Burmese Refugee Youth Prevent Addiction & Violence

It's that time of year again when the great volunteers of the Soi Dawgz Ultimate Frisbee Team in Chiang Mai and Bangkok spend their time and money to come to Mae La Refugee camp to share their skills with the DARE Network Teenager Teams. They usually show up with lots of donations of frisbees, Ultimate shirts, and loads of clothes collected from International schools in Bangkok.

Ultimate Frisbee is the ideal cool game for young people in the refugee camp.  We at DARE use this game to create an opportunity to share information about drugs and alcohol abuse to hundreds of teenagers and children, who are at risk for addiction because of years of confinement in the refugee camps on the Thai/Burma Border.  The game itself provides and outlet for the boredom and frustrations of camp life.  Both boys and girls have a chance to play together ensuring gender equality.  Their is no referee in Ultimate so disagreements on the field need to be resolved in "the spirit of the game", which develops excellent conflict resolution skills.

This year we are changing things up a bit.  Now that we have started our addiction programs back inside Burma, we feel that the young people in the villages in Karen State would also benefit from learning this great game.  To that end, our International volunteers will offer a training of trainers workshop in Mae La Refugee Camp in February.  

Our DARE staff will bring young refugee volunteers from 3 camps and we will also bring young volunteers from inside Karen State, Burma to learn how to teach the game.  That is a big undertaking. The day will be fun-filled, as both the International and Refugee volunteers work together to enrich the lives of teenagers and children on both sides of the border.

DARE is so appreciative of all the help from the Ultimate volunteers in Thailand but also thankful to all of you who donate at GlobalGiving to keep this project going.  It is making a big impact.

Links:

• DARE Website