by Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch

Published in: The International Herald Tribune

February 28, 2010

Stanley Weiss (“A first step toward democracy?” Views, Feb. 23) demonstrates the triumph of cynicism over principle in discussing Burma’s planned elections.

If Burma’s ruling generals stage elections in 2010 “without violence or repression,” it will be a step forward, Mr. Weiss argues. He has an odd definition of repression, which apparently does not include an election “stage-managed by the military.”

If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy “chooses not to participate,” it will surely be because the N.L.D., which won Burma’s last elections in 1990 but has suffered repression since, determines the election will be rigged. To pretend that violence will not be part of the process is disingenuous, since its threat by an army with a very bloody record is something all Burmese have to consider before joining an opposition party or taking to the streets.

Here’s the reality: Peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007 were crushed with extreme violence. The 2008 constitutional referendum was rigged. More than 2,100 political prisoners languish in horrific prisons. The junta has refused to engage in serious dialogue with the opposition. And without concerted international pressure, particularly from China, there will be no meaningful change.

Mr. Weiss argues that bogus elections and an end to sanctions will lead to a new Burma. But why a regime wallowing in cash from selling the country’s natural resources – while most Burmese live in poverty – would relax its grip if sanctions ended is a mystery. Instead, the United States, the European Union, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should finally implement serious targeted financial sanctions. And the United Nations should tell the generals that if they don’t reform quickly it will authorize an inquiry into decades of massive human rights abuses by the military.

International justice should be on the international agenda. That would get the generals’ attention.

Brad Adams, London
Asia director, Human Rights Watch

For all Human Rights Watch reporting on Burma, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/asia/burma.

More than 2,100 newly displaced Karen villagers hide from Burma Army after attacks

Seven Burma Army battalions (Five as the assault element and two in support) attacked villagers in Ler Doh township, Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State, displacing over 2,100 villagers. The attacking battalions are advancing from three directions; north, west and east.

The first phase of this attack started in late January and resulted in the killing of 3 villagers, the destruction and burning of 2 villages and the displacement of 1,000 people in Ler Doh and 1,000 in a different area of Hsaw Hti. (please see January reports at www.freeburmarangers.org). The second phase of this attack started on February 5rh, is continuig today with 2,100 in hiding, 14 schools abandoned and 46 houses burned in the Toe Hta area, 28 houses in the Ka Di Mu Der area , 30 houses in Hti Baw Hta, and earlier 11 houses burned in Kweh Der. Total houses destroyed in these attacks is 125. Including farm huts and a clinic it is about 140 buildings destroyed.

The Karen resisitance (National Liberation Army) are trying to protect the people from these attacks and the Free Burma Ranger relief teams and others are providing humanitarian assstiance. . At least two villagers have been shot dead by the Burma Army which does not discriminate between combatants and civilians as it seeks to terrorize the Karen people. (See three reports UPDATE OF BURMA ARMY ATTACKS, MURDERS, DISPLACEMENT AND FORCED LABOR IN KAREN STATE, BURMA from January 21-31 .)

The FBR teams with the help of Partners are also bringing new medical supplies and are working with township medics to help treat those who have fled. These people, unable to return to their villages, now face life on the run and without sufficient food. They are also much more likely to suffer from illnesses such as dysentery, acute respiratory infections and malaria. The IDPs are trying to keep their children’s education going, but 14 schools have been closed as a direct result of these attacks. One clinic has also been burned to the ground by the Burma Army.

Seven battalions (each with about 130 men) from the Burma Army’s Military Operation Command 10, their command post being at Hti Baw Hta, Light Infantry Battalions 362 and 367, Tactical Operation Command 3 of Military Operation Command 10 attacking from the north, LIBs 361, 366 and 368 and troops from the Southern Command attacking from the west and east are responsible for the attacks. The numbers of the two supporting battalions are not known yet. They are using mortars and machine guns on the civilians in the area.

FBR teams saw Burma Army troops with villagers they were forcing to carry loads for them. In every area here that the Burma Army controls, they force villagers to carry loads and work for them. In spite of the threat of punishment of death, the villagers attempt to avoid this work and actively support the resistance instead. But often they cannot avoid carrying loads for the Burma Army occupying troops. 12 new FBR teams have joined the existing FBR teams in these areas and are providing medical and other humanitarian assistance. Over 2000 patients have been treated and over 100 loads of relief materials have been distributed by the new teams. There is now a need for more medical supplies to help those displaced by the new attacks. (Thanks to Partners Relief And Development (PRAD) and others who are sending more medical and food support and thanks to PRAD and Genocide Intervention Network for help with the early warning system of radios and other communications equipment that villagers use to warn each other and better escape impeding attacks.)

Thailand: Migrant Workers Face Killings, Extortion, Labor Rights Abuses
February Deadline for Renewal of Work Permits Invites Exploitation

(Bangkok, February 23, 2010) – The Thai government should swiftly act to end police abuse and discriminatory laws and policies against migrant workers and their families, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The February deadline for more than a million migrant workers to enter the “nationality verification” process or face immediate deportation creates the risk of further abuses and should be postponed until it can be carried out in a fair manner.

Human Rights Watch’s 124-page report, “From the Tiger to the Crocodile: Abuse of Migrant Workers in Thailand,” is based on 82 interviews with migrants from neighboring Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. It describes the widespread and severe human rights abuses faced by migrant workers in Thailand, including killings, torture in detention, extortion, and sexual abuse, and labor rights abuses such as trafficking, forced labor, and restrictions on organizing.

“Migrant workers make huge contributions to Thailand’s economy, but receive little protection from abuse and exploitation,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Those from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos suffer horribly at the hands of corrupt civil servants and police, unscrupulous employers, and violent thugs, who all realize they can abuse migrants with little fear of consequences.”

Human Rights Watch said that migrant workers face an imminent threat from the Thai government’s decision that all migrants must enter the national verification process by February 28, or face arrest and deportation. Eighty percent of the migrant workers in Thailand are from Burma. They are particularly at risk, as they face ethnic and political conflict in their home country. The costs of the nationality verification process, which can amount to two or three months of salary, are unacceptably high for these migrant communities.

Human Rights Watch said that unrealistic demands set by the Thai government, coupled with a complicated and unregulated nationality verification process, could lead to mass deportations of migrants from Thailand to Burma and situations that could result in fundamental human rights and labor rights violations.

Police abuse migrants with impunity. A Burmese migrant told Human Rights Watch that she witnessed two Thai policemen in Ranong repeatedly kick a Burmese youth in the chest, killing him, because he did not reply to their inquiries in Thai.

“Many Burmese were watching and nobody went and helped because all of the people were afraid of those police, so nobody said anything about this killing, and nobody informed the police station,” said the witness. “When I saw this [killing], I felt that we Burmese people always have to be humble and have to be afraid of the Thai police. I feel that there is no security for our Burmese people [in Thailand] or for myself.”

Local police and officials frequently ignore or fail to effectively investigate complaints. Provincial decrees and national laws prohibit migrants from establishing their own organizations to assert their rights, while restrictions in policy on changing employers, moving outside designated areas, and convening meetings with more than a handful of persons leave migrants vulnerable to exploitation and ill-treatment.

Another migrant worker told Human Rights Watch how two armed men approached her in the rubber plantation where she worked, shot her husband dead in front of her, and then both men raped her. Despite a suspect being named in a police report, the police did not pursue the case.

“I am Burmese and a migrant worker. That is why the police don’t care about this case,” she said. ”My husband and I are only migrant workers and we have no rights here.”

Migrants reported constant fear of extortion by the police, who demand money or valuables from migrants held in police custody in exchange for their release. It is not uncommon for a migrant to lose the equivalent of one to several months’ pay in one extortion incident.

“Many officials and police treat migrant workers like walking ATMs,” said Adams. “They are just part of a system that robs and mistreats migrants wherever they turn.”

Human Rights Watch found that in several provinces decrees by provincial governors have increased migrants’ vulnerability by enforcing prohibitions on use of mobile phones and motorcycles, imposing harsh restrictions on movement, outlawing migrant gatherings, and enforcing nighttime curfews. These repressive decrees reflect the treatment of migrants as a national security problem instead of as part of a global phenomenon of the movement of people for economic, environmental, and political reasons.

“If the Abhisit government really is reformist, it should immediately abolish the provincial decrees that keep migrants effectively held under lock and key, bound to their job sites, and cut off from the outside world,” said Adams.

Human Rights Watch called on the Thai government to establish an independent and impartial commission to investigate allegations of abuse by police and other authorities against migrants. Such a commission should have the power to subpoena, require presentation of evidence, and recommend criminal and civil charges against abusers. It should make public reports on a periodic basis.

“Life is extremely uncertain and unsafe for migrants in Thailand as they flee one difficult or deadly situation into another,” said Adams. “They are a living example of the Thai proverb which describes how the vulnerable ‘escape from the tiger, but then meet the crocodile.’”

The Human Rights Watch report, “From the Tiger to the Crocodile: Abuse of Migrant Workers in Thailand” is available at:
http://www.hrw.org/node/88619

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Thailand, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/en/asia/thailand

For more information, please contact:
In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-20-7713-2767; or +44-7908-728-333 (mobile)
In Bangkok, Sunai Phasuk (English, Thai): +66-81-632-3052 (mobile)
In Perth, Elaine Pearson (English): + +61-4155-47-898 (mobile)
In Washington, DC, Sophie Richardson (English, Mandarin): +1-202-612-4341; or +1-917-721-7473 (mobile)

From the Hello Destroyers Website…

Thats a lot of words on a shirt. But I wanted to make this shirt to remind people to follow our dreams. Some people draw, some dance, some sing, some speak, some are great at finances, or are farmers, there are a ton of things. We all have gifts. The question is, what do we do with these gifts and talents?

10% of this Shirt will go towards our friends at Eleho: Compassion for the Afflicted. Co-founded by Bryan Monzon and Ryan Sisson in California, Eleho is composed of people who have a huge passion to help and reach the people inside the borders of Burma.

(New York, February 11, 2010) – The Burmese military government should immediately release the 84-year-old opposition leader U Tin Oo, whose house arrest order expires on February 13, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also immediately release the human rights activist Nyi Nyi Aung, a US citizen sentenced to three years in prison on February 10 on spurious charges after an unfair trial.

U Tin Oo, the deputy leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), has spent nearly seven years in prison and under house arrest in Rangoon. He has been held under an annually renewed detention order and denied access to visitors and fellow party leaders since 2003. U Tin Oo’s house arrest order expires one day before the arrival of the United Nations human rights envoy on Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, for a visit through February 20.

“U Tin Oo has paid dearly for his courageous opposition to military rule,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “His release on schedule will be an important test of whether Burma’s generals will allow even modest pluralism before the elections this year.”

Authorities arrested U Tin Oo in May 2003 on politically motivated charges of disturbing public order after pro-government militias attacked the convoy carrying him and other opposition leaders, including the National League for Democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, near Depayin, upper Burma. U Tin Oo helped form the NLD in 1988 and was also under house arrest from 1989 to 1995.

Nyi Nyi Aung, also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin, was sentenced on February 10 to three years in prison by a closed court inside Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison on politically motivated charges of violating the immigration law, currency offenses, and forging documents. A native of Burma, Nyi Nyi Aung was held in Insein prison more than 20 years ago for a short period, where he was tortured. After his release he fled to Thailand. He went to the US as a refugee in 1993 and later became a US citizen, where he remained involved in peaceful activities in the United States and Thailand to seek the release of political prisoners in Burma.

Nyi Nyi Aung was arrested when he arrived in Rangoon on September 3, 2009. He was initially accused of national security violations, but other trumped-up charges were added later. He was accused of holding a forged Burmese national identity card, even though he holds a US passport, and of immigration offenses. He was also charged with failing to declare foreign currency at customs, even though authorities arrested him before he passed through customs.

“The real reason Nyi Nyi Aung is behind bars today is his bravery in standing up for political prisoners,” Adams said. “That Burma’s generals didn’t think twice about throwing a US citizen in jail shows their contempt for recent US efforts to have a high-level political dialogue with the government.”

In the past year, the Burmese military government has arrested at least 270 political activists throughout the country, adding them to an estimated 2,195 political prisoners. During the same period, about 266 were released. Since October, 44 activists have been sentenced to harsh prison terms, most ranging from 5 to 52 years. On December 12 a court sentenced U Nanda Vantha, a Buddhist monk from Mandalay, to 71 years in prison.

Human Rights Watch’s campaign, 2100 in 2010: Free Burma’s Political Prisoners, calls on the international community to press for the release of all political detainees (the number stood at 2,100 when the campaign began) ahead of national elections announced for some time in 2010.

Human Rights Watch urged influential countries, including China, India, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to call publicly for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.

“The UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana has his work cut out for him on this trip,” Adams said. “He should press Burma for the immediate release of U Tin Oo, Nyi Nyi Aung, and thousands of other political prisoners to stop this disgraceful charade of releasing a few prisoners and refilling their prison cells with new victims.”

To read the December 2009 Human Rights Watch news release, “Burma: Clinton Should Press for Release of Burmese-American,” please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/12/18/burma-clinton-should-press-release-burmese-american

To read the February 2007 Human Rights Watch news release, “Burma: Pro-democracy Leader Detained Indefinitely,” please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/02/15/burma-pro-democracy-activist-detained-indefinitely

To read the Human Rights Watch World Report Burma chapter, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87392

For more information, please contact:
In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-20-7713-2767; or +44-7908-728-333 (mobile)
In Bangkok, David Mathieson (English): +66-87-176-2205 (mobile)
In Washington, DC, Tom Malinowski (English): +1-202-612-4358; or +1-202-309-3551 (mobile)

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Over 2,100 people displaced, 4 villages burned, 14 schools abandoned and a clinic burned as seven Burma Army battalions attack villagers in Western Karen State, Burma. 12 February 2010. (Reports relayed from teams in the field with the IDPs)

More than 2,100 newly displaced Karen villagers hide from Burma Army after attacks:
Seven Burma Army battalions (Five as the assault element and two in support) attacked villagers in Ler Doh township, Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State, displacing over 2,100 villagers. The attacking battalions are advancing from three directions; north, west and east.

The first phase of this attack started in late January and resulted in the killing of 3 villagers, the destruction and burning of 2 villages and the displacement of 1,000 people in Ler Doh and 1,000 in a different area of Hsaw Hti. (please see January reports at www.freeburmarangers.org). The second phase of this attack started on February 5rh, is continuig today with 2,100 in hiding, 14 schools abandoned and 46 houses burned in the Toe Hta area, 28 houses in the Ka Di Mu Der area , 30 houses in Hti Baw Hta, and earlier 11 houses burned in Kweh Der. Total houses destroyed in these attacks is 125. Including farm huts and a clinic it is about 140 buildings destroyed.

The Karen resisitance (National Liberation Army) are trying to protect the people from these attacks and the Free Burma Ranger relief teams and others are providing humanitarian assstiance. . At least two villagers have been shot dead by the Burma Army which does not discriminate between combatants and civilians as it seeks to terrorize the Karen people. (See three reports UPDATE OF BURMA ARMY ATTACKS, MURDERS, DISPLACEMENT AND FORCED LABOR IN KAREN STATE, BURMA from January 21-31 .)

The FBR teams with the help of Partners are also bringing new medical supplies and are working with township medics to help treat those who have fled. These people, unable to return to their villages, now face life on the run and without sufficient food. They are also much more likely to suffer from illnesses such as dysentery, acute respiratory infections and malaria. The IDPs are trying to keep their children’s education going, but 14 schools have been closed as a direct result of these attacks. One clinic has also been burned to the ground by the Burma Army.

Seven battalions (each with about 130 men) from the Burma Army’s Military Operation Command 10, their command post being at Hti Baw Hta, Light Infantry Battalions 362 and 367, Tactical Operation Command 3 of Military Operation Command 10 attacking from the north, LIBs 361, 366 and 368 and troops from the Southern Command attacking from the west and east are responsible for the attacks. The numbers of the two supporting battalions are not known yet. They are using mortars and machine guns on the civilians in the area.

FBR teams saw Burma Army troops with villagers they were forcing to carry loads for them. In every area here that the Burma Army controls, they force villagers to carry loads and work for them. In spite of the threat of punishment of death, the villagers attempt to avoid this work and actively support the resistance instead. But often they cannot avoid carrying loads for the Burma Army occupying troops. 12 new FBR teams have joined the existing FBR teams in these areas and are providing medical and other humanitarian assistance. Over 2000 patients have been treated and over 100 loads of relief materials have been distributed by the new teams. There is now a need for more medical supplies to help those displaced by the new attacks. (Thanks to Partners Relief And Development (PRAD) and others who are sending more medical and food support and thanks to PRAD and Genocide Intervention Network for help with the early warning system of radios and other communications equipment that villagers use to warn each other and better escape impeding attacks.)

Thank you and God bless you,The Free Burma Rangers

www.freeburmarangers.com

Push-backs to Burma into Heavily Mined Areas Threaten Lives

(New York, February 6, 2010) – Thailand should immediately stop pressuring ethnic Karen refugees to return to Burma, Human Rights Watch said today. Repatriation to the designated “return zone” in Burma would place returnees at serious risk of human rights abuses and landmines.

On February 5, Thai military and civilian officials sent three families of Karen refugees, comprising 12 adults and children, from a temporary refugee site at the Thai border to Ler Per Her, a site for internally displaced persons inside Karen state in Burma. The families are part of a group of 30 families recently singled out to return to an area in Burma from which they fled after fighting in mid-2009. Thai military officials gave assurances to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that any returns would be voluntarily, but the return followed weeks of aggressive tactics to coerce the refugees to return, Human Rights Watch said.

“Thai authorities are cajoling and threatening Karen refugees to head back into harm’s way, while maintaining Thailand is not breaching international refugee law,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government should reverse course before these refugees are harmed by mines or pressed into forced labor by the Burmese army.”

In May and June 2009, approximately 4,500 Karen fled pervasive use of forced labor and a military offensive in northeastern Karen state by the Burmese army and their proxy-militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), against the anti-government Karen National Union (KNU) and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). They crossed the border and settled into Nong Bua and Mae U Su, two temporary refugee sites in Tha Song Yang district of Tak province in western Thailand. An estimated 2,400 of the refugees are living in rudimentary quarters in these isolated temporary sites close to the border.

Local Thai military officials claim there is no fighting across the border in Burma and assert that it is safe for the Karen to return. However, refugees at one of the sites told Human Rights Watch there has been extensive planting of landmines in their villages back in Burma, and they fear being used as forced porters by the Burmese army and the DKBA.

Human Rights Watch has grave fears for the safety of civilians forcibly returned to active conflict zones inside Burma. All three parties to the conflict in Karen state extensively use antipersonnel mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Burmese army, DKBA, and KNLA continue to plant landmines near their military bases, on trails in the jungles, and around civilian settlements and agricultural fields. According to the Burma section of the annual Landmine Monitor Report there were 721 casualties from landmine injuries in the country in 2008. Burma has not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty and rarely participates in international forums to ban the use of landmines. There are virtually no de-mining operations currently in eastern Burma, and landmine education is limited.

On January 18, a 25-year-old Karen woman who was nine months pregnant stepped on a landmine in the refugee return zone, losing half of her left foot.

I walked back into Karen state with my ten-year-old nephew. I was 9 months pregnant. I was walking on the path leading into the village, and I followed the buffalo just off the path and then stepped on the landmine. Half of my foot disappeared. I could not walk. My nephew ran back over to Thailand to get my husband to help me. It took about 30 minutes for them to come. Three men carried me on a [makeshift bamboo] stretcher. I was worried, I feared for my baby. I was taken to Mae Sot hospital [in Thailand] and they took my baby out [C-section] on the same day. I don’t want to go back to my village [in Burma]. I only went back once and I stepped on a landmine. I’m afraid to go back again. It is not safe anywhere.

“The risks from landmines to people forced back to Burma are deadly real,” said Adams.

Human Rights Watch called on the Thai government to halt all plans to return the group and to allow UNHCR to interview and conduct refugee status determinations. International refugee support organizations have repeatedly recommended that all 2,400 Karen be temporarily relocated to an existing refugee camp at Mae La, a one hour’s drive south of Tha Song Yang.

Human Rights Watch said that the Thai government should not heed empty promises by the DKBA and KNLA, which have reportedly told Thai military officials and refugee representatives at Nong Bua and Mae U Su that they will clear landmines in the Ler Per Her return area. The DKBA has agreed to become part of the Burmese army’s “Border Security Guard,” and has expanded its territorial control over much of the Thai-Burma border in Karen state. Armed groups make extensive use of landmines to exert local control in situations of continued low level conflict punctuated by military offensives.

“Trusting armed militias to remove the landmines they have sown is no way to reassure refugees, and Thai authorities should not be complicit in this charade,” Adams said. “Thailand should instead properly screen, register and shelter these families instead of threatening them into crossing a border.”

To read the Human Rights Watch World Report Burma chapter, click here:

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87392

To read the December 2006 Human Rights Watch news release, “Burma: Landmines Kill, Maim and Starve Civilians,” please visit:http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/12/20/burma-landmines-kill-maim-and-starve-civilians

For more information, please contact:

In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-20-7713-2767; or +44-7908-728-333 (mobile)
In Bangkok, Dave Mathieson (English): +66-87-176-2205 (mobile)
In Washington, DC, Sophie Richardson (English, Mandarin): +1-202-612-4341; or +1-917-721-7473 (mobile)

Below is from his personal blog which you can visit at: http://bryanmonzon.com/blog or follow him on twitter @bryanmonzon

After a long couple of days of travel, I’ve yet to arrive in Haiti but I’m one step away. I’ve flown across the United States to Tampa, Florida and drove in the rain through a tornado warning into Miami. We’re at the Marriot where, on Super Bowl weekend, we have 6 rooms for one night at $40.00 total! Jared Brown, Co-Founder of Project 81 and organizer of this trip, somehow managed to pull this feat off.

I’m rooming with Greg and James, two native Haitians making the journey along with the team. The team is quite a crew. There’s 18 total of us and team members skills vary from neurosurgeon to journalists. I am the team’s videographer.
We leave tomorrow on a US military aid plane at 1:30pm EST. The flight is less than 2 hours long and we will certainly be inserted into a world like we’ve never imagined. I was in the San Bernadino mountains during the ‘94 Northridge earthquakes and I remember the images of the 1989 San Francisco quake. It’s hard for an economic powerhouse like California and America to recover from such destruction, let alone a nation already impoverished before the catastrophe.

What to expect from this trip would be impossible. It’s such an awkward thing for people who want to wish us well and say “have fun” or “oooh that’ll be exciting”. While the adventure is an adventure, I would much rather visit on different terms. The quake happened, I have skills that could be used and the opportunity was available. I’m thankful for that and look forward to meeting more wonderful people.

With all of this I realize more and more that this is where I want to be. Traveling to meet people, hopefully meet their needs and gain a fantastic friendship that lasts a lifetime.

As we look ahead to 2010 we want to take a moment to thank each of you for your support of eleho in 2009.  Last year presented us with amazing opportunities to spread awareness and build deep, strategic relationships both here in the States and in Burma/Thailand.  We’d like to share a few of the highlights with you.

In October members of the eleho team got to share the stage with Bono and U2 during a tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi that was broadcast live around the world.  Also here at home we supported the technology and social media for a national live advocacy event for Burma called the Ignite Project brining together over a thousand people for a first of its kind event for Burma.

In the Thai-Burma border areas we focused on continuing to develop our network of Burma organizations that are serving the people on the ground.  One such connection is with Compassio, an organization that is transforming the lives of street children in the border towns.  Last fall we sent a team to Thailand to lay the foundation for a new project called Twenty-4-Hope in partnership with Compassio.  We will lead web development, filmmaking, and awareness strategy to launch a $20 monthly giving initiative in support of Compassio’s inspiring work, like their child protection center, mobile health clinic, and safe houses.  We could not be more excited to launch this project with Compassio and watch the lives of Burmese children in Mae Sot, Thailand change as a result.

Each time we travel to Burma/Thailand we meet more of the amazing people that we strive to serve.  Their stories are our inspiration and our mission.  As we continue to develop eleho we are more excited and committed than ever to bring the most compelling stories to you and connect you to the best ways to make a difference.  If you would like to make a donation to support our work, you can do so at www.eleho.org/donate

Thanks for making our work possible.

Sincerely,

Ryan Sisson

Co-Founder, eleho