In May 2025, I accompanied an education-focused monitoring visit to the Thai-Myanmar border in my role as Advocacy Coordinator at Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). It was my first time meeting our partners at Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), and it was a privilege to see their warmth, sacrifice and commitment in action.
We visited SWAN-supported nurseries and schools along the border, as well as orange and chilli farms where we met families who had recently migrated from Shan State, Myanmar into Thailand. They shared their testimonies in the hope that their stories would be heard and heeded. The above deeply resonated with me and continues to echo in my mind months later.
I returned with a deeper cultural and political understanding of the escalating humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. I also returned with a new appreciation for SWAN’s work as a critical bridge for undocumented families starting anew along the Thai-Myanmar border. Among the testimonies we gathered, there is a common thread: education is a lifeline. Never has it been so paramount and so at-risk following US and European cuts to aid.
Above all, I returned home with the pulse of testimony, gently but persistently, coursing through me. One young man, originally from Shan State and now a Thai teacher in a monastery, reflected on the responsibility of “knowing” and “sharing”. Personally, this message reaffirmed that human rights are underpinned by the responsibilities we owe to one another. Taking a moment to listen and to seek out the stories – unheard and untold – is the first step to fulfilling these responsibilities. Thank you to the families who trusted us with their stories.
Find out more about the impact of our local partners in Shan State in our latest visit report: Women’s Empowerment in Myanmar.
By Anaïs Arroyo, Advocacy Coordinator at HART