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There
is a fairly large population of refugees from Burma living in seven
refugee camps in Thailand near the Thai/Burma border. The camps have
been in existence for roughly 50 years, and they are the focus of
considerable aid efforts by many NGOs in the Mae Sot area. Because the
refugees are restricted to the refugee camps, they are not able to
fully support themselves according to their traditional way of life,
and they require aid in practical matters of day-to-day subsistence
(fuel for cooking, water, soap, etc.). |
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are many efforts underway to provide education, both vocational and
general, to the refugees. The goal of these efforts is to empower the
refugee community by providing its members with “hands-on” practical
knowledge as well as the ability to successfully interact with the
industrialized world, and perhaps even to improve the lot of their
people in Burma. |
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Mission:
| BGET’s
work with ongoing refugee camp trainings is both a vocational and
general education endeavor. The curriculum for the project includes the
following renewable and sustainable energy technologies: hydraulic ram
pumping, micro-hydro power systems, solar electricity, solar-powered
water pumping, and solar cooking. |
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In
general, training activities include as much “hands-on” work as
possible, although there is a group of engineering students in Mae La
camp (Engineering Study Program, or ESP students) for whom more
theoretical training is also appropriate. There are two main goals of
the project: 1; it is intended to enable the refugees to take advantage
of renewable energy technologies to improve their quality of life
within the camps, and 2; provide the skills for them to use these
technologies after leaving the camps (whether back in Burma or
elsewhere). |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 09 November 2007 )
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