Earlier this year Suzie and I were privileged enough to be able to volunteer at Mae Tao Clinic as part of our medical elective. The work they do is incredible and helps so many thousands of Burmese refugees. Unfortunately they rely on donations to provide the services they do, and a lot of these have recently been withdrawn. We are going to be attempting the London to Brighton cycle on 17th September to help raise money. Please donate any little that you can for such a wonderful cause and we will attempt to not fall off our bikes.

The Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), founded and directed by Dr. Cynthia Maung, provides free health care for refugees, migrant workers, and other individuals who cross the border from Burma to Thailand. People of all ethnicities and religions are welcome at the Clinic. Its origins go back to the student pro-democracy movement in Burma in 1988 and the brutal repression by the Burmese regime of that movement. The fleeing students who needed medical attention were attended in a small house in Mae Sot.

Since 1989 MTC has grown, from that one small house to a large complex of simple buildings that provide a wide variety of health services to different groups of people. Today it serves a target population of approximately 150,000 on the Thai-Burma border. Exact numbers are hard to calculate because of the fluidity of the population. About 50% of those who come to MTC for medical attention are migrant workers in the Mae Sot area; the other 50% travel cross-border from Burma for care.

If you want to find out anything more about Mae Tao and the work they do visit http://maetaoclinic.org

THANKS!

Hannah & Suzie xxx