Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Medicine monk
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 27/12/2015
» The muscular arm of a saffron-clad monk, propped against the wall of a bamboo hut, draws air pictures to illustrate why his community is in desperate need of an ambulance.
Ceasefire 'broken' before it began
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 01/11/2015
» President Thein Sein called it a “historic day for Myanmar” and “a new road to a peaceful future for our country”. The Karen National Union president, Gen Mutu Sae Po, hailed it as a “new page in history”.
Tough town endures its latest tragedy
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 30/03/2014
» Mae Sot is a tough town. It has to be. Located on a remote part of the Thai-Myanmar border it has seen its share of armed conflict, battered refugees, natural disasters and other hurts. Last week the town was thrown into a maelstrom of grief after a bus carrying 53 of its villagers plunged over a cliff killing 30 and seriously injuring another 23.
A complex peace
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 02/02/2014
» Despite recent reforms, working in Myanmar for international non-government organisations (NGOs) is difficult. Most NGOs are concentrated in the country's urban areas, kept well away from the ethnic regions where health, education and food security is desperately needed. Like in most countries, NGOs are supposed to work in Myanmar with government agreement. This requires either a memorandum of understanding or letter of agreement with the government.
Out of the darkness
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 22/12/2013
» Not many people would describe Boon's life as a dream. Growing up in rural Thailand is tough, but having only 20% vision to rely on, being denied access to schools, being sexually molested by a drunken stepfather and fighting off an adult neighbour are obstacles only the mentally strong survive.
Stranded amid a sea of reforms
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 10/03/2013
» Recent progress within Myanmar is coming at the expense of ethnic villagers in the country's impoverished southeast, who who are seeing their land expropriated as development steamrollls in. That was the conclusion of ''Losing Ground'', a report released last week in Bangkok by the Karen Human Rights Group featuring the results of field studies undertaken from January, 2011 to November, 2012.
Spreading light in a murky world
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 23/12/2012
» Bunsiri was 15 when she ran away from home. Despite having only 20% vision she had been doing well at school. With the help of her stepfather Bunsiri had fought for years to go to school and had learned to read and write.
Pilgrimage of pain for sick
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 08/07/2012
» Mary Boullier's pale fingers probe the swollen skin surrounding the barely opened slit that remains of nine-year-old Tin Tin's left eye and says, "We don't know what is causing the swelling around her eye, but when Tin Tin was admitted here she had severe anaemia. If it was left untreated it could have caused heart failure."
The ugly face behind 'open' Myanmar's charm offensive
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 03/06/2012
» Moon Nay Li is adamant that despite all the talk of reforms there's still no rule of law to protect civilians in Myanmar. To prove her point she spreads a layer of detailed humanitarian reports, grisly photographs of dead children and single page testimonies that document the injuries, rapes, sexual abuse and tortures inflicted by the Myanmar army on civilians in Kachin State in recent months.
Development drive sees ethnic groups displaced by land grabs
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 22/04/2012
» At the ramshackle Ei Tu Hta camp more than 4,000 displaced people fear not just the the Myanmar military downstream on the Salween River, but also a constitution that will ''legally'' dispossess them of the land they were forced to flee.