In the summer of 1988, the whole Burmese nation rose in protest against the one-party system. Student-led demonstrations for democracy were brutally put down and thousands of people were killed by the authorities firing on unarmed protesters.

Within days, Aung San Suu Kyi became the focus of Burmese people's hopes, speaking out for human rights and multi-party elections. In response to the people's calls for democracy, the military government imposed martial law and closed all the universities.

Thousands of Burmese students fled across the border to Thailand in fear for their lives. In response to their plight, well-wishers set about raising money to send them basic provisions.

One was the businessman and philanthropist Alan Hall, Prospect Burma's first chairman, who gave the charity its name and its focus on education. In the early days we raised funds for books and classes in refugee schools, and awarded an annual scholarship to an exiled student to go to university, in protest at the military government's destruction of education within Burma.

In 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize, and since then she has donated part of the income from that and other prize money to us.

Her support, together with generous donations from other people and organisations, has meant we could expand our work with students dramatically.