Educating Burmese Refugees

Recent graduate of St Patrick's College, Cormac Lambe (BA 2007, Geography and English), recently gave a talk to students of the College's Geography Department’s Humanitarian Aid course about his experiences working with Burmese refugees at Ranong, on the Thailand/Burma border.  Cormac who is currently studying for a PhD in English in the College recounts his experience below:

Having been a former student of Geography and the Humanitarian Aid course at St. Patrick’s College, I was delighted to have the opportunity to come and speak to second year Geography students about my time working with Burmese refugees at Ranong, on the Thailand/Burma border. This arose from a conversation with my former teacher, Dr. Gerry O’Reilly, who was interested in my experiences of working in such an impoverished corner of Asia, as well as the wonderful work that was being done there by the Marist Catholic Mission (with whom I volunteered), to aid poor Burmese migrants. Since my days studying Geography at St. Patrick’s College, humanitarian aid and the issue of human rights abuse have been of personal interest and prompted me to commit to travelling to Thailand in July of this year, where the hardship of millions of Burmese refugees became saliently clear to me. My role involved teaching English to young migrants – whose resilience, determination and willingness to learn in the face of injustice and heartbreaking conditions, I found inspiring.

It was therefore a privilege to share my experiences with the students of the Humanitarian Aid course, as well as providing an opportunity to elucidate the terrible injustice that is the current situation in Burma. The students responded enthusiastically, with some highly interesting and thought-provoking questions, providing a forum for useful discussion on the topic. I was very pleased with the outcome of the lecture and hope that in some small way, it has helped to generate an awareness of, and interest in, the plight of the Burmese people, among the students.

 

 

Last Updated: Friday November 26 2010