The Region Trentino-South Tyrol, located in northwest Italy, has been supporting the work of Help without Frontiers since 2005. At that time, even if Help without Frontiers had no office in Mae Sot, the Italian Region was able to provide direct support to migrant education in the area through the collaboration with Mr Benno Röggla, the founder of Help without Frontiers.
At the very beginning, the Region Trentino-South Tyrol provided migrant children and youth in migrant learning centres with books in Karen language so as to improve their basic literacy in their mother tongue.
Since 2005, the support of our Italian partner has been expanding to other projects and activities, especially but not limited to the education sector. As such, the department of humanitarian aid of the Italian Region Trentino-South Tyrol is in charge with investing public money in educational and cultural projects that aim at contributing to the economic, social, sanitary, and cultural development of emerging and developing countries.
For many years, the Region Trentino-South Tyrol supported the “Yummy! Meals for schools” project, namely the kitchen of Help without Frontiers that cooked and delivered over 4.6 million meals to children in migrant learning centres and dormitories.
The Region Trentino-South Tyrol also believed in the “Happy Tailor” project, the sewing workshop in which Burmese women produced and sewed, from 2008 to 2017, more than 52,000 school uniforms for students and teachers in migrant learning centres. Today, the sewing workshop is no longer under the management of Help without Frontiers but its former staff has established an independent social enterprise that keeps sewing school uniforms for migrant students and teachers along with other accessories and products that are sold on the market. The Region Trentino-South Tyrol acknowledges the important role that school uniforms play in ensuring the security of migrant students and keeps its commitment towards almost 3,000 children and 150 teachers.
In year 2010, the Italian Region supported the construction of the youth centre close by Help without Frontiers’ office in Mae Pa, Mae Sot. The building is now devoted to the activities of the Rays of Youth and provides the youth with a safe learning environment. In year 2010, Mr Luis Durnwalder, former governor of the Italian Region Trentino-South Tyrol, joined the inauguration ceremony of the youth centre in Mae Sot.
Since many years, the Region Trentino-South Tyrol makes possible for migrant students to receive exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, sharpeners, and all the stationary they need to study and learn. The stationary is distributed to all migrant learning centres registered under the Migrant Education Coordination Committee (MECC). In school year 2018-2019, thanks to their support, we were able to distribute stationary to 11,896 migrant students in 61 migrant learning centres in Mae Sot, Mae Ramat, and Phop Phra districts.
Since school year 2018-2019, the Italian Region has been expanding its support to cover the cost of transportation of seven migrant learning centres under Help without Frontiers. Thanks to their support, children can rely on safe transportation to reach school and Burmese families are relieved from one of the major costs of their children’s education.
The Region Trentino-South Tyrol also provides a crucial contribution to the toilet project, launched in Myanmar in 2016 by the Rays of Youth cross-border project. The project seeks to improve the health and hygiene conditions of children and villagers in remote areas of Myanmar, particularly in Karen state. To this aim, the Rays of Youth coordinates with villagers to build toilets and to organise awareness raising training, events, and campaigns, so as to spread knowledge on basic hygiene and toilet sanitation among villagers.
In November 2018, a delegation from the Region Trentino-South Tyrol, formed by Mr Günther Hofer and Ms Angelika Mayr, visited the projects in Mae Sot for their first time.
During our time together, we had the chance to visit some migrant learning centres and hear the voices of headmasters/mistress, teachers, and parents. Together we attended a Basic Hygiene Campaign Event organised by the Rays of Youth in the Monastic Education Centre of Myawaddy, Myanmar. We also had the unique chance to hear the stories of some participants to the Rays of Youth and to hear from their parents and families how the programme impacted and changed their lives.
Today, the Region Trentino-South Tyrol supports the work of Help without Frontiers in many different ways thus contributing to improving the access and quality of migrant education and believing in the power of youth empowerment to transform and develop societies. Over time, we have been able to build on mutual trust to enhance our cooperation and to transform the lives of a considerable number of migrant children and youth through learning and education.
We are grateful for having had the chance to show to the representatives of the Region Trentino-South Tyrol the impact of their long-term support. We look forward to building on our sound friendship to enhance the educational opportunities for Burmese children, youth, and communities in Thailand and in Myanmar, for them to hope in a better and brighter future.
