Our Project
We are translating childrens' books into Burmese and Karen, an ethnic Burmese language, and are fundraising to cover the costs of printing 400 copies of each book. They will be distributed to orphans as well as other displaced children in the Mae La refugee
camp on the Thai-Burma border.
The children there, many of whom we have visited in the camp in the past few years, will benefit greatly from this project, due to the limited availability of educational resources in the boarder region. Additionally,our personal contacts and relationship
with students and educators in and around Mae La make it the perfect place to pioneer this project.
The Books
Initially we will start with The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Swimmy by Leo Lionni, and Everybody Farts by Lynda White, as we believe these have a universal moral or comedic message. If our funds exceed what is necessary to print 400 copies of each, we
will select additional books (Please make suggestions of your favorites in the comments section below!) for children in Mae La and other nearby education centers.
Mae La
Mae La is a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar boarder. It is home to 50,000 Burmese refugees. They cannot leave the camp, unless they chose to return to Myanmar, and are prevented from farming or working. The residents receive only rice, cooking oil, and fish
paste rations. Within the camp, there are many schools and orphanages for displaced children, but they have very few resources. During all of our visits to one of the orphanages within Mae La, the caretaker has expressed their need for books. This is what
inspired the Books Across Borders project, along with our own passion for reading that we'd like to instill in children everywhere.
Please read our
Venture page more information about our aims and our team!
