Social work : Working together to help the community

June 2003- July 2004

You have read on other pages in the site about the lives of a few of the people we have been privileged enough to meet. Maybe just reading the stories will be enough for you to understand the suffering that the Karen have endured. The reality is that some spirits have a resiliency that is unfathomable, such as La Eh’s story, yet others do not have that same strength. The Karen instinctively recognize this and for years have had a communal system set up for supporting those who are unable to support themselves. For our purposes we can call this social work, but in reality it is called many things within the Karen community and in the Karen language. They are naturally encouragers. And just by living in community they are able to help those who need support.

Now the Karen are living in refugee camps. The Karen are traditionally mountain farmers who have lived in villages of 30 to 500 people. And now they are living in a situation where there are thousands and thousands of people living in a cramped space. Their old system of social support needed to be reevaluated to be able to handle the current needs of the community. To do this the community set up a system of social workers that tried to represent all members - the men, the women, and the youth. But it was still hard to handle all of the new problems and issues that arose from such unstable living conditions. Most of the people elected to the position of community social worker had not had previous experience or relevant education.

- Social work management training, Mae Ra Mo, April 2004

This is what we have been working on in the last year, in Mae Ra Mo camp especially. We have had trainings for all of the community social workers. This is a chance for them to come together and share their experiences and their knowledge. They discuss how they can work together to heal members of the community and solve community problems. It has been a fantastic time of growth. This growth has been apparent in many ways. One of the most exciting developments has been the training of trainers. Five social workers that attended the trainings throughout this last year were chosen to be trainers of all the new social workers. We had two weeks of intensive training and they are now training the other social workers in camp. Hopefully they will be able to train the social workers in a nearby camp, Mae La Oon, as well.

- Social Work Training of Trainers, Mae Ra Mo, April 2004

It has been a year full of challenges and achievements. If you would like to read more about my experience with social work on the Thai-Burma border you can check out Social Work Reflections: A Year in Review. You will find information there about the work that I have done, the other social organizations that are working in camp, and the different issues that the social workers deal with in the camps.

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