Our visit to Thailand in Dec 07 brought us to Kwe Ka Baung Karen National School, where 221 children aged between 4-18 are presently enrolled. Situated within the centre of Mae Sot border town, Kwe Ka Baung’s exterior is modest, in the form of 3 dirty-looking shophouses. Classes from Kindergarten to Grade 1 through Grade 10 are conducted in the rooms and common areas of the buildings.

Kwe Ka Baung is not a typical school in Thailand, catering specially to children from Burma (Myanmar) whose families have left their home country in search of a better life elsewhere. Their backgrounds are modest to say the least, many belonging to families who had left Burma because of the dire and uncertain economic and political situation. Now living in Thailand and having to make do with an average daily household income of 100 baht (about S$4.50), many families do not see education as a priority, especially not when they have to pay for it.

Open to all children regardless of their background, religion or ethnicity, Kwe Ka Baung provides free education to these migrant children, with the desire of giving some hope to each child’s future.

In addition to sponsoring the children’s school fees, Kwe Ka Baung also provides free transportation to and from school each day.

Standing outside Kwe Ka Baung, we watched as the school pick-up approached to drop the children off at school. As they alighted one after another, we stared in amazement as the pick-up, which has a sitting capacity of 16, actually packed more than 40 children in its back compartment!

The pick-up, commonly known as the song tiaw, is the most common means of transport to school for the students. Every morning, the song tiaw makes 4-5 trips to ferry the children from their homes to Kwe Ka Baung. To ensure that every child gets to school on time, 40-50 students are squeezed into the back of the song tiaw on each trip, with the first starting at about 6.30am and the last at 8.30am.

To fit every one of the 40-50 students in the vehicle on each round, each child is only allowed a tiny space; some are seated on the 2 parallel benches, others seated on the laps of those on the benches, and the smaller ones will stand in the space between the 2 benches, each having to cling onto the handrails above their heads.

We were touched by the passion the founder and headmaster of the school, Pu Mahn Bala Sein had for the school and his children. His wish for each child is simple – that they be given an education, so that they can differentiate right from wrong and live a good and honest life in future.

One of the biggest challenge he faces is the need to continually seek funding from donors. Each month, Pu Bala Sein has to ensure that there is enough money to pay for the rental of the shophouses, the teachers’ wages, schoolbooks, lunches for the children and more.

For many years, the school pick-up has ferried the students of Kwe Ka Baung students to and from school. As the number of students increased, the song tiaw had to accommodate more children in its limited space. In recent years, the intensive usage of the song tiaw finally took its toll as the vehicle is now breaking down on a regular basis. For the past 2 years, the school has had to fork out 5000-10,000 baht (approx S$220-S$430) each month just to cover the repair costs.

In light of this, we have set out to raise funds for Kwe Ka Baung, more specifically for a newer and bigger vehicle to ferry the students to school. Not only will this ensure that the children have a means of transportation to school each day, it will also save the school on repair and maintenance costs each month.

Our target is to raise S$20,000 by mid-2008. This sum would allow the school to purchase a new vehicle, a size of a lorry, for the school.

Though this is but a small gesture, our hope is to contribute in whatever way we can, to make the children’s school-going experience an even more comfortable and memorable one.