Expedition to Mae Sot - Setting Out

Maria Kennedy is a West Cork primary school teacher, married to Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking with two fine sons (15 and 13), daughter and her family, and with a passion for travel, people and adventure.

Maria is travelling from West Cork to a Burmese refugee camp in Mae Sot across the border from Burma in Thailand.

During a month-long stay she will be working with the Burmese migrant community in Mae Sot and supporting some local child-related cause.


This is her blog:


Sunday 24 June 2012: This trip began with me doing an online TEFL course last year and then getting a notion of using it in a voluntary capacity during the summer. My brother, a Columban priest, has a colleague who had worked with Burmese refugees teaching English in a place called Mae Sot on the Thai/Burmese border. I decided to go there for a month, and started doing some fundraising. Father Alo gave me some contacts and lots of practical advice to help me get something organised. I recently met a wonderful woman from Bantry, Aoife Dare, who lives and works in Mae Sot, who gave me some great contacts there also.

At the moment it looks like I will be working with the migrant Burmese community in Mae Sot, but all will be revealed when I get there. I have raised over €2,000 thanks to the generosity of my friends and community in West Cork and am told that will be a lot of money there. It will all go directly to fund some practical local child related cause.

It's an adventure that will reveal itself as it happens, so it seemed like a perfect time to begin a blog. Thanks to Stephen and Terry of IWS International for hosting it for me and making it so easy!

Right now, I'm in Cork airport armed with The Times, The Examiner, two new books and glacier mints ... Life is good!

Thanks to everyone who has supported the cause and helped me get this far ... So far so good!

If you want to make a donation towards the work that Maria and others like her are doing with the Burmese refugees than please click on the Donate button:

One of several refugee camps around Mae Sot