Prospect Burma has received many enquiries about the current situation. Our students, their families, and the people of Burma are at the front of our thoughts and prayers as we continue to hope for a peaceful solution.
Prospect Burma was formed 18 years ago just after the 1988 uprising to keep the flame of education alive for Burma. Over that time we have helped to educate over 1000 Burmese students many of whom have gone on to help Burma both from within and outside Burma. We support a teacher training programme in Thailand, training teachers who in turn go into Burma and train more teachers, an English language school in Mai Ja Yang and in Delhi. We are endorsed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who donates funds from her Nobel Peace Prize towards the education of Burmese students. You can read more about our activities on the website but as we hope and pray for Burma we end with the words from one of our students.
" Prospect Burma's scholarship changed my whole life. Without it, I would not have been able to graduate. I dedicate my knowledge, skills and the rest of my life to work for the restoration of democracy, peace, justice and prosperity in Burma"
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Burmese refugees continue to cross the border into India in large numbers, hoping to find a better life after the poverty, civil strife and injustice they have left behind. Many end up in Delhi, seeking refugee status from the UN High Commission for Refugees. But what they often find is further hardship; a very small allowance from the UNHCR, discrimination from employers, and intense difficulty in building a new life. In 2003 the UNHCR began phasing out its subsistence allowance to these refugees who are therefore facing a most bleak and perilous existence. |
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Many of the 1988 generation of student protesters and refugees whom we first helped to obtain qualifications have now rebuilt their lives. Some of our students are able to return to Burma after their studies and now work with health and education non-governmental organisations. Others work outside Burma, many of them on Thai/Burma border helping with Burmese refugees in education and health, others remain overseas adding to their qualifications or building a career. but with their eyes continually fixed on Burma and exploring ways in which they can help their country until they themselves are able to return. Our current students come from all over Burma, some apply to us whilst they are still in the country, others have already left Burma to seek an education denied to them in their own country, and all are committed to return to their country when they can.
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PB News Issue No. 4, Autumn 2001
On May 6 2001, Joanna Lumley broadcast an appeal on Radio 4 on behalf of Prospect Burma. This is what she said:
"Burma is a Buddhist and deeply spiritual land in southeast Asia that once had proud educational traditions. This came to a brutal end in the summer of 1988 when the military government crushed the protests of students whose only crime was to ask for democracy. Hundreds of students were killed. Thousands more were forced to flee their homes and country.
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Education is our life, our hope, our future, our peace, our tomorrow.
So many people are now visiting Burma and return home touched by the experience. We recently had a generous donation and message to say "Our family enjoyed a cycling tour of Burma last autumn, and as a result of what[…] 
