We desperately need your help to feed 1,000 Burmese refugee children, who will otherwise face malnutrition.

Sponsor food for a child for £3 a month. or scroll down to learn more

This is an URGENT appeal for 1,000 children who were helped by our HungerBusters campaign in 2010. Now, that money has run out, and unless we can help again, they will become hungry. This is a CRISIS for these children, and nobody will help but us.

Refugee Children in the Mae Sot area of North West Thailand face malnutrition on a daily basis. Malnutrition amongst refugees is so severe that 1 child in 5 has retarded growth and 1 in 10 is in decline (i.e very severely malnourished). We can't feed them all, but we have to keep feeding the 1,000 children we currently help.

Please send £3 per month to help us feed these children.

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Refugees

War between competing armies and state forces raged in the Karen province in Burma until the ceasefire of January this year.  Villages were torched; children witnessed brutality, rape, murder.  Boys are still being forced to become 'porters', i.e. child soldiers.  Tens of thousands of children have been sent across the border to escape; often walking for days to reach the safety of the Mae Sot region in Thailand.

Malnutrition

There is shelter for the children in Mae Sot, but no money, and little food. Research carried out by the Shoklo Malaria Research Institute revealed that half the refugee children are malnourished, 20% are severely malnourished, so that their growth is stunted, and 9% are in decline.

Education

The children go to school – some live in boarding schools. This is both the place where we can feed them, and their chance of a better future. Education is their escape route from poverty, but hungry children can't learn. Without an education, these kids have no future worth thinking about.

HungerBusters

We can't feed all the children, but we have made a commitment to 1,000.  We've been feeding them since 2010, but the money we raised then is running out. 

We URGENTLY need 1,500 people to give, on average,  £5 per month.  Some people will give £3 per month, some £7, and some will make a cash gift – it all adds up!

How your gift helps

The money raised by HungerBusters will:

- Provide nutritious lunches for 1,000 children in seven boarding schools. 

- Pay for the Dry Food Programme, which delivers basic rations to the same schools, providing each child with breakfast and dinner too.

Soe Naing arrived in Mae Sot on the Thai Burma border aged ten; and an outcast. His father had left home, and severe mental illness left his mother unable to care for him. He and his brother worked as farm labourers: they were exploited, frequently unpaid, invariably malnourished.

A place was found for him as a boarder at one of the schools supported by the Thai Children's Trust, and his life was transformed. He loves studying English and playing football, and he is well fed every day. Soe Naing dreams of growing up, getting a good job, and buying a house where his mother can live in safety. "My life," he declares, "is for my mother."

You can help feed children like Soe Naing for just £3 per month

Aid worker Joanna Flint explains why HungerBusters matters so much.

  • What's the Thai Children trust?

    We're the leading British charity focused on Thailand.  We've been doing it for about 30 years, and we know Thailand inside out.  We work through local agencies to get help straight to where it's needed.

  • Will my help really get to the kids?

    We work directly with those who feed the children. There are no 'middle men', so you know your donation goes straight to feed the children. We have a tiny office in the UK, so administration costs are kept as low as possible.

  • How much should I give?

    Anything you can donate will help. We would love to receive regular donations by direct debit, as then we know we can feed these children for as long into the future as they need us. However, if you would prefer to send a single donation now, it all adds up, and your help is urgently needed.

  • I haven't heard of the civil conflict in Karen State in Burma

    Few people have; it doesn't make the news. The most recent phase has been ongoing since 2006. Half a million people have been displaced, with 160,000 or more fleeing to Thailand. Bloodshed has been widespread, with villages torched, rapes, beatings, civilians gunned down, and children drafted as soldiers. Since January, there has been an uneasy ceasefire. We have no idea what the future holds, but it is likely that some of the displaced and orphaned children will never return home.

  • This is terrible, how can I tell other people about it?

    Sign up for our newsletter, and then pass it along to others. In it, you can read not just about the situation on the Burmese border, but about other children we are helping throughout Thailand.

  • Can my church/workplace/club/school fundraise?

    Yes, yes, yes, yes! We need all the help we can get. Please get in touch, and we'll assist you in making it happen.

Thank you for reading our appeal

This appeal page is to explain about the work for which we require sponsorship. To find out more about the Thai Children's Trust please visit our main website.

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© 2012 Thai Children's Trust

Registered Charity No. 1085407

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