Feeding orphans of HIV+ Burmese women

I have been in Nova Scotia, Canada since mid-June, working with the MY STORY photo project (MSppa) board to prepare an exhibition from the 2022 photo wokshops in Thailand.  This will be the 17th MY STORY photo project exhibition in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada! 

In November I wil return to Mae Sot, Thailand to facilitate photo workshops with Minmahaw Migrant Learning Center and Joy House Community Center.  With two former MSppa participants,  I will be helping Burmese refugees document their lives on the border through images and text. 

In the meantime, I have been working with the PhotoVoice curriculum to address issues of gender violence, isolation, and discrimination that our participants face on the border.

This will be the last report for this project, as we will close it next month.  But we will continue on GlobalGiving with a project focused on giving workshop participants the tools to advocate and speak about their lives on the border.

Stay tuned!

As always, thank you for your continuing support; we could not do it without you!

Links:

• See what the MY STORY photo project does!

We”re happy to report that the MY STORY photo project is up and running again after a 2 1/2 year Covid hiatus!

In January and February I worked with Social Action for Women & Children (SAW) to offer a photo workshop to 8 young Burmese women who had fled the military in their country last August. Using entry level digital cameras, they documented their lives and feelings now: away from family in a new and strange environment.  Lin Lett Akar, Ko Myo, and Sophie (one of the participants) were very helpful facilitators and translators.  SAW is also providing GED classes so they will be able to sit  the exam. Hopefully this will open some doors for future education/ job opportunities.

March and April saw a new audience for the project: the elders ( anyone over 50 ). Joy House is a brand new community art center in Mae Sot that offers art, dance, cooking, and music classes to the Burmese and Thai community. The brain-child of film-maker Jeanne Hallacy,  the center offers free cllasses  for all ages, offering a safe space for the two groups to meet and create. I ran a month-long photo workshop for seniors, with 10 participants;  Burmese who were mostly newly arrived in Mae Sot, having left jobs, family, and homes behind. Because of security concerns we had to stay within the center's grounds; so  we photographed anything and everything in the center and its garden!

Minmahaw School is a post-secondary boarding school for socio-politically, educationally and/or economically underprivileged Myanmar youth aged between 17 and 23 years old.  For their summer session in April/May, MSppa ran two workshops with 30 students in each session.  Not ideal for what is usually a very hands-on experience! The students used cell phones and I had the invaluable assistance of Pocho and Miri from Lush Films.  We covered composition, lighting, and the feelings a photograph can evoke.  And boy, did they take photos!

Our annual exhibition at Borderline Gallery was held at the end of March with images chosen by the SAW women and the women from Karen Womens' Organization.  Because of the pandemic the KWO women did not have an exhibition in 2020, so this was 'better late than never'!

Although the situation in Myanmar is dire, it was inspiring to see the resilience and hope of the young people I worked with.

A note:  Because MSppa is back on the ground in Thailand, we will be re-focusing our primary project mission from providing food for Burmese orphans to giving voice to Burmese refugees through photography.

Thank you all for your contiuing support,

Susan Tileston

Director, co-founder MSppa

Links:

• Our website