March 2023 Update

Dear Friends of the Andaman Center,

A lot has been happening at the Andaman Center for Migrant Education since we have last been in contact. Many thanks to all of you who helped the school with new playground equipment. It has been completed and is being well used! The children are delighted to have such great new equipment. The jungle gym, slides, swings and teeter totters are safe and durable, and will hold up well during the monsoon rains.

The school was started in 2007, and after 15 years, it is more important than ever to the future of our students. Since the military coup, life inside Myanmar has been a living hell. Many schools are closed and teachers are persecuted for opposing the junta. With more children coming to Thailand to seek opportunity, our number of students has jumped from 80 to 120 kids. Every day, we hear from recently arrived parents who hope to enroll their kids for the upcoming school year.

Meet Shane, our newest teacher. He is a recent arrival to Thailand. I spoke with him in early March, and asked why he came. He responded, “I was a teacher in Myanmar, but when the army took over, I joined the civil disobedience movement and protested. The army blacklisted me, which meant I lost my job, and was not allowed to find new work. Then the army came to my family and told them I had to leave or there would be “trouble for everyone.” So, now I am here in Thailand, and I am proud to be teaching again, because I am educating the next generation who can help save Myanmar.”