Friday, August 29, 2008

The Mirror Art Group: Making Waves in the Mountains


Working north of Thailand, Chiang Rai, The Mirror Art Group focuses on projects and programs that aims to help the hilltribe peoples of Mae Yao sub-district to combat their everyday struggles with unemployment, poverty, drug addiction and lack of Thai citizenship. The group also work to provide the skills, education and support to hilltribes of Mae Yao that prepare them to adapt and co-exist with lowland Thais without sacrificing their cultural identity.

The Mirror Art Group has one of the largest Internet presence within the Thailand NGO community.
Their well designed IT Development Program uses the internet to create a community to bring in volunteers, create funds, and develop projects. With six of their acitve core members being women working from web design, to e-commerce or leading volunteer teachers to the hill tribes, this group of young artists is trully making waves in the mountains for the hill tribes of Northern Thailand! They also design websites for other NGOs, to raise funds and spread information about the hilltribes to the rest of the world. What an awesome way to use your creativity and pile up the good deeds!

Here are some of the projects: (Taken from their website)

Backtohome.org - Missing Persons Locator
Throughout Thailand, economic and societal changes have created a migration pattern of individuals leaving the safety of their villages. In this migration, some people lose contact with family or disappear as a result of more sinister causes. Backtohome.org attempts to re-unite disappeared people with their loved ones.. Backtohome.org is sponsored by the Asia Foundation.

Virtual Hilltribe Museum @ www.hilltribe.org
The cultures of highland ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia are changing rapidly as the hilltribe people become more incorporated into the lowland majority societies . The Virtual Hilltribe Museum is geared to documenting these cultures and their changes for the world to see. The Virtual Hilltribe Museum is sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Bannok TV
With changes in the new Constitution, local stations will soon have the right to broadcast pertinent, non-Bangkok-centric local programming. Bannok TV is a developing local-access television station set up by the Mirror Art Group to address the needs of the Mae Yao community, keep them abreast of relevant issues, give positive media images to the hilltribe youth and address the lack of knowledge about the hilltribes in modern Thailand.

Project to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children
Every child has the right to happiness and to grow up in a safe environment. Unfortunately, among the poor of Northern Thailand, especially the hilltribes, this right is often not realized. The cities in Northern Thailand are full of children who have left school as early as the fouth grade to struggle earning money for their family. Worse yet, the extreme poverty of the region is fertile ground for those wishing to traffic women and children to wealthier areas of the country and the world.

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