blog

Batiking in Mae Sot

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mae Sot is an incredible city. I have never lived in a place so welcoming. Mae Sot has diversity of cultures, of food and of people, which provides everyone with a feeling of ease and acceptance. Mae Sot bustles with activity throughout the week and the presence of so many non-governmental organizations and shops ensures that activities are offered, allowing you to explore different subjects and meet many people. Every Wednesday and Friday, people play football on a field just outside town. There is a quiz night on Thursdays at a local bar. Additionally, there are classes offered by different organizations. I had the opportunity to take two batiking classes offered by the Puzzlebox Art Studio during my time in Mae Sot. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.

Both batiking courses were taught by the talented artist Sein Sein Lin. In the first few hours of the course, Sein Sein Lin taught the class about color theory, batik history and the importance of batik to Burmese culture. Everyone was then given books and pictures of batiks past, as sources of inspiration for their own designs. Students could design a tablecloth, napkin, blouse or scarf. I chose to design a tablecloth and a napkin during each course.

The design process is important in providing everyone with a better understanding of which shapes and colors work best in batik. However, the batiking process provides ample opportunity for unexpected design changes during wax and paint application, or due to the influence of the sun on the batik’s final appearance. After designing the composition, students use colored pencil to draw on the cloth. Colored pencils are used since they are a gentle medium and can therefore be washed out during the batiking process. After drawing the design, you must draw over the lines with an intricate wax pipe. The hot, bubbling wax sits inside a small pot and as you tip the pot forwards the wax pours out the tiny spout, onto the cloth. The wax’s temperature determines how the line will look. If the wax is very hot, the lines are smooth and loose. If the wax is cooler, the lines are harder to draw and can have a more abrupt and jagged appearance. During my four days of batiking, I never quite figured out how to control the heat of the wax or predict the character of the line before I was working with it on the cloth.

Wax lines on my batik

The wax acts as an important barrier during the painting phase, so the wax lines must be solid. If the wax lines are permeable then the paints will “walk” through the lines and mix together, creating unplanned colors and compositions. After the wax cools and hardens, you paint the cloth with special fabric paints. It is important to use fabric paints for batiking, because like in silk screening, fabric paint lasts longer and was designed for the batiking process. In order to achieve a darker color, more concentrated paint and repeated layers of paint should be applied to the fabric. Additionally, batiks can be painted in a similar manner to watercolor painting, where regions are made wet before paint is applied. This process allows colors to bleed into one another and create a softer look. Conversely, paint can be applied to the dry batik for a harder look and severe lines.

Paint beginning to be applied to the cloth

Paint application is complete

Once paint is applied to the batik, the batik dries in the sunlight for days before sodium silicate is applied to it. Sodium silicate acts as a fixative, holding the colors in place and preventing future water damage. Once the sodium silicate is dry, which takes approximately five hours, it is washed off in a large, boiling pot of water.

The batik is then hung out to dry in the sun.

Batiks hanging to dry

Once the batik is dry, the batiking process is finally complete. The finished appearance of the batik may be substantially different from the idea the artist originally conceived, however, the final product is always beautiful and exciting.

These classes and the other activities in Mae Sot are a great way of getting to know other people working in the city and also the work of other organizations. I learned a lot about the Puzzlebox Art Studio and the life and artwork of Sein Sein Lin. The long days at the Puzzlebox Art Studio will remain some of my favorite in Mae Sot and have enriched my understanding of batik and batik culture. Now when I see batiks for sale around the city, and throughout Thailand, I can recognize which are handmade batiks and which batiks are printed. I also now know how much skill and time went into the handmade batiks and try my best not to bargain.

I really appreciated with what I can do.

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

I've done my school with project management in April 2011 and joined to BGET. When I started working with BGET, I really being curious of what I can help BGET to reach the organization goals. Because I had very few skills to work with BGET as a technician and some of the tools that I've seen looks very strange to me, don't know really how to use its.

A few months later, I can adapt and try to match with some of the skills that I have learned from my school and experiences such as Translation and Interpretation, survey and do need assessment to community of school. Moreover, I am able to do as a technician trainer as much as I can. Most of the skills that I’ve learned from BGET are by doing so I really don’t have much theological knowledge. I always need to review the lessons that I will train to people.

During the period of my work time, I have done lot of solar projects and being as a translator and interpreter. And also I have done bio-sand water project and bio-gas project as well. In conclusion, when I step back and reflect to see my experience and time of working with my current organization, I really appreciated that help number of people with the skills that I have and did as much as I can. I can rely myself that NO ONE IS PERFECT. I really happy and satisfies with what I can do well.

you'll not feel tire if you love your work!!

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

I would like to share my experiences during the second semester of internship period in my organization. It is really good opportunity that I have a chance to work with BGET (BORDER GREEN ENERGRY TEAM). Firstly, I don’t think so that I will understand what is the really situation around migrant school in Thailand especially Mae Sot area, but, now I gained many experiences during this second semester. Because during first semester, we don’t have much more projects because we just preparing the materials for coming soon projects and mostly we spend the time in the office. During we were in the office, we were setting up all the materials like, solar penal, the based posts setting for solar panels, controller system, and batteries. During this second semester, we have some projects for migrant schools, with the students from US, (GYST) (Global Youth Service Team) for solar system, water sanitation in their migrant area. As they have many experiences about water sanitation, I have learnt many techniques that how to build Ultra Violence purified water system, and the technique of how to build that water sanitation systematically. Not only I have learnt the technique of instruction of water sanitation, I translated manual book in English to Burmese version, that the first time I translated manual book in this office. According to we have no lots of staffs who are very good and enough skill to translate Burmese version of manual book about water sanitation, I have a chance to translate English to Burmese. I am proud of myself that I can translated manual book as much as I have a skills then I show some of my friends to correct if I make some wrong translation but, all my friends agree that I translated was perfected. I will share more information that I have had during second semester as following below.

There are many highlight in this period during the second internship period in our organization. There are, I can set up all electric wires as systematically with meter boxes during the second week of our internship time. We have as different projects solar system, all the technique also very different to set up. We went to Phop Phra area to implement our project in one of migrant school which located very close to Burma. Because there is no electricity in the school and they can’t study night time. So we implement our solar system project for this school. That the projects we done with GYST group and all we including staffs from our organization as well. Why this period was my special highlights for me is, I have never been this Phop Phra area and didn’t see new migrant school because i only know about migrant schools which located in Mae Sot area. All the migrant students are very welcome to us and help during we were working as well.

Now currently, I am much familiar with the organizational work even though this is the first time that I practically join to work with communities around the border. Such a lovely face from residents from the mountains that I saw are a new challenging for my life by working together with them. When I saw many people are hopeless for their future we can’t support perfectly but however we have been working with them and helping to have better situation before in their living areas with solar home system. Working with those residents is also not very easy because according to they are living on higher mountain, somehow it difficult get there.

I feel interested current my job because I have to see different place and different people from different place. And our project is in different place, so we can see different place and different people so I have a chance to have new friends more and more. And some time our project style is little different such as, install solar system, some time bio-sand water filter, and purified water and others. So I know many instruction of renewable service from my organization. And I have to learn more about our new project program like, biogas and solar cooker. So we do the project also different things and I don’t know yet some instruction of our project. So it makes me to interest during my internship at my organization.

When I think back for my previous background life, this currently job is very important and useful for development program. Because to implement this renewable system is very important for all of us and for especially village where no electricity place and I need to learn more about this solar system for my future. This is very important for our environment to keep safe our community in the future. I hope to work long time with this my organization until I can practice for my village in chin state where no electricity is.

Three Months in Mae Sot

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

It’s hard to say at what moment I went from tourist to resident. Maybe it was the moment when I started to use Mae Sot as a adjective: “that’s so Mae Sot” (you’ll have to live there to learn the definition), maybe it was the moment when I actually understood Mae Sot directions: “turn right past the tiny ponies”, or maybe it was the moment on a bus back from Chiang Mai when I realized I was happy to almost be home. Whatever the moment was, for three fleeting months, Mae Sot, Thailand was my home. You probably haven’t heard of it; it isn’t a pristine beach town, it doesn’t have any particularly notable historic or cultural sites, and there isn’t any adventure trekking near by. In fact, with its hot sun beating down on a paved cityscape of tired four-story buildings where signs and tangled electric lines have replaced trees, Mae Sot is the type of town you’d drive through and instantly forget on your way to something else. But beneath its mundane surface, Mae Sot is a diverse and vivacious border town located 7 km from the Burma border. A miniature melting pot, Mae Sot inhabitants are a mixture of Burmese, Karen, Hmong, Chinese, Indian, Thai and farang (westerns).

Due to its proximity to the Burmese refugee camps, Mae Sot has become the operational hub of numerous NGOs. An array of altruistic acronyms of all sizes and funding levels have rooted themselves here to address the pressing issues of health, sanitation, education, and electrification for refugee camps and rural communities. Consequently, a portion of Mae Sot’s population is in constant flux: NGO volunteers rotate in and out, refugees quietly arrive and depart, and merchants frequently come and go. The Mae Sot community is a function of time, and therefore, everyone’s Mae Sot community is unique. You may eat at the same restaurants, stay at the same guest house, and work for the same NGO, but Mae Sot will never be the same place twice. Therefore, as I pack my bags to travel around the rest of Thailand then return to the USA, I am both happy to go and sad to leave. In the grand scheme of things, three months is barely a blimp on the timeline, but nonetheless, I’m going to miss my Mae Sot community -the people I met and the places I went. For three months, I was a resident of the Mae Sot community and forever my Mae Sot community will reside with me.

Thanksgiving Day Market Research

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

What do you use for light at night? What do you use candles for? How much do you spend on candles a week? These were some of the questions we asked villager after villager on our trip to Pa Sak last week when we went to conduct market research for the Border Green Energy Team’s (BGET) spin-off company, SunSawang. SunSawang is slated to be a for-profit, solar electricity service company, whose mission is to provide solar products and services to rural villages of Thailand. As background, in 2004, the Thai government sponsored a program that gave villagers across Thailand photovoltaic solar home systems (SHS) in exchange for their electoral support. However, the program did not provide any maintenance or training for the SHS systems, and consequently, some of the systems are now useless; their photovoltaic panels are functioning, but the battery has expired, the inverter has malfunctioned, and/or the controller has failed. SunSawag’s plan is to fill the service gap for these existing systems while offering additional products to create a sustainable energy source for rural areas.

Having spent much of my fellowship with BGET working on my computer in Mae Sot drafting SunSawang’s business plan and writing proposals and reports for BGET, I was super excited to get out into villages to do some market research. Early Thursday morning, Antonia (another MAP fellow), M, Htoot, Jobson (all BGET staff), two Karen translators, and I piled into a truck and drove the three hours north to Pa Sak. The drive was fun; we listened to M’s music while we passed by the Mae La refugee camp, turned off the highway, then bounced and sludged our way down the long unpaved road that snaked and bounded through the jungle and out to the village. The highlight of the drive was when we had to ford a river to continue on our way– a foot or more of water rushed at the truck as we bumped across the river’s rocky bottom. This was the trip into Thailand I had expected: rice fields, sugar cane, and lush green mountains! I couldn’t help but smile the whole way there.

The road to Pa Sak.

We spent two days in the village going from house to house asking villagers if they would be willing to take our survey. Some declined, but many were more than happy to oblige. The results were fascinating. Honestly, I half expected to eventually be bored out of my mind repeating the same product ranking exercise and questionnaire for the umpteenth time with person after person who spoke a language I don’t understand, but surprisingly, I was far from it. It was crazy how much I could understand without knowing Karen (my Thai is spotty at best, but my Karen is pretty much nonexistent). At one point, I remember realizing, “Oh wait, I don’t actually know what he’s saying.” I had been so wrapped up in observation of the villager’s expressions and gestures that I already understood his position and forgot he was also speaking. I was even able to tell that our translators and the villagers were occasionally having trouble communicating because differences in eastern vs. western Karen (Htoot confirmed this later). It’s pretty amazing how much communication can be accomplished without words.

Villagers access the products.

The second thing I found fascinating, coming from a product design firm position prior to my fellowship with BGET, was the complete failure of many of the intended product “design cues” of the products we were researching. As part of the market research, we had the villagers use, then rank, four PV-powered lanterns designed specifically for the developing world. Through this process, we watched villager after villager struggle to simply turn on the product. Villagers were carefully placing products on the ground upside-down, they had trouble plugging in charger cables, and they were unimpressed or joked about some of the product features. What had seemed so obvious to us was not necessarily intuitive to them. However, once over the learning curve, the villagers were shrewd assessors. They were highly critical of the product’s function, and quality and lifetime questions came up most frequently. An interesting trend that emerged from the data was an association of product quality with product cost: the most expensive product was often regarded as having the highest quality. This decision making process was the opposite of what I anticipated. I expected people with limited economic means to prefer the cheaper product; the one that did not cost a significant percentage of their annual income. But instead, the villagers were more concerned with getting lasting value for their money - good to know when SunSawang finalizes its pricing strategy.

Early morning in Pa Sak.

All and all the market research trip to Pa Sak was an interesting and excellent change from a computer screen and the city streets of Mae Sot. The results will be valuable data for SunSawang as it moves forward in its product offering decisions. One market research village down, more to go…

Two Summers in Thailand with BGET

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

I have spent the last two summers as a member of the Global Youth Service Team on the border of Thailand and Burma installing photovoltaic systems and ultraviolet water purifiers in migrant schools. Some may think it odd for a teenager to willingly give up a month of summer vacation for two consecutive years, but the time I spent volunteering on the border is invaluable, and I can’t express how grateful I am to have been involved. The things I have seen and experienced are unique to say the very least—and I truly believe they have made a significant impact on my life.

Coming to an area like the border region was profoundly humbling the first time I saw it, and in returning I only felt a stronger desire to do what I could to contribute to the tremendous need that exists there. What I found to be most sad was that there was, to some degree, assistance from other groups already in place; but for the most part incomplete, ineffective, or miscommunicated. It was evident in both of my trips to the border that other NGOs had tried to help out by donating solar electric systems for migrant villages and schools to use, but they are usually installed improperly. We noted several instances of solar arrays facing the wrong direction to gather optimal solar power, under the shade of buildings or trees, and the lack of or misuse of batteries to store power. In our projects, we make it a point to spend a day explaining how the newly installed systems operate.

Obviously, teaching the students at the migrant schools presented the challenge of a language barrier. Some of the students speak Burmese; others speak Karen (and within that, two different subtypes!); and still others speak Thai. Meanwhile, all of us GYST volunteers were fluent in… English. Luckily, we had been working with some incredible technicians from BGET who helped us out and acted as translators. With their help we could succeed in explaining the newly installed systems and their required maintenance and discuss the reasons for using sustainable energy such as solar power. Actually, working with the BGET technicians in general was one of my favorite things about being on the border. There’s something really amazing about partnering up with strangers who understand about half of what you say to them, and somehow growing close to them over installations and bumpy truck rides and groggy mornings at work. Unexpected friendships from the other side of the world are irreplaceable and hard to come by, and I’m so glad to say I’ve had the chance to develop several.

Getting involved with the Global Youth Service Team and with projects in the border region was, in the beginning, something of an automatic decision for me. I’m a science geek, so engineering and putting together electrical systems sounded like a good time, and I love to travel so Southeast Asia seemed a new and exciting place to spend four weeks of my summer. Then I learned of the service aspect and was drawn in even more. But none of these initial attractions can compare to how much I have actually gotten out of my experiences in these past two years. For anyone looking to get a grasp on what the “real” world is actually like, coming to volunteer on the border is an ideal way to sense the reality of the less fortunate—and to give assistance to people who really need it.

Thanks to BGET for all you do, and for making my experiences as incredible as they have been!

Volunteering In Thailand - Don't Just Visit, Do

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Since I’ve returned from my trip to Thailand, I’ve been struggling for the words to adequately communicate all of my experiences with GYST and BGET. It’s difficult to describe our service trip to someone who has never gone for a variety of reasons. The average person mainly wants to hear all the little things: about the toilets, the food, and the bugs. They strive to keep the conversation superficial, while I attempt to tell them about the more complex issues the team encountered. Because in the end, the time we all spent in Thailand really wasn't about the food, or the bugs, and not even the toilets. Ultimately it was about the people we met, and the service we did. Of course, there are foods and places I will remember, but it’s the time we spent helping people and the emotions associated with that experience that I will never forget. I know I speak for the whole group when I say these are the real memories of Thailand.

I’ll always remember the schools I visited and the kids we played with after the build was done. I’ll remember the adults who came to the training. They were so focused on the lessons and profoundly grateful afterwards. We take education for granted in the United States, but for these people it can be a vital life-changing tool. We definitely had our fun, and we did tour and play around plenty. But if it had been only been that, the time we spent in Thailand would have been shallow, we would have been mere visitors – just observers of this foreign land. But instead, we were a part of it and it became a part of us. I will never look at life in the same way again; I hope I will never again take opportunities for granted – they are a privilege not a right.

I know that most people won’t try to do something like we did: journey into a foreign country not just to visit, but also to serve. But I wish that they would. I encourage everyone to join or help an organization like BGET or GYST. The work they do is spectacular and I was honored to be a part of it.

The All Too Common Story of Students in Mae La

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mae La, a refugee camp directly on the border of Thailand and Burma, is filled with roofs made of metal and organizational difficulties. Mae La is mostly dirt, and the roads change seemly randomly from wide enough for one car to pass, to foot paths, then motorcycle paths, and then back to roads. The soil is not strong enough to grow anything, there is no sewage system, and all drinking water is brought in by NGOs. Mae La is roughly 1.9 miles long and is the home of approximately 41,000 refugees. Its full length runs along a main road. On the Thai side, there is a road and a meager fence with randomly stationed military; on the Burmese side there are only mountains. Because of its location by the road, Mae La is able to have power and phone service, a luxury most Burmese refugee camps in Thailand do not have, which allows some schools to use computers a few times a week. For this reason, “Mae La is different than most refugee camps.” Salinee Tavaranan, the director of the Border Green Energy Team (BGET), told me. Having electricity, phone service and the internet is a great advantage for people who otherwise have few opportunities, jobs, or activities. In my talk with both Salinee and the students, I learned that for a child in the camp, there are only three options after completing school: find a job with an NGO in the camp, apply to a school in Thailand and hope for acceptance, or apply for the resettlement process which is long and has decreased its operations since 2008. The odds for a better future increase with education and vocational skills, thus Mae La’s access to electricity is invaluable.

At Mae La, BGET is involved with a school called Engineering Study Program (ESP). At ESP, approximately 40 students over the age of 18 learn skills like: Photoshop, English, calculus, engine mechanics, welding, and Autocad (CAD software). I asked Salinee what skills were the greatest benefit for these students and her response was that job-related skills were the most valuable, “…That is why we train them [the refugees] in more practical knowledge, like how to use biogas systems. The hope is that the students will be hired by an NGO to educate others on how to use the systems they have learned about.” ESP is a three year program and is slowly expanding its offerings as funding permits: a library has been added, as well as a larger work place. When asked if there was something BGET could do to help, Mula, a student at ESP, responded, “I do not know what to say, I think it is up to Thai government.” Many Karen refugees within the camp are taking advantage of all the opportunities offered to them and accelerating at all of them, but despite the refugees’ efforts, in the camps of Thailand, it is the Thai government’s policies and decisions that determine the future of these 41,000 people.

Mula, a 20 year old refugee living in (and unable to leave) the Mae La camp, sat down with us for an hour and told us her story. Mula is tall, has long straight black hair, and a beautiful smile that seems to always be present on her face, "My name is Mula Le Bray; my name means perfect hope." I have never met anyone who deserves this name more than Mula. She is learning English and says shyly, “I only speak a little.” Yet she is able to have a conversation on any topic. When she does not understand she smiles, stares directly at me and says, “I do not understand.”

Picture of Mula.

In Burma, villages near Mula’s village were burnt to the ground, but hers luckily was not entered. As a result, Mula’s three brothers went to Mae La to find jobs teaching. “Mae La camp is out of the [Burmese] government’s control” Mula explains, so her family was notified that refusal to bring her brothers back to Burma would result in their arrest. Consequently, three days after Mula’s final high school exams, her family left their home, drove one day to the border of Thailand, and then walked another day to Mae La refugee camp where they have now lived for almost 5 years confined within the mountains and fence that outline Mae La.

Burmese refugees cannot leave Mae La camp because they do not have identification. Many refugees do not have a Burmese ID and very few have a United Nations refugee ID. As a result, the refugees are stuck in limbo: they do not want to return to Burma due to the risk of violence, but it is illegal for them to enter Thailand without an ID. Although there is military presence, security of Mae La is not strict, fences in some places can be walked over. What keeps the people in is the fear of being deported or possibly killed; the refugees have escaped one difficulty only to emerge into another. They are stuck, detained at the border they thought they’d be crossing.

As a result, Mula continues to live in Mae La with her three brothers, mother, and father. Her father is the pastor at the neighboring church. I asked Mula if she is happy in the camp and she replied, “Yes, real happy… I see a lot of my people and I am very happy to live with them.” The community, Mula says, helps each other, “if we need something our neighbor will help us and we help them.” However, despite her positivity Mae La camp is still a refugee camp and the people recognize they are not free. Mula explains, “[in Mae La] I can not do what I like, because it is not our land and we live in control of Thai government.” In the camp the “power is turned off at 9 pm and turned on 5 or 6 am.” Monthly rations are rice, chilies, charcoal, salt and sugar, and Mula states, “they give but not enough.” Many people eat only two meals a day.

Despite the rough life of Mae La camp, there are some opportunities and Mula is taking full advantage of them. Mula is a third year student at Higher Education for Engineering. During exams this year she helped tutor many of her fellow students. Mula is committed to her studies and remains positive and compassionate. When we asked her what she would like to be when she gets older she replied, "I will be a teacher.”

When asked about what she thought of her past, Mula said simply, “There are a lot of sad stories in camp... I think my story is not the worst…” What I was sad to learn, is that Mula is right. After talking to her, I spoke to another student named Hsereh. Hsereh is from the Papu district in Burma within the Karen state. Mula and others told me this is one of the most dangerous districts of Burma. Hsereh came to Thailand by himself, “because I want to get higher education.” The opportunity to go to school in Mae La is actually much greater than in Burma where costs are very high and there are many discriminatory procedures. Hsereh’s parents “allowed me to go,” so he and some of his friends walked one day into Thailand. His parents have not joined him; he remains the only member of his family to choose to become a refugee. Hsereh is in Thailand alone because his family, like many people, does not want to leave their home. “Especially my parents,” Hsereh says, “she, [his mom], doesn’t want to stay in the camp, because they doesn’t want to leave their village, because she has a garden and a field.”

Hsereh lives in Mae La O a much smaller camp deep in remote jungle, but he studies at a 4 year leadership school at Mae La. In addition, for at least one more month, he is a teacher at the Blessed Children Home which is where I met him wearing a Bob Marley shirt, acid washed jeans, and a gold tooth accenting his smile like an exclamation point. Hsereh’s experience is quite different than Mula’s. Potentially for lack family at the camp, Hsereh tends to take more risks. I asked Hsereh if anyone has helped when he has needed something. He replied, “yeah, yeah, but when I was student, I meet many many many difficulties, because I don’t have like pocket money. Sometimes I want to eat like a bread but I don’t have money.” So he and some of his classmates, during their two-week school holiday, sneak from the camp at night to find work in northern Thailand. The security is not the strictest but the punishment for being caught sneaking in or out of camp varies from deportation to being shot at.

A picture of Hsereh.

Just as Mula answered easily and quickly when asked her future plans, so did Hsereh. “I want to serve my nation, community and society.” Although he is hopeful, he is aware of the binds holding him and he finished by saying, “But I can do nothing at this time, because I don’t have anything so I can’t do anything for my people.” Hsereh is doing what he can to learn and help his people, but once he finishes school the apparent opportunities will become scarce. Nonetheless, Hsereh remains hopeful. I told him how sad and frustrating his story is he said, “It is ok, everything is ok.”

Mula and Hsereh’s stories are not uncommon. They are not the only people I talked to who have plans for the future; they are not the only people who told me they will help their people. All of the refugees seem to share their drive and compassion. Although, Salinee pointed out that not many of the youth are joining the fight in Burma, many of them are hoping for peace while learning other ways to help their people. The youth of Mae La refugee camp may only know of the Burmese abuse of power that has put them where they are, but they do not accept it. The Karen youth are educating themselves and setting high but attainable goals for themselves. Faced with injustice from their home country and a seemly dismal unpredictable future, the Karen remain positive and focused on anything that could improve their lives.

What would you do if you were them? What will you do for them?

What do you say in a commencement speech in a refugee camp?

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Thomas whispered in my ear, “Do you think this better if you can understand what he’s saying?” I told him I thought it was probably worse. We sat atop the stage, in white plastic lawn chairs, beneath dangling multicolored balloons, facing the Engineering Study Program class of 2011, Mae La refugee camp, on the Thai-Burmese border. Unable to understand the seemingly endless speeches in the Karen language, I nevertheless tried to appear interested. To my right, a large man in a blazer, made out of hand-woven Karen cloth, dozed peacefully. A younger man next to him surreptitiously talked on his cell phone, his hand over his mouth to muffle the noise.

The stage at the graduation ceremony. Thomas and I are sitting on the far right. We were apparently stage-worthy guests (because were are BGET volunteers)

But my mind wandered, as it tends to do. I started thinking about what I will do after my fellowship ended: “should I become an environmental engineer in San Francisco? Or should I move to Boston to be a public policy research assistant?” My eyes rested on the animated commencement speaker who had been talking for nearly an hour. Suddenly it dawned on me: what could he possibly be saying? What do you say to graduating students trapped in a refugee camp? Follow your dreams? How can they?

The camp was nothing like what I had expected. I had spent the previous few months working in schools in Kibera, a large slum in Nairobi, Kenya. There, the narrow paths were a mix of plastic bags and sewage, the schools over-crowded, the children dirty and dressed in ragged clothes. As far as the eye could see, there were rusty tin roofs, TV antennas, and dirt. What I had seen of Mae La camp was rolling hills with lush vegetation, dotted with traditional bamboo houses perched on stilts. In the early mornings, crisp air was filled chanting school kids. The post-secondary engineering students I worked with were well dressed, eager to learn, and spoke the best English I had encountered in all of Thailand.

But these students are trapped. And that is worse.

Mae La refugee camp

The Burmese people regularly protest their brutal government—most recently in 2003 and 2007. But the military junta controlling the country is just too powerful for the people to overcome. Last November, Obama declared it “unacceptable to steal an election, as the regime in Burma has done again for all the world to see.” He promised continued monitoring of the situation. The freeing of Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi on November 12, 2010 was an important step, but the Burmese government continues to massacre its own citizens. Just as it has been for the last 59 years. Isn’t it time we did something to stop them?

Meanwhile, the bright Engineering Study Program graduates will work to perfect their English and try to find something to do in the camp. But mostly, they will wait.

Because I was so perplexed about what was said in the graduation speeches, I sent Mular, second in the graduating class and avid facebooker, a facebook message asking. She wrote me:

“He said if we have a high goal we must have persevere…He said the place where we live now is not our place. We don't know when will we leave. So don't lazy in learning when we have a time…If u want to know more, u can ask me.

Best wishes,

Mular”

Mular (which means “hope” in the Karen language) and me at the graduation

A Lesson on Determination from Mae La

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Since I’ve been at BGET there has been much variation of projects that I have been involved in. A couple of weeks into working here, we got some great additions to the team for two weeks—a group of students/ world travelers from Western Washington University, high school students from a small island in Washington State, and students from the engineering school in Mae La refugee camp. Our project for that time was to help build a power line to a new training center. The new sustainability training center is on a beautiful property right next to the hills and surrounded by large teak hardwood trees. Being deep in the village and away from the bustling streets of Mae Sot, where BGET’s main office is, was refreshing. I have to say that I really enjoy watching little piglets trotting around and the sound of tiny chicks.

While working on the new training center, we stayed at an orphanage nearby (below, first). It was rejuvenating, staying in such a lively atmosphere of children running around and playing—and most importantly, my wakeup call music of “I’m a Barbie girl” by Aqua played on loudspeaker on one of the girls’ cell-phones. We are all hard at work by day, installing the power line by digging holes for the posts (below, second), clearing land, and building the training center (below, third). By nighttime, we have dance parties with the kids where the sound of the guitar, drums, and keyboard can be heard across the river in Burma. The people that I have met during this trip have been spectacular, especially friends that I have made from Mae La refugee camp engineering school. Their struggles in life really give you perspective on how you are living yours. Mular traveled from Burma 4 years ago and has been in the camp since then. This is the first time in 4 years that any of the students have been outside the fenced camp, yet they are the most optimistic and hardworking people I have ever met. One of them crossed the border and left his family behind with the sole purpose of getting a practical education—he knew for a fact that he would never have the opportunity to go to school in Burma. I was awed by his determination and by the fact that he valued the importance of an education enough to literally cross a mountain, river, and landmines just to sit in a classroom and learn. Really makes me think about all the people that I had classes with in college that fell asleep in the front row during lecture.

Morning at the orphanage

Installing a post for the power line

Working at the property for the new training center

The next project that we are in the middle of is developing and implementing a needs-assessment survey for all the 70+ migrant schools in the area. So far, we have visited around 20. The purpose of this project is to compile which schools have energy, water, or sanitation needs and share this study with organizations that work around the area. This will hopefully help organizations prioritize their resources and follow-up on projects that they have already done. So far, the most pressing need for migrant schools that are further away from communities is clean drinking water (see below)—something that we all take for granted sometimes. There is a lot of work to be done and I am happy to be able to help while I am here. The people that I have met here have played a huge part in shaping my experience and I am grateful for that.

A storage place for water at a migrant school

A busy first week in Mae Sot: bio-gas workshop in Mae La refugee camp and needs assessment in migrant schools

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

A little over one week ago, I moved to Mae Sot to volunteer with BGET for three months. Already, I’ve had the chance to help with a bio-gas workshop in the Mae La refugee camp and pilot an energy, water and sanitation needs assessment survey for migrants schools, which educate the children of Burmese refugees.

Bio-gas workshop in Mae La refugee camp

I don’t know what I was expecting in a Thai refugee camp, but it certainly wasn’t Mae La. Walking through the lush forest path on our way to the engineering school, I glanced up to discover dramatic vertical cliffs. Thatch-roofed houses perched on stilts were nestled into the beautiful countryside. Our walk was serenaded by happy kids in school. It felt as though every building we passed was a school!

At the engineering school, a class full of ~50 students (including 15 girls) eagerly awaited our arrival. I was surprised (and excited) when Salinee started off the lesson in English. Em, Thai and Santi then took it away in Karen, keeping the students engaged with their drawings on the board and jokes about the needed pig waste.

After a delicious Burmese lunch, we started construction (well, the others did…Visrin, another volunteer, and I designated ourselves photographers.) With the help of Em, Santi and Thai, the students built 2 bio-gas collection devices. The students were each given a plastic bag to fill with pig waste as homework. We returned the next day for installation, mostly hours of mixing pig poop with water and pouring into the tanks. The tanks were installed next to the kitchen so that the gas can be used for cooking.

Talking to the students, I was surprised to discover that most of the refugees had only been in the camp a few years. Sawlerwah, 21, walked here from his village in Burma. It took 3 days. When I asked if it was hard, he asked me, “You know land mines?” I said yes, they were terrifying.

While many of the students have not been able to get official status as a refugee, they do have facebook accounts and are active facebookers. I have many new friends!

Migrant School needs assessment project

There are about 60 migrant schools in the area that educate the children of Burmese refugees. BGET has already worked in a few, installing solar panels and a UV water filtration system. Now Visrin and I are working on a needs assessment survey to determine which other migrant schools need our help.

While Salinee, Santi, and Thai went off to search for an elusive water source, Em and I began our migrant school needs assessment project. First we visited Ray Kaw Htoo school and interviewed one of the teachers. We discovered that the school is connected to the grid to power their five lights. They spent about 1600 baht on electricity last month and are trying to cut down to 1000 this month. The drinking water source for the school is the piped water connection as well as purchased bottled water. Next we visited the school Rocky Mountain 2, a much bigger school.

After a quick (and spicy!) lunch by the border, we met with the directors of Burmese Migrant Workers’ Education Committee (www.bmwec.org). This organization works to find funding for the migrant schools as well as provide teacher training and curriculum support. They told us that many of the schools need help with water treatment, so providing UV water filtration systems could be very beneficial.

Burma Solar Project

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

โครงการติดตั้งไฟฟ้าพลังแสงอาทิตย์ในศูนย์ฝึกอบรมการแพทย์

เรื่องราวการติดตั้งพลังานแสงอาทิตย์ในป่าใหญ่โครงการนี้ได้รับการสนับสนุนจากหลายๆองค์กรจนโครงการประสบความสำเร็จขอบคุณทุกๆองค์กรที่ให้การสนับสนุนทีมงาน BGET ขอบคุณที่ให้ความไว้วางใจ ในที่นี้ทางทีมงานจะนำเสนอประสบการณ์นี้มาเล่าก็เพื่อแลกเปลี่ยนประสบการณ์และสำหรับสถานที่ตั้งอยู่ในเขตการปกครองของรัฐกะเหรี่ยงซึ่งเป็นชาติพันธ์เดียวกับผู้เขียนเองสำหรับโครงการพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์นี้จะไปช่วยเติมเต็มในด้านการแพทย์และการศึกษานั่นเอง ทางทีมงาน BGET จึงนำเสนอเพียงบางส่วนของการทำงานครั้งนี้นำมาเสนอให้กับผู้ที่สนใจได้ชมกัน

ทีมงาน Bget เริ่มออกจากตัวเมืองแม่สอดเวลา 05.00น. และไปถึงตัวเมืองแม่สะเรียงประมาณเที่ยงวันจากนั้นก็ได้ลงเรือและใช้เวลาในการล่องเรือบนน่านน้ำสาละวินโดยประมาณ 4 ชั่วโมงครึ่งตลอดระยะเวลาในการนั่งเรือนั้นทางผู้เขียนเองได้เห็นทัศนียภาพที่ช่างดูสบายตามีทั้งต้นไม้ต้นไผ่ขึ้นเต็มสองฝั่งแม่น้ำสาละวินก่อนถึงบ้านแหมะนือทะและหมู่บ้านนี้เองที่ทีมงานวางแผนก่อนหน้านั้นว่าจะนอนค้างคืนที่นี่หนึ่งคืนและเมื่อเช้าวันใหม่พระอาทิตย์ยังไม่ทันขึ้นทีมงานทุกคนก็ต้องเตรียมเดินทางด้วยเท้าเพราะทางต่อไปนี้จะไม่มีอะไรสัญจรนอกจากคนและม้า เท้าเท่านั้นที่จะส่งเราไปยังจุดหมาย

ชีวิตคือการเดินไปข้างหน้า เดิน-เดิน-เดิน

ตอนนี้อยู่บนยอดเขาเลย (เหนื่อยสุดๆ)

เดินมาเยอะแล้วขอนั่งแพดีกว่า

หลังจากเดินมาทั้งวันก็ถึงที่หมาย(เล่นเอาพระอาทิตย์ตกดินเลย)

ทีมงานช่วยกันติดตั้งแผงโซลาร์เซลล์

ทุกคนกำลังติดชุดประจุไฟ

หลังจากล่วงเลยมาหลายวันอยู่ภารกิจทุกอย่างก็เสร็จทีมงานภูมิใจบวกกับดีใจที่ได้กลับบ้าน ทีมงาน BGET ขอขอบคุณทุกท่านที่มีส่วนร่วมจนงานประสบความสำเร็จด้วยดีขอบคุณพ่อครัวตลอดระยะเวลา 10 วัน มาม่า น้ำพริก ไข่ ปลากระป๋องสุดยอดขอบคุณบุรุษพยาบาลที่ช่วยทำแผลขอบคุณทุกคน

โดย ไท

พลังงานไฟฟ้าเพื่อชาติพันธุ์สู่การพัฒนา

ตามแนวชายแดนประเทศพม่า พื้นที่ส่วนใหญ่เป็นที่อยู่อาศัยของชาวกะเหรี่ยง ที่ถูกพลักดันจากรัฐบาลพม่าและจากการสู้รบ แล้วมาตั้งถิ่นฐานอาศัยทั้งถาวรและไม่ถาวรขึ้นอยู่การสถาณการณ์บ้านเมือง ซึ่งจะพบเห็นตลอดสองข้างทาง พื้นที่เป็นป่าและภูเขาสูง ส่วนใหญ่ประกอบเอาชีพทำไร่และหาของป่าในการดำรงชีวิตอยู่ ภายในหมู่บ้านไม่มีถนนสำหรับรถยนต์ให้วิ่ง นอกจากทางเท้าที่ชาวบ้านใช้ในการไปมาหาสู่กัน บางหมู่บ้านต้องใช้เวลาในการเดินทาง 4-5 วัน ต้องพักระหว่างทางหรือในหมู่บ้านรู้จัก ซึ่งในครั้งนี้ทางทีม BGET ใช้เวลาในการเดินทางเท้าหนึ่งวัน (12 ชั่วโมง) ซึ่งส่วนใหญ่ชาวบ้านจะใช้เวลาถึงสองวันในการเดินทาง เพราะครั้งนี้ทางทีม BGET ได้มีการเตรียมความพร้อมทางด้านร่างกายที่ดี ทั้งขึ้นลงภูเขาชันและข้ามแม่น้ำ ในการเข้าถึงพื้นที่ที่ติดตั้งแผงผลิตพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์

มีความสุขและภูมิใจที่ได้รับโอกาสในการทำอะไรบางอย่างเพื่อชาติพันธุ์ ซึ่งมีวัฒธรรมขนบธรรมเนียมประเพณีเดียวกัน พูดภาษาเดียวกันและมีความเชื่อเดียวกัน ในการพัฒนาด้านชีวิตความเป็นอยู่ที่จะได้รับรู้ข่าวสารทั้งในและนอกประเทศให้ทันสังคมโลก นอกจากเสียงวิทยุที่รับสัญญาณจากประเทศพม่าเท่านั้น เนื่องจากการติดตั้งครั้งนี้ใช้สำหรับคอมพิวเตอร์ อินเตอร์เนต ทีวี แสงสว่าง และเครื่องมือทางการแพทย์ภายในคลินิค ประทับใจในมิตรภาพ การต้อนรับที่อบอุ่น และการอำลาชุ่มเย็น

ระบบผลิตไฟฟ้าพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์ติดตั้งโดยกลุ่มพลังงานไร้พรมแดน

โดย: สันติ สันโดษวนาไพร

การติดตั้งโซลาร์เซลล์ใน FBR

ทีมงานกำลังเดินทางไป FBR

โครงการการติดตั้งชุดระบบโซลาร์เซลล์ใน (FBR) ซึ่งได้การสนับสนุนงบประมาณจาก Green Empowerment และทีมงานของ FBR ส่วนทีมงาน Border Green Energy Team (BGET) เป็นผู้ติดตั้งระบบ

สำหรับการติดตั้งชุดระบบโซลาร์เซลล์นี้ทีมงาน BGET เดินทางไป 4 คนจะต้องเดินทางจากฝั่งไทยนั่งเรือทางแม่น้ำสาละวินประมาณ 4 ชั่วโมงจากนั้นก็เดินทางเท้าอย่างเดียวประมาณ 12 ชั่วโมง ในระหว่างเดินทางนั้นทุกคนรู้สึกเหนื่อยกันแต่ทุกคนก็เดินทางถึงจุดหมายอย่างปลอดภัย และได้การต้อนรับจากทีมงาน FBR อย่างดี

ชุดระบบโซลาร์เซลล์จะทำการติดตั้งในห้องคอมพิวเตอร์ ห้องเรียน และห้องเครื่องมือแพทย์เพื่อให้สถานที่ FBRได้มีไฟฟ้าใช้ที่เพียงพอต่อการใช้งานเช่น ใช้เป็นสื่อการสอน การให้แสงสว่าง และการดูแลรักษาคนไข้

ทีมงาน FBR ทุกคนมีความตั้งใจมากกับการเรียนคร้งนี้

เด็กน้อยนั่งพักฟื้นหลังจากได้รับการผ่าเนื่องจากเป็นฝี และมีพ่ออยู่เคียงข้างเสมอ

หลังจากพักผ่อนมาทั้งคืนตื่นเช้าทีมงานBGETได้รวมตัวกับทีมงานFBR เพื่อจะทำการติดตั้งระบบโซลาร์เซลล์และได้แบ่งกันว่าวันนี้ต้องทำอะไรบ้างจากนั้นทุกคนก็ลงมือทำ ในการติดตั้งนั้นทุกคนตั้งใจทำมากเพื่อให้งานออกมาได้อย่างดีใช้เวลาในการติดตั้งเพียงแค่ 2 วันก็เสร็จและทำการทดสอบระบบทุกระบบไม่มีปัญหา ทำให้ทุกคนรู้ว่าถ้าเมื่อทุกคนมีวินัยบวกกับความสามัคคีจะทำอะไรก็สำเร็จ จากนั้นก็จัดการอบรมให้กับผู้ดูแลเพื่อให้เข้าใจเกี่ยวกับการใช้ระบบและใช้งานได้อย่างปลอดภัย ก่อนกลับทีมงาน BGET ได้รับการส่งกลับโดยการโยนลงน้ำทุกคนทำให้ทีมงานหนาวสั่นสนุกตามกันไปและกลับไปด้วยรอยยิ้มกันทุกคนและทีมงานBGETทุกคนหวังว่าการติดตั้งชุดรบบโซลาร์เซลล์ครั้งนี้น่าจะเป็นประโยช์กับทุกๆคนและทีมงาน BGETมีความยินดีที่จะทำติดตั้งครั้งใหม่หรือสถานที่อื่นๆที่มีงบประมาณด้วยความเต็มใจ

โดย: มงคล ดีศรีเพ็ง (M)

Can Installing Solar Home Systems Be Financially Sustainable?

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Last September I came to work with the Border Green Energy Team (BGET) on a three-month fellowship. My role was to help develop a program that BGET could run independent of grant funding. I wasn’t sure it could be done, but I was excited to apply my experience in evaluating business models toward making my own. Now, entering my last month of what turned into a six-month stay, the problems inherent in making rural electrification financially sustainable are even clearer to me, but I am confident that the scheme I have designed will become a successful venture for BGET.

The first question to ask is why we would want to do this in the first place. The advantage for BGET is obvious—we would be more self-sufficient as an organization and have income that isn’t dependent on receiving grants or contracts from other organizations.

There is also research, however, showing that distributed generation projects that include financial contributions from the end users, which is what financial sustainability would require, are more successful. End users treat the equipment with more care and are more invested, pun intended, in the project. Technology dumps, once popular, are now widely acknowledged as less than ideal.

Almost immediately I zeroed in on solar home systems (SHS) as a promising technology for my project. SHS are household-sized solar power systems, in this case providing enough power for a couple lights and one small appliance. I was particularly drawn to SHS, ironically, because almost every rural household already had one. In 2004 The Thai government decided that they wanted to use SHS to bring electrification to every household not connected to the national grid, and so went to great expense to install almost 200,000. In the intervening years, however, the warranties on these systems have expired (and rural households had a very difficult filing claims anyway) and now the vast majority of these SHS are either partially or completely broken. But in almost every case the solar panel, by far the most expensive piece of equipment, is still functioning, a huge wasted asset.

With this major advantage in hand, I began thinking about how a business like this would operate. The most important consideration is the villagers’ ability and willingness to pay for solar power. Even though rural households in the developing world are often willing to spend more on electricity than people realize, their cash flow is very low. Therefore any work BGET does would have to be paid off over time in small installments. I also realized quickly that it would be critical to limit the number of trips BGET staff would need to make to each village. Even restricting the project’s area to the border districts of Tak province (where BGET currently operates) would include some villages an entire day’s drive away considering the quality of many mountain roads and others not even accessible by car.

These two considerations led me to conclude that such a scheme would need to be run using local franchisees who would do as much of the work—customer recruitment, installation and maintenance, and fee collection—as possible. It also meant that BGET could not simply repair the broken components as we originally planned. The components used by the government were old and cheap, and so even if we fixed or replaced, say, the charge controller, the battery would likely fail before long. With our goal being to travel as little as possible, we could not afford to rely on suspect equipment. Therefore the project evolved from repairing the existing systems to installing our own with components we could trust. By similar logic we also decided that we could not use flooded batteries, which require monthly or ideally even weekly maintenance. Instead we will use maintenance-free batteries that will live up to their advertised lifespan without constant attention.

Both of these decisions increase our equipment cost but we believe that they are necessary for our scheme to work. Using more expensive batteries, we believe, even decreases the amount we will need to charge because we will not need to rely on franchisees for as much maintenance work and we will have to replace fewer batteries. Increasing the lifetime of our equipment is particularly important to our bottom line because we will be renting the systems to customers. In other words, the household pays a monthly fee for the energy service we provide, lighting and power for appliances, but never owns the equipment. If a household decides they no longer want the system or stops paying we take the system away and use it in another location. Therefore we bear the entire cost when a component needs to be replaced but we also get to use each component for its entire lifetime, as even a used piece of equipment can be put into an otherwise new system and simply be replaced when it no longer functions. The main advantage of this arrangement is that we believe it will help attract customers. Households will not be tied down to a long-term ‘mortgage’ and also will more easily be able to compare the cost of the SHS to their current energy expenditures.

Because BGET will bear complete responsibility for the systems, I realized that we needed to make sure that the customers could tamper with the equipment. In many of the households I visited that currently have government SHS systems equipment had been moved, wires had been reconfigured, or components tampered with. There is rarely bad intent, but in this situation protecting our assets is important. For this reason BGET has created a design (not that we are anywhere near the first people to have this idea) where all the electrical equipment is kept within a locked container.

Thus we settled on the scheme as it stands now. We will install a SHS consisting of all BGET equipment save the panel and will retain ownership of the equipment, requiring the households to pay only a monthly fee for the energy services the system provides. We will use local franchisees as sales representatives, installers, repairmen, and fee collectors. But there are many aspects of the scheme that are still unsettled and will go a long way towards determining whether it will be successful.

The first major question is what our relationship with the local governments will be. After the government systems were installed the national government gave ownership of the systems over to the sub-district governments (a sub-district might have between 200-1000 households in it) and so we will need to have some sort of arrangement with them to work on these systems at all. We are hoping, however, to get more than just permission to operate from the local governments, because they could provide significant logistical assistance even if they cannot contribute monetarily. With their local ties they could help us find reliable franchisees, who could even be government employees. Their office would be a convenient location for equipment storage, and government officials could be involved in fee collection. We hope we can secure their help not only because will be running a program that will provide a service to their constituents, but also because we can offer to run the program as a partnership.

We also have yet to determine the best relationship we can establish the franchisees. There are two related questions: what the best way is to compensate the franchisees and how much responsibility we can safely give them. To begin with the latter issue, we are expecting our franchisees to handle customer recruitment, installation, and basic maintenance. But it would perhaps be beneficial to have franchisees be in charge of fee collection and more complicated repairs as well. While it would help us logistically, there are possible concerns about how effectively franchisees could be trained and whether we’d be willing to trust them with large sums of money. These concerns could partially be allayed depending on how the franchisees are compensated. It is important to encourage franchisees to recruit and keep as many customers as possible by aligning their incentives with our own. Therefore we will give them a portion of each monthly fee paid by their customers. The question is whether they will also receive an annual salary. A salary could make the job more attractive and perhaps remove temptation to steal money if franchisees are doing fee collection.

In the coming months we will hopefully be operating a pilot project in one sub-district and we will be able to test out different components and franchisee arrangements. We will also start to get a sense of the biggest unknown, how much households are willing to pay for electricity. Until we get a better idea of what fee we might be able to charge, however, all we can do is try to make the cost as low as possible.

Having made a financial spreadsheet that includes all of our costs and revenues over the first ten theoretical years of the project I am able to see clearly, even without exact values for some variables, where our main expenditures are and how changes to our scheme would change costs. Unsurprisingly equipment costs will be an important element throughout the project’s life, as we will need to continually be buying new equipment. By the later years, however, salary costs for our franchisees will likely far surpass equipment as our main expenditure. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that, if franchisees are going to be paid any kind of annual salary, we will need to make sure that they each still accumulate a large number of customers. In other words we will still need to make sure their incentive to find customers is strong. To compound the incentive of receiving a portion of customer fees we could also offer prizes to top sellers or offer to raise the annual salary of franchisees who reach certain benchmarks.

Other significant costs include needing to buy a truck at the outset of the project and possibly pay back a loan over time if we need to take a loan out at first. We will probably need a loan because we will incur large equipment costs upfront and only recoup those costs in the form of monthly fees years later. Because we are an organization that pursues funding from project to project, it is important for the project not to stray too far into the red at any point, even if it will be profitable in the long run. Therefore it is important for the scheme to install some systems immediately to begin generating revenue but also grow slowly enough that by the time the money from the initial loan has been spent, enough revenue is coming in from existing systems to pay for further work.

So the ultimate question remains of whether, even after we’ve done all we can to make the systems affordable, we will be able to find customers. The prospect is a little bleaker because these households have previously received solar power for free and therefore and may not want to pay now. We are also, with good justification I believe, using higher quality components than we could and scrapping some existing equipment that could at least temporarily be operable. At this point, without receiving any grants or government assistance, my guess is that our product will only be within the reach of the wealthier village households. This obviously doesn’t mean the scheme isn’t worth running, because it still would provide power to those who do not have it currently, and maybe within a few years, as incomes grow, we might find wider interest. It does mean, however, that we will pursue funding options that will allow us to lower our price.

And even if that means that the project cannot be strictly defined as financially sustainable it will still provide many of the advantages we originally sought. The end users will still have a stake in the project’s success, and BGET will have a stable source of revenue. And, of course, households currently relying on candles or battery-powered headlamps would have access to clean, reliable, solar power, which is what we’re here trying to achieve.

A Photographer's View of Work Along the Border

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I recently had the pleasure and honour of volunteering for BGET and one of their partner organizations, the Global Youth Service Team, as the videographer for the upcoming documentary "Light Work."

This documentary will chronicle the work of American elementary school students as they volunteer for GYST and BGET. And I was in the enviable position of being able to tag along with these fantastic students and the wonderful folks at BGET. I was able to follow these people everywhere from the bustling streets of Mae Sot to the migrant villages perched among the misty mountains of the Thai-Burma border.

Over the course of a mere month I watched and recorded the labours of these incredibly skilled and driven people. As you, a visitor of this blog, are surely aware, the staff and volunteers of BGET and GYST are doing some amazing work to bring renewable energy sources to the people of the Border. In the short time that I was with BGET and GYST, they installed two photovoltaic arrays, two ultraviolet water purification systems, taught classes on the use and maintenance of these systems, donated science and algebra textbooks to the engineering school at Mae La refugee camp, and helped another organization (headed by ESP graduate Saw Thawah) build a playground.

While I cannot claim any responsibility for the great work that is being done, I hope that I can do my small part to raise awareness of these projects through the documentary that we're putting together. So keep an eye out for "Light Work," tell your friends and help me spread the word!"

Border Green Energy Team (BGET) Wins international Energy Globe Awards!

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salinee Tavaranan represented BGET at the World Energy Globe Awards to receive multiple awards for solar medical clinic projects inside Burma. In addition to receiving the national award for Myanmar, BGET was awarded the international award in the “Fire” category and the overall Grand Prize decided by the audience at the ceremony in Prague, Czech Republic. The Energy Globe Awards competition highlights successful sustainable projects from around the world.

BGET designs simple, rugged, and reliable solar energy systems and empowers Burmese medics through intensive hands-on training to install, operate, and maintain these systems once in site. In addition, BGET has provided solar systems to power larger facilities to train medics and emergency relief workers in public health, first aid, medical and dental care, leadership, conflict resolution, human rights reporting, counseling, and wilderness survival. Over 200,000 internally displaced people now have access to clinics powered by solar electricity; allowing medics to perform nighttime surgeries and childbirth deliveries, charge batteries for communication, refrigerate vaccines, and power microscopes to detect and treat malaria.

BGET relied much on technical guidance and fundraising efforts of Walt Ratterman of SunEnergy Power International, http://www.sunepi.org/SunEPI/Welcome.html, as well as fundraising by Green Empowerment, http://www.greenempowerment.org/, for these projects.

The awards ceremony in its entirety can be viewed at http://www.energyglobe.com/en/energy-globe-award/photo-gallery-video/video/energy-globe-world-award-gala-2009-1/.