So far 2023 has been non-stop for all of us at DARE Network. Our teams are all up and running providing the essential work that they do in the refugee camps and at our DARE Centre inside Karen State. Our centres are always full. We have also repaired buildings, rebuilt buildings and acquired falling down abandoned buildings to accommodate the ever-growing demand of people wanting to recover from their addictions.
Meanwhile the brutal and cruel war continues in Myanmar. The Military Junta daily bombs villages, farmers’ fields, schools, temples, mosques and churches killing civilians including children. These are, of course, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. Will they ever be held accountable?
The trauma from this war and all the previous oppression will make our DARE Centres overflow. It is very dangerous for us now in Karen State and our plans to expand are on hold. Yet our DARE Team near T’ree Poe K’wee Village bravely continues to offer treatment to anyone who can make it past the checkpoints. We have escape plans at the ready but for now, everyone is safe.
At the home office in Mae Sariang, our plans for MoringAid to which many of you donated last December continue to coalesce. It is the hot, dry season now so for a short period of time the Moringa trees are flowering and giving fruit, like all the trees around. We must wait for the leaves to turn green again. But not long. Our team in Nu Poe refugee camp now wants to plant Moringa trees, as this camp has some land and even a small amount around our DARE Centre. They can harvest and dry the leaves in the camp and our Core Staff can pick it up on our monitoring trips. Of course, they will be trained to do it hygienically, but we know it will be all Organic.
Next report we will send you our financial statements, we are just waiting for the audit to finish.
Thanks to all of you for reading this report and we appreciate any comments you want to make.
DARE Network Team
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MoringAid is our Future: 2nd Stage
Dear Friends,
You are our backbone; you hold us up and give us hope. We just want to let you know how important you are to us. And yet we need to stand up on our own too.
As you know, we have started our Social Enterprise: MoringAid to help DARE Network to become more sustainable. As part of our program, and yet at the same time operating for profit, we chose to sell Moringa Powder both locally and internationally. To be brief, Moringa is a tree that grows in the southern hemisphere, that people use to supplement their food. It is high in protein, iron, B vitamins, calcium, and many other vitamins and minerals. A little goes a long way. It is also high in antioxidants and is hailed by those interested in maximum health. It is popular around the world, known locally in the tropics as a traditional food and known internationally as a SuperFood. The tree grows quickly, is drought resistant and is easy to harvest and regenerate. https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/moringa.html
After initial seed money from Refugees Empowerment International and some of you on GlobalGiving, we have been able to purchase equipment to process our harvested Moringa leaves into powder and capsules, design and purchase packaging, develop an online store website and begin our marketing. After our first year, grant included, we were able to break even.
Now we are ready for phase 2. MoringAid www.moringaidare.com is looking for land to start a moringa plantation. We are seeking certification from the Thai Government program of One Tambon, One Product, which will allow us to sell all over Thailand, as well as officially obtaining International approval. Also, we will bring on a part-time local staff person to manage the enterprise here on the border and market to the local communities. All profits will come back to our Addiction Prevention and Treatment programs in the refugee camps and inside Burma.
November 29th, 2022 is Giving Tuesday. This year we will feature our Social Enterprise: MoringAid. We hope you will give to this effort and see us into our future. GlobalGiving has $1.2 million in matching funds to contribute this year. The more we raise, the more gets matched. Please consider DARE Network on Giving Tuesday.
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Addiction Worker Training in a War Zone
Tucked in a little pocket in Karen State is the DARE Network Treatment Centre. Here 3 Trainers, a Coordinator and an Organic Garden work together to build up our Addiction Worker staff and to restart our treatment program, after we had to evacuate late last year due to the Military Junta’s Air Strikes nearby.
Funded by the Canadian NGO Interpares, this training began in May and will last for 6 months, as the trainers take the new trainees through the theoreticals and then on to the hands-on treatment. Starting small, the new workers under supervision will treat 14 clients by the end of the year.
Our hope is that the war will be finished by then and the people of Burma/Myanmar will at long last achieve their freedom from the slavery of Military rule. Certainly, we know that due to the trauma of this war, we will see more and more people addicted and wanting to be free from that too. We are trying to prepare in the midst of it all.
A Free Mind Cannot Be Destroyed
DARE Network
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Dear Friends,
2021 was a challenging year, with Covid 19 restricting our movements and the war in Burma temporarily suspending our activities in Karen State. Nevertheless, we persevere. 2022 brings continued treatment in the refugee camps for DARE Network Teams and we are now engaged in bringing humanitarian aid in addition to Prevention Education to 15 villages in the district of our DARE Centre in Karen State.
We are attaching for your interest our 2021 Evaluation Report for the Refugee Camps. Our evaluation for Karen State was impossible to conduct without great danger to our staff. Updates soon.
all best
DARE Network
DARE Network is all about giving. Our Refugee Addiction Workers give everyday to their own people the power of new life through freedom from drugs and alcohol. This freedom creates opportunities for work, education, prosperity, respect and a chance of happiness.
We are inviting you our wonderful donors to also give to our program in this very difficult year on the Thai/Myanmar border and inside Myanmar for all the people who are suffering, as you from Covid19, and more from the war that rages in their country.
Giving Tuesday, November 30 from 00:00 to 24:00 Eastern Standard Time is the time to show your support to our work. At this time GlobalGiving is matching all donations from their $1 million pot. The more you give, the more DARE Network gets.
"If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody." ~Chinese proverb
When we make someone happy, we become even happier. If you decide yourself that you will help in some way, you will benefit the most because it will create amazing joy.-Unknown
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”Vincent Van Gogh
"Give cheerfully and freely. It is the energy behind the giving that matters so do not give grudgingly. The law of cause and effect guarantees that you shall receive plenty for what you give. - David Cameron Gikandi
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."
"When you learn, teach. When you get, give." - Maya Angelou
"There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else." - Peyton Conway March
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” - Lao Tzu
Great thank you to you. You make it all possible.
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