Thailand Acted

From newcomer to leader: an inspiring woman emboldening her camp community

Quietly sheltering from the midday sun in the shade of her bamboo terrace, Rebeca, reserved yet smiling, invites us to join her.

Rebeca, 45, arrived in the camp with her husband Lawrence and their three children in 2004, fleeing the violence of a protracted conflict; they are now counted among the 45,562 unregistered refugees of Ban Mae Surin camp.

Given the struggles which many camp residents face through not having any real way of integrating into the labour market outside of the camp, ACTED works with people like Rebeca to provide job skills, self-reliance and livelihood opportunities.

Interested and extremely motivated to join not one, but all the courses, Rebeca enrolled and graduated from courses in advanced computer skills, hair therapy and food processing. Following each course, she completed a 4-8 week long internship in the field from which she received a certificate. “I was interested in doing an internship to learn more about the working condition and situation in Myanmar, to be able to compare between here and there, but also to get practical firsthand experience,” said Rebeca.

Today, Rebeca is a dynamic and supportive member of the community, where she plays an active role in Camp Committee office, supports her children in their education and participates in the “community market” every Wednesday. These markets serve as an income generating activity for camp residents but also as a way for graduates to put their newly gained skill into practice, she cheerfully prepares and sells food. “It is a very good activity as it is not only good for our health but it also helps us to become self-sufficient,” said Rebeca.

Thanks to her drive and enthusiasm, Rebeca has become a reference to all camp residents. “I am a role model for others residents. They look at me and feel motivated,” said Rebeca.

When asked if she considers returning to Myanmar, she replies that her biggest dream is rather to be reunited with her husband in Australia. This is the reason why she has been waiting for her case to be processed ever since her husband was resettled there two years ago. In the meantime, she keeps herself busy with raising her children along with the cooking competition she has been winning every year for the past ten years. She does her best to practice the skills she has acquired on a regular basis so that when the time comes for her to leave the camp, she can secure employment  and reunite with her husband.

I am a role model for others residents. They look at me and feel motivated.

Rebeca

This article relates to the European Union funded project “Vocational training in Transition” (VTiT), that aims to support refugee communities in Thailand, particularly youth, that have never worked outside of camp contexts. ACTED is addressing these challenges through offering learning and vocational trainings courses.

European union
Privacy

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful, so we can improve your browsing experience and the information made available.

You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

According to the French law N• 78-17 of 6 January 1978 on computing, data and liberties (CNIL), all users who has deposited nominal information either directly or indirectly, may ask for the submission of this nominal information through a request to Acted Data Protection Officer either by email or in written to Acted DPO, 33, rue Godot de Mauroy, 75009 Paris, France – and have them edited or suppressed.

Terms and conditions of the Acted website are available here.

Manage Your Cookies

Enabling the Strictly Necessary Cookie allows us to save your preferences for cookie settings and ease your browsing experience with us.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.