Visit to British Council Bangkok

With my cousin outside BC Bangkok

At the end of our stay in Thailand we had the opportunity to have a meeting with representatives of the British Council Bangkok, organised by the Director John Whitehead. He had set up a generous morning meeting with Pred Evans, Director of Education, Matumon Katerenchuk, Education Partnerships Manager and Kewalin Lomwong Education Partnerships Officer. They were an impressive team who showed interest and enthusiasm for the schools partnership and were keen to hear all the details about the time we had spent in Say Ta Nar in Mae Sot. Team Gillespie talked enthusiastically about the children, Headteacher and teachers and the great learning experiences we all shared. As well as talking about the positive curricular developments we were also able to share concerns about the future of the Burmese children who were stateless and had no rights. We were able to talk about issues like future funding for the Burmese migrant schools and highlighted Hlee Bee school whose funding ends in October.

During the morning discussions the team asked lots of questions about all aspects of the visit, took notes and were keen to be involved and explore different ways they could assist our global partnerships.

The British Council team were so positive and interested that we all left feeling very good about the meeting and believing that there would be ongoing communication. Lewis has been asked to write about his Mae Sot experiences for the Asian Dialogues programme.
Since arriving home we have exchanged emails with the team and they are keen to keep in touch.



Remembering 8.8.88
To mark the 20th anniversary of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma in 1988 we joined many other supporters, including politicians, in an amnesty internatinal campaign on August 8th at the City Chambers. We all joined together to form a large saffron ribbon and had a minute silence to remember the political prisoners and the continuing struggle of the Burmese people under a brutal and oppressive dictatorship . This was happening in different locations across the country. We then went into the City Chambers and watched a special performance of a powerful and memorable play called The Burma Play: A comedy of terror , performed by the northern international theatre company. It is on as part of the Edinburgh Festival at St John`s church on Princes Street and it is a must to see. Here is an Amnesty International link showing photographs of the saffron ribbon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amnestyscotland