Inter Pares and Burma
In efforts to address their own needs, displaced people from Burma have created organizations to deliver assistance programs and to represent the interests of their communities. It is these organizations that Inter Pares supports.
Our work with civil society organizations includes humanitarian services, health programs, women’s rights education and advocacy, human rights documentation and protection, and the development of independent media. Based in neighbouring countries, these organizations work independently of the regime’s control with communities in Burma and with those who have fled across borders. At home, we work with solidarity organizations to inform Canadians and to promote a role for Canada in restoring peace, human rights and democracy in Burma. With donations from thousands of Canadians, Inter Pares has been working with many of these organizations since 1992. We are also grateful for the support of the Canadian International Development Agency.
Rebuilding Communities in the Midst of War
Dr. Cynthia Maung
In 1988, when the military regime began killing and imprisoning democracy activists, Dr. Cynthia Maung joined the thousands of people fleeing to safety in Thailand. After just a few months, she and four other activists founded the Mae Tao Clinic (MTC) on the Thai border with Burma, in order to provide emergency health care for people escaping the crackdown.
Twenty years later, the MTC has expanded considerably. Services provided to displaced people from Burma include clinical care for adults and children, surgery, reproductive health care, primary eye care, prosthetics and rehabilitation for landmine victims, a laboratory and blood bank, and a dental clinic. In 2007, the clinic treated over 80,000 cases and delivered 2,117 babies. At least half the patients have travelled to the clinic from deep inside Burma.
Dr. Cynthia’s work is rooted in principles of public and community health. This means focusing on preventing conditions that could put health at risk, early detection of health problems, as well as changing individual and community attitudes and practices regarding lifestyle choices. MTC offers health worker training, counselling services, delivery certificates, housing for long-term patients, funeral services, migrant outreach health services, cross-border primary health care, and school health programs.
Dr. Cynthia is more than a physician. She knows that the military regime’s ongoing war against their own people is the root cause of these problems. She knows that the junta aims to destroy the social bonds that create community, and that her task as a healer must include maintaining and nourishing those bonds, rebuilding social cohesion in the midst of war. Inter Pares first began working with Dr. Cynthia and the Mae Tao Clinic in 1992, and we are proud to continue collaborating with such extraordinary community builders.
| Reviewed August 23, 2008 |  |
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