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Grassroots-HRE
Kyaw Thein Kha
June 15, 2009

Traditionally, youth are not given a voice in society. They are taught to be quiet and not have opinions. Saturday there was lots of laughter, noise and viewpoints coming out of the Youth Outreach Office as representatives from all the learning centers came together for a children’s forum that was youth-centered and youth-led. Grassroots-HRE held the Children’s Forum of migrant children in KKhuk Khek village, Takuapa township of southern Thailand on the 13th of June 2009.

Ms. Nan Nilar, the program organizer, told about the purpose of the Children’s Forum. “We want the student representatives from all the GHRE schools to meet with each other and share their experiences and any needs they have in their schools. They can evaluate the progress in their schools and they can find out how they can work further improvements. That’s the purpose of the program. If we hold a monthly children’s forum, the student representatives from a school will have a chance to know what’s happening in the other schools. Then, we hope that they can exchange the information among themselves. Another outcome is they’ll have confidence in themselves and be able to talk in front of people bravely. “

Although the teachers took part in leading past forums, this year nine teenage students from Youth Outreach planned activities, led the forum and arranged everything for themselves with the support of Ms. Nan Nilar and their teachers.

Tun Thit Soe, 15 years old and a student of Youth Outreach, said, “In this forum, I took the role that would make the children happy and I led in the game activities. We organized the programs so that the children would feel free to talk bravely. The nine student representatives from Youth Outreach organized this program.” He added, “I’m proud of myself and our activities, and I’m happy.”

Tun Thit Soe said that he wanted all the students of migrant workers to study until the end of their education. He urged all of them to unite and to try until they have the qualities of a leader.

Ms. Linette Escobar, an American volunteer who attended the first forum in 2006 said, “This is a revolutionary moment for Grassroots! It is beautiful to remember teaching in our learning centers with no walls to seeing the youth blossom as leaders. I am so proud of the young people for taking the lead in this way and for GHRE in supporting youth development principles by giving young people a meaningful opportunity to make changes in their community.”

Lae Lae Htway, 12 years old and a student of Pakarang village said, “I come from Pakrang Primary School of Migrant Children. I’m happy to attend the Children’s Forum and I have a chance to make new friends. I reported about positive and negative aspects of my school in the forum. For the good aspects, I reported that we have a garden in our school, the students listen to their teachers and I reported about some other things, too. I like all the programs in this Children’s Forum.”

In total, 32 student representatives from all the schools in Phang Nga province, such as Kok Kloy, Thaplamu, Ban Neing, Pakarang, Par Weep and Kuraburi villages, attended the Children Forum. The day started at 10 am with information and bonding games and the students reported positive and negative aspects of their schools. All the representatives exchanged their experiences with each other and they played games and activities. The program ended at 2 pm.

Grassroots-HRE has held such forums since 2006. This is the third year that GHRE held the forum it will hold monthly forums all year.