Gareth Morgan has agreed to match us dollar for dollar up to $30,000 a year with our fundraising for the new Tamil Nadu project. Thanks to hard work from UnionAID activists, and generous donations from our supporters, we are on track to meet that target for the first six months of the project. Our sincere thanks.
In Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border, new migrants from Burma are learning valuable work skills thanks to the Occupational Training Centre set up by the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) with support from UnionAID.
Yin Yin and La Ka Prae Moo crossed the border in the hope of finding work in Thailand and have come to the training centre to learn the sewing skills they need to get jobs.
Yin Yin, who is from the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma, said that life became hard after her village was hit by Cyclone Nargis and her family home was destroyed, so she decided to try to find a job in Thailand. She likes to sew and hopes to make a living by sewing when she returns to Burma. In the meantime she will get a job at a sewing factory in Thailand and save some money to take home.
La Ka Prae Moo comes from Karen state, where she said “it was very hard to survive”. Her family needed income, so she decided to come to Thailand in search of work. “My ambition is to save some money in Thailand for the next two years and then with my sewing skills and savings I will return to Burma to be a tailor.” She said that the sewing course was very useful, especially since it included learning how to sew details like collars and pockets.
As part of the course, the trainees learn about Thai labour laws and the role of workers’ organisations like the FTUB. The trainees are aware that employers don’t always follow the law and that workers’ organisations are there to help if there are problems. Yin Yin says that “learning about labour laws was good, but we don’t know yet what it will be like in practice, because we are new here”. As La Ka Prae Moo added, “if we have problems at work we know we can contact the trainer and also to the workers’ organisations.”
Nick Henry
An online database has been developed with the help of Susan Iversen of Karo Data Management in Wellington. This will provide statistical information to evaluate the Tamil Nadu economic development project.
To gather this data a small survey was designed in collaboration with project directors in India. This covers demographic data and three measures which will identify changes to: a) daily income b) household indebtedness and c) school attendance for boys and girls. It was decided that these three ‘indicators’ would be a simple way to provide evidence of improvement in the lives of participants without making too much extra work for the project staff.
Because the majority of participants are illiterate the information is collected orally. The data is then entered onto the LimeSurvey database by staff in the Labour Union’s Madurai office. Twenty five surveys can be entered free each month and Karo has generously sponsored another 2000 extra entries. To date 528 surveys have been completed and data entered for agricultural workers and basket weavers who have signed up to the first two co-operatives.
Mouth watering Indian and South Asian recipes: discover the delights of Burmese cookery. All ingredients available locally.
Only $10 from Wellington Moore Wilsons Fresh, Maranui Cafe , Queen Sally’s Diamond Deli or order online at:
unionaid.org.nz/2011/09/order-a-cookbook/
It has been a very successful year for UnionAID. We have established new projects in India, Sri Lanka, and the Thai-Burma border, and we are working on possible projects in Vanuatu and Samoa.
It is exciting that the new projects have been able to build on our earlier training and capacity building to now develop cooperatives and micro-enterprises in Tamil Nadu, and skills development of Burmese migrant families in Mae Sot. These are innovative projects led by our very competent and resourceful project partners. It is great that we are also able to fund 20 scholarships to provide vocational skills to young people graduating from the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma High School in Mae Sot.
A new project in 2012 in Eastern Sri Lanka will assist Tamil women, in garment factories being established in areas previously affected by the civil war, to establish a support centre and organise as a union. These factories are in Free Trade Zones where working conditions are tough. Our partner there is very excited about the potential benefits from this project.
These projects have to be funded of course and, through some very hard work by our team of volunteers, and a steadily increasing number of Kiwi Solidarity Members making monthly donations, we have been successful in almost doubling our funds raised this year. This has also meant that we are well on track to be able to take up the generous $1 for $1 commitment from Gareth Morgan for our Tamil Nadu project.
So a very warm thanks to all our volunteers and supporters. As you can see from the stories in this newsletter, your contributions are making a real difference.
Ross Wilson
Executive Chair, UnionAID
The UnionAID raffle has been drawn under Police supervision and the following were the prize winners:
Congratulations!
UnionAid is planning a study tour to Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border from the 23rd to the 28th January 2012
As well as visiting the new UnionAID Occupational Skills Training Centre the study tour will be a unique opportunity to talk to Burmese people on the border about their hopes and aspirations for a democratic Burma, to learn about international aid and development and the work of UnionAID partner the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma, and other groups fighting for a democratic Burma.
The study tour is designed for people with a genuine interest in international aid and development, and the Burmese situation. UnionAID is looking for people who will use the experience to learn, share and educate when they return home. Solidarity members of UnionAID will get priority.
Expressions of interest welcome.
For more information please download the programme and application form – Burma Study Tour or email: rossw@nzctu.org.nz
UnionAID has been successful in obtaining another excellent Oscar nominated film as a UnionAID fundraiser. Winner of nine audience awards at festivals the world over, including the 2010 Sundance film festival, Waste Land is a truly inspiring and moving film about celebrated New York artist Vik Muniz’s work with Rio garbage pickers on an ambitious art project in his native Brazil.
Monday 5 September
8.00pm
Paramount Cinema
Courtney Place
Tickets $20 available from insidejob5@xtra.co.nz
All proceeds to UnionAID projects
See www.unionaid.org.nz and join us on Facebook
The fifth issue of Solidarity, the newsletter of the Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust, is available below. This issue introduces you to some of the people helping to organise more than 30,000 people in dalit and tribal communities in Tamil Nadu.
