Projects to Support Refugees from Burma is a charity currently registered in Belgium. Since PSRB's chair has now moved to the UK it it has been registered as a charity there under the name Projects to Support Refugees from Burma, reg. charity no. 1139273
But its work remains the same, as does its engagement, which is simple and practical, and based on face-to-face meetings with those in need. PSRB's focus is humanitarian, educational, and where possible long-term and self-sustaining. And all expenses, including travel, are covered from private funds; accounts are as meticulous as possible. Nothing is wasted.
Unfortunately, the needs identified back in 1996 have not diminished, and are if anything growing.
The plight of Karen and Karenni refugees from Burma, warehoused and largely forgotten in nine sprawling, overcrowded camps along the Thai-Burma border, inspired a first visit to SE Asia; PSRB was founded soon after that, in 1996.
Since then our respect for the refugees - for their patience and courage and refusal to hate - has only grown, and we try to convey that admiration to the schools, organisations, churches and individuals in Europe and Japan which so generously support us.
PSRB's 15 year engagement with Burma has, lightened a few areas of darkness. But the situation remains bleak. The predominantly ethnic-Burman military junta in its new artificial capital Naypyidaw, the "State Peace and Development Council", has for several decades conducted one of most brutal ethnic cleansing campaigns anywhere in the world.
Despite extraordinary pressure, including an uprising by Buddhist monks, and determined efforts by both Presidents Bush and Obama, the predominantly ethnic-Burman military junta, the so-called "State Peace and Development Council" (SPDC), appears impregnable and intransigent in its newly-built artificial capital, Naypyidaw, some 300 miles from the capital, Rangoon, which has in effect been abandoned.
The regime's decades-long ethnic cleansing campaign continues, a war of attrition against the peoples who are not ethnically Burman and reject Burman pretension to rule over everyone else. A huge standing army routinely burns down the villages of ethnic minorities, forcing children as young as six to do forced portering.
There are roughly 2m "migrant workers" in Thailand, at the bottom of the social heap, and just able to scratch a living. In a sense they are the lucky ones. Life among the c. 500,000 "Internally Displaced Persons" (IDPs) across the border in Eastern Burma is often close to unbearable, with unmarked minefields and constant attacks and looting of villages. A Human Rights Watch report estimates that over 3,500 Karen and Karenni villages have been burned down since 1996; fields are then landmined and unworkable.
The choice for the villagers is stark: either to live like animals in the forests or to accept, a bleak, state-controlled existence in "relocation centres" with no rights or land.
Those who have managed to reach Thailand are relatively fortunate. However, Thai policy is not to accept that they are officially refugees (for fear of encouraging more of them), to send them back whenever possible, and to make life in the camps uncomfortable and restrictive, without access to mains electricity or phones. Visits are also severely restricted, as is aid in the form of food, education, and health-care, though there are signs that refugees may now be allowed to work.
Under a large-scale resettlement programme, mainly involving the US and Australia, some 77,000 UNHCR- registered camp inmates have been resettled at the time of writing November 10. Those who emigrate tend to be the most educated, often leaving community-based organisations in the camps in disarray.
A basic PSRB principle is to engage with people, to know in detail what really matters to them. This concern for actual lives has shaped the kind of projects PSRB supports, and its particular emphasis on educating and encouraging young people; it is an approach which has yielded some heartening success stories.
During 2009 PSRB received 21,224€. 39% was spent on grants to veterans and widows. 25% supported a primary school in Mae La camp as well as other school projects. 14% went to adult Christian education. 8% was spent on a women's project. 7% on humanitarian relief to IDPs, 5% was spent on landmine victims and clinic treatment, 12% went on material support to IDPs, 4% to especially gifted students and 3% to a landmine victims. All contributions to PSRB go straight to these projects, and are sent as soon as possible.
Special thanks to PSRB's faithful regular donors, among them Tokyo Union Church, Holy Trinity Brussels, Alois Peterle MEP, St Anthony's Kraiinem, All Saints Waterloo, St Paul's Tervuren, SOS Birma, Koekelare, Awareness Trust, Special Forces Benevolent Fund, and many generous individuals in Belgium and the United Kingdom.