BTI Graduate Teaching in Burmese Refugee Camp

During his address at BTI’s graduation celebration several weeks ago, BTI Dean Dr Andrew Smith revealed that BTI had been presented with an opportunity to serve, once more, beyond New Zealand. “We look forward to working with a group of Christian teachers and prospective teachers from the Karen people who at this point in time live in refugee camps in Thailand because they have been ousted from their homes in Burma.”

Recent political changes in Burma paint the future in more promising tones and Andrew expressed BTI’s hope that, “the Karen people can return to their homes and develop schools and communities in their homeland.” BTI is currently exploring exactly what form our teacher education support will take, and how to best meet the needs of this group of people.

Graham Cook, who recently graduated with a BTI primary teaching degree, will next week travel to Thailand, to spend 6 months in the refugee camps as BTI’s on- the-ground representative. It’s not your average first time teaching position, but then Graham is not your average guy. Three years ago, Graham left a dream job in adventure tourism in order to study to become a primary teacher. “I was working in the Bay of Islands,” explains Graham. “Life was pretty easy. For me everything was free from the top of the North to the bottom of the South. It was all very easy, and it was boring, you know. I needed more.”
After some reflection, Graham realised that teaching was that ‘more’. He says, “When people asked me why I wanted to teach I would say, ‘I want to teach the children nobody else wants, you know the ones who have been left behind by the system.’ Here I am three and a half years later, and I’m going to teach children in a refugee camp who have been persecuted by a regime. I was kind of thinking small, and God sort of blew that out of the water. That’s why I teach – to give hope to children.”

Graham knows that he is going into a difficult environment, and it’s clear he has done his homework on the history of the region. “Burma is the second most corrupt country in the world…and it’s also the second poorest nation in Asia behind Afghanistan,” he explains. “There’s currently 180,000 people in the refugee camps, 44,000 children, and they have had to endure all sorts of things from systematic torture, rape, forced labour camps - any war atrocity that you can name…so it’s a pretty troubled region. They are wanting to try and raise up some teachers in these camps to help all of these people.”

Graham has worked and saved the necessary money to support himself in Thailand for the duration of his time there. After all his planning, and despite the natural nerves surrounding a plunge into the unknown, Graham is feeling ready to go. “I’m feeling excited. Excited, nervous, anxious – afraid in a good way but trusting 100% in God that he has my best interests at heart, and he has things for me to do there.”

Graham has set up a travel blog where he will post updates as often as possible. While he does not need any financial support himself, Graham is going to let us know if there are any resources that the students need, and set up a way where people can donate money towards fulfilling those needs if it is on their heart to do so.

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