Oct 21-24, 2013
There are still many refugees from Myanmar that find refuge in Thailand, and the independent AHAN Bilay House near the Myanmar-Thailand border cares for refugee children from the Myanmar Karen tribe. The Karen children have taken up weaving or what they call TaTa in their local language. Pastor Bilay’s wife has already begun teaching the children this traditional Karen craft at the new Bilay House Heritage Center. The focus of this new program is to teach the children the traditions of their heritage while learning artistic skills and keeping up with their Karen language by interacting with Karen elders.
The 500 square meter Bilay House Karen Heritage Center is a new addition to Bilay House procured by AHAN this past summer. Homma Kancho went to Ta Ko Lang in October to meet with construction staff to discuss the remodeling of the center. The traditional Karen cloth woven at the center is used for making clothing and the remodeling will be done to make a permanent facility for weaving.
The AHAN Bilay House cares for children from 6 to 15 years old and currently there are 16 children living at the Bilay House full time. Other children whose circumstances require that they be cared for on a part time basis also spend time at Bilay House. Including volunteers and staff, there are now about 25 people living at Bilay House.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the organization and order and the number of activities that the children now have available to them at the Bilay House. They have school, sports, weaving and crafts, gardening and animals to tend to. A wide variety of life experiences are now available for these children and it is rewarding to see. The children also sing with their own choir and play the guitar as part of their daily life. There is not enough electricity for TV or video games at the Bilay House but it is not needed. The children of Bilay House live a life surrounded by nature and now…filled with opportunities.
Homma Kancho with Pastor Bilay and the
Bilay House kids; All smiles!
New gently used clothes from
AHAN General Headquarters in Denver.
In the future, all of the children of Bilay House will go to larger cities to attend high school. When they do go out into the world, I worry that there will be a gap in experience between the Bilay House children and their city counterparts. I would like to take them on more outings to other cities to gain more experience, but it is currently Thailand government policy that refugee children are not allowed to leave their immediate living areas without permission.
Reported by
Gaku Homma
Nippon Kan Kancho