Education for Marginalised Ethnic Groups

Far into the Northwest Far into the Northwest corner of Thailand, in the hills surrounding Fang and into Burma, Ben Bowler and colleagues at the Blood Foundation are committed to providing education for the people of Shan State in Burma, those in displaced people camps from the civil war, and marginalised minority hill tribes on both sides of the border. With the support of revenue from their Monk for a Month programme at the Sri Boonruang Temple, they support literacy, primary education and community development initiatives marginalised ethnic groups on both sides of the border. In the photos, traditional weaving is taught to a new generation and a night-time Thai literacy programme is conducted for undocumented Shan migrant workers. They attend after a full day of work in orange groves to learn a language that will enable them to deal with health, safety and legal challenges in their daily lives. Across the border a network of schools set up in Buddhist temples compensates for a defunct Burmese education system. Read further blogpost on "Wandering Dhamma".

Hans H. Wahl, Sr. Associate Director

ISEP Visits Dialogue in the Dark in Singapore

Slightly less than a year after Cheh Hoon Choo-Yeo and Joyce Tang participated in the 2008 ISEP they opened the doors to Southeast Asia's first permanent Dialogue in the Dark exhibition at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore. DiD Singapore is the first exhibition housed within an educational institution and able to integrate this unique programme within an academic institution.


This year's ISEP participants were given a special opportunity to benefit from their predecessor's accomplishment by visiting Dialogue in the Dark. We met Cheh Hoon Choo-Yeo and Joyce Tang, their students who administer DiD as part of their studies in social entrepreneurship, and a very impressive team of guides who helped us find our way in the dark for one hour and offered us a unique insight into the life without sight.