.

Ticket Price: $300 ($190 is tax deductible because FPB is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.)

Checks to:
Foundation for the People of Burma
225 Bush Street #590
San Francisco, CA 94104
Please write “NYC-Burma TICKETS” in the memo line and enclose your email and phone number so we can contact you with information about ticket pick-up-and our post-performance get-together with available cast members and Hal.

Please RSVP and send check by March 31, 2011 to reserve your seat(s)!
For questions about tickets, please email paula@foundationburma.org.

We are eager to have you join us but if you can’t attend the Benefit and would like to make a donation that would be greatly appreciated. Please write NYC-Burma on the memo line of your check so we can properly thank you! Or, donate online at https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=24039

For more information about Foundation for the People of Burma and its health associate, Global Health Access Program, please visit:
www.foundationburma.org and www.ghap.org

Hoping to see you on June 21st!

Warmly,
Susan

Susan Gallin Productions, Inc.
180 West 58th Street 4B
New York, New York 10019
212 840 1725

The House of Representatives passed a budget last month to cut $1.7 billion in life saving humanitarian aid to refugees and people in crisis around the world. The Senate rejected those cuts and introduced a version of the budget with NO cuts to life saving aid. They’re expected to vote on the bill THIS WEEK!

We must make sure the Senate protects $1.7 billion in life saving humanitarian aid. You can help. Stand up for the refugees from Burma now!

Email your senators and ask them to protect lifesaving humanitarian aid.

To access a U.S. Senate website with email links to each senator’s office, click here, then scroll down to find your senators and click on “web form.”

Here’s a sample letter. You are invited to cut, paste and personalize as appropriate–or write your own letter!

THANK YOU for supporting life-saving humanitarian aid for people displaced by war in Burma.
___________________
Dear Senator,

As a constituent, I urge you to support life-saving humanitarian aid as put forward in the Senate funding bill for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year.

I am particularly concerned about aid related to IDPs and refugees from Burma. Cuts to specific amounts – like $431 million (50%) from International Disaster Assistance, $687 million (41%) from Food for Peace, and $582 million (36%) from Migration and Refugee Assistance – will significantly impact lives on the ground in Burma and its refugees in neighboring countries. IDP and refugee service providers would be forced to make cuts to the amount of food they provide refugees, to a level below international nutritional standards. Furthermore, they would not be able to provide life-saving food, shelter, and medical aid to the thousands of new refugees that continue to flee Burma every month. These severe cuts run counter to the United States’ commitment to peace and democracy building. These cuts put U.S. interests at risk during a critical time when violence in Burma is on the rise and millions of Burmese people remain most vulnerable to state-perpetrated atrocities.

I strongly oppose the budget cuts to funding that supports humanitarian assistance. As the appropriations process continues in Congress, I urge you to do everything in your power to restore humanitarian aid for millions of refugees from Burma. Their lives depend on it.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

“…Hidden out of sight of the road and the authorities on both sides of the river, hundreds of displaced Karen villagers have set up small shelters on the Thai side of the border in dried-out channels cut by the floods of the wet season. The shelters are scattered and basic _ small built-up wooden platforms, torn coloured picnic mats spread under trees or split bamboo poles to form ground covering, roofed by dried leaves, faded strips of material or blue plastic sheeting…

Villagers flee violence, hide in the forest

The Back Pack Health Worker Team is an independent, non-profit organisation that has been delivering primary health care for over 13 years to people in conflict zones and rural areas deep inside Burma _ where access to health care is otherwise unavailable.

The organisation’s secretary, Mahn Mahn, explained that villagers close to the border fled their homes after the Burmese army moved into the area to wage waragainst factions of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

”There are at least 14 new battle sites and 21 hiding sites along both sides of the border and we have seven emergency Back Pack teams working with local community organisations to help 10,575 displaced people,” said Mahn Mahn, adding that 80 Back Pack teams of three to five medics offer medical services to 187,000 internally displaced people in eastern Burma . . . to read the full story in the Bangkok Post, please go to http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/health/225065/when-the-people-are-enemies-of-the-state

Ohio Teens raise funds to "solve problems at the source" in Burma

The situation in Burma has always been a major concern for us, so when we had the idea to do one of this year’s projects on Burma, it had unanimous support. We are publishing a cookbook filled with all kinds of delicious recipes, and the best part is all proceeds go to The Foundation for the People of Burma, helping solve problems at the source!

You can learn more information about the project as it becomes available, as well as ways of ordering the cookbook, by going to bakingforburma.org.

Thanks for your support!

Happy schoolchildren in northern Burma.

Education goes far beyond the classroom for millions from Burma who are vulnerable because they’re illiterate, uprooted, marginalized and poor. With solid skills, people have a chance to find jobs, feed families, avoid abuse and rebuild communities. That’s why we invest in education, supporting classrooms for more than 100,000 children and skills training for thousands more adults—including many who’ve never had formal schooling.

Our community-based programs take children off the streets; counsel and retrain trafficked women; train ethnic-minority villagers to farm organically and leverage group savings; teach migrant workers to advocate for rights; train leaders to assess community needs.

In our NEWS section, you can meet a star student from a mountain village; teachers using teak leaves for hands-on math; traditional birth attendants trained to save women from dying during childbirth; and young American students sharing heartfelt thoughts about Burma.

We believe in the education equation: Education = Opportunity + Hope!

Read more about our education programs in Burma!

Student Star + Boarding School = Future Village Doctor

Twigs + Teacher Creativity = Kids Who Love Math

A paddy field and rice farmers in Shan State.
Photo: Jane Dudley

“My village is in the mountains, one-hour walk from the main road,” writes a bright 14-year-old student in northern Shan State chosen by her primary-school teacher to continue studies in a special boarding school 14 miles away. The ninth-grader’s village has 150 people and 32 homes, but no secondary school.

“My village plants paddy (rice), chili, beans, vegetables, maize and peanuts,” the teenager says. “We have pigs, fowl, dogs, cats and buffalo. It smells like dung and sounds like animals shouting.
“My family’s biggest challenge is that it’s difficult to find money,” so there are fights, “family disunity,” she says. “I like living as the boarder because I stay safe and feel happy; I enjoy disciplined living. My favorite is cool season because on shining moon nights, all my friends sing and play and talk.

“If I didn’t come to the boarding school, I’d stay in the village, planting the paddy field. Education changed my life. I know more language, people behavior and knowledge. My dream is to become a doctor and help my village.”

With your help, we’re proud to support this promising student, her nine classmates, and their boarding school. We salute their dreams of returning as village health workers and mechanical engineers.

Read more about our education programs in Burma!

The Education Equation

Twigs + Teacher Creativity = Kids Who Love Math

Young math students engrossed in their math game.

In a dusty mountain village in northern Burma, the barefoot children were so engrossed in an outdoor math lesson using twigs and leaves they didn’t notice when visitors arrived—proof that child-centered teacher training is already making a difference. The foundation supports a nationwide train-the-trainer program to improve the quality of teaching in even the most remote villages.

In traditional schools, teachers stand in front of the class writing sentences on the board for rows of children to memorize. Using the new Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking (RWCT) method, teachers engage children with interactive hands-on activities, organize them to work together in small groups and encourage them to ask questions and figure out their own answers.

Initially, it’s challenging. Students aren’t used to thinking for themselves. Classrooms with more than 80 students can turn chaotic when kids aren’t confined to rows. Teachers worry students won’t have time to memorize the information needed to pass year-end exams.

Yet some communities are so excited by interactive learning that students and teachers come to school during holidays—even though the teachers don’t get paid.

“I love teaching like this,” said a teacher in Rakhine state who invented a game using hand-made alphabet cards—a sort of mini-Scrabble. “It is so much more fun for me . . . and the children really get the idea much more quickly.”

Overheard in Kyaikhto, a conversation between two teachers: “Yes, I know it is more work at first, and harder, but isn’t it good not having to hit the children to keep them interested?”

Read more about our education programs in Burma!

The Education Equation

Student Star + Boarding School = Future Village Doctor

Photo: Annie Barnett

Lily Barnett, a 12-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area, California, wrote this essay after visiting Palae Metta, a clinical residence in Yangon, with her older sister, Lindsey, her older brother, Connor, and her parents, Jim and Annie. Palae Metta was built with a generous donation from the Barnett family and operates thanks to their continued support.

I was excited when my family started to support Palae Metta, a clinic for HIV-positive women and kids in Burma. Even though the people are struggling, they are still happy and very appreciative for what the clinic has provided them: medicine for HIV, counseling, food, shelter and a loving, supportive home.

Palae Metta has a family room, a dining room, a bathroom and an outdoor kitchen on the ground floor. Wooden stairs lead to the bedrooms where two families and two orphans sleep. Their blankets and sheets are neatly folded on the corner of the bed. The interior of Palae Metta has many flowers. Plants surround the white-walled border of the clinic.

Even though this clinic might seem small to others, they are very appreciative to live under a roof. It makes me feel really happy they have a home and medicine now, but it also makes me feel sad these basics are so amazing to them.

So many people take for granted always having a roof and food at night.

As a shy, sweet woman told her life story of being homeless, her eyes filled up with tears of appreciation for what the clinic has given her. Before the clinic was built, it was hard for some of the children to get a good education, which they all want so greatly, because they were homeless and their parents’ money all went to food and health care. Now that the clinic provides those basics, it’s easier for the parents to pay for school. Education is important because the people need to get a good job. If they have education, they’re less likely to be trafficked or get taken advantage of.

The little things count in this world. Little things like notebooks, medicine, shampoo, cream, toothbrushes and shoes that some people take for granted. Small donations matter and so do small smiles of the children and “thank you” from the families.

Even if you’re little, you can still do little things. What matters is that you try to make a difference and think how people are feeling and that they may not have as much as you. I have grown up not just wanting to be a speck on the earth, letting poor families suffer, but to be something greater in the world and help others. It goes through my heart and makes me really happy to see they’re happy.

Photo: Paula Tin Nyo

Alban Harrison, a senior at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, Florida, volunteered with FPB as an intern this summer. Alban is editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Galleon, and put his journalistic skills to work for FPB by researching and cataloguing years of FPB’s early history. In this essay, he reflects on this experience and on his family.

I don’t remember when I first heard the story of how my family was forced to leave Burma, but I do remember the deep feeling of pride I have felt since that moment. My great-grandfather, owner of a large English-language newspaper, was jailed after protesting in print against the dictatorial leadership of that time; years later he was released and all my relatives expelled from the country. My mother was five years old.

My great-grandfather was not the only Burmese in my family who refused to shut up for his or her own good. But until this summer, I had yet to continue my family’s tradition of support for the Burmese people.

As an intern for Foundation for the People of Burma, one of my most time-consuming jobs was compiling reports on old grants: a job that would probably have been mind-numbing to most, but to me was both inspiring and horrifying. I read letters from children in tears over the opportunity to receive a menial education. I read blatant reports of women’s injuries, describing sexual and physical abuses by military personnel and husbands. I read tallies of scabies and lice cases at monasteries counting grown men and women among those affected.

But within the misery of many of these reports leaked through a bit of the kindness of the Burmese people. It came through in the gratefulness of those aided by FPB, and in the stories of those who have received scholarships and since dedicated their lives to humanitarian aid.

I’ve heard plenty of tales about patrician persecution, but the true heart of Burma rests in the masses. And that heart is still beating strong.