Stationery Support
Since 2016 BCMF has regularly received requests for stationery supplies, teaching aid, and materials, from remote schools primarily in Karen State, Burma, and from migrant learning centres on the Thai-Burma border.
The schools in Burma, receive minimal support from their local government and face difficulty receiving support from students' parents who are either subsistence farmers or low-income earners. Additionally, stationery items are not available for purchase in many remote areas of Karen State. Each year, students or their parents who can afford to do so, travel several hours to the nearest town to purchase pencils, papers, and pens for the school year. Meanwhile in Thailand, most migrant workers struggle to cover all school related expenses for their children.
The Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) was established in 2006 in response to the increasing number of children on the Thai-Burma border who required complex medical treatment and surgery that is not available at local clinics or hospitals. Prior to BCMF being established, children who required surgery had their symptoms treated and lived either severely incapacitated lives or died prematurely as a result.