BaanUnrak
19 FEBRUARY 2008 -- SANGKLABURI, KANCHANABURI, THAILAND: The Thai-Burma border at Three Pagodas Pass a few miles from Sangklaburi, Thailand, near the Baan Unrak Children's Home. The border has officially been closed since October 2007 because of political violence in Burma, but the border near Sangklaburi is very porous and hundreds of Burmese have crossed into Thailand near here in recent months. Baan Unrak children’s home and school, established in 1991 in Sangklaburi, Thailand, gives destitute children and mothers a home and career training for a better future. Baan Unrak, the “Home of Joy,” provides basic needs to well over 100 children, and abandoned mothers. The home is funded by donations and the proceeds from the weaving and sewing shops at the home. The home is a few kilometers from the Burmese border. All of the women and children at the home are refugees from political violence and extreme poverty in Burma, most are Karen hill tribe people, the others are Mon hill tribe people. The home was started in 1991 when Didi Devamala went to Sangklaburi to start an agricultural project. An abandoned wife asked Devmala to help her take care of her child. Devmala took the child in and soon other Burmese women approached her looking for help. Photo by Jack Kurtz
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