MANILA: One of this year’s recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards hopes that the honour will help draw national and international attention to ongoing efforts to find lasting peace in Myanmar.
Lahpai Seng Raw, who was cited for her inspiring leadership to empower “damaged communities” in the midst of ethnic wars says she is promoting a non-violent culture of dialogue as a foundation for Myanmar’s peaceful future.
The country may have taken measures towards a more open and democratic future – it has ended its isolation, freed Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees, and instituted a civilian government.
But not many people are aware that ethnic wars continue to divide Myanmar and displace thousands of impoverished Burmese people.
Myanmar was ruled by a military junta until 2011 and is still undergoing transition to attain a more democratic rule. Fighting continues between the Kachin rebels and the military, with civilians caught in between and suffering most of the brunt of the war. Seng Raw is a ray of hope for thousands of displaced people in Myanmar. She is constantly providing support for displaced people through her Metta Foundation.
The foundation addresses population displacement and emergency relief in the country’s conflict zones, starting in northern Myanmar, where fighting has already displaced over 70,000 people.
A daughter of a state-level public official and a teacher, Seng Raw finished psychology at Yangon University. Widowed early in life, she devoted her time to improve the living conditions of displaced people caught in the ethnic war while taking care of her only son. As a student, she experienced the military’s abusive rule when she was detained on suspicion that she communicated with her brother who was in the Kachin insurgency.
In 1987, she began to involve herself in relief work for displaced people in the Myanmar-China border. Moving to Bangkok in 1990, she then worked as development-in-charge officer in ROKA, the Kachin Independence Organisation’s humanitarian wing. In 1997, with the help of faith-based groups and non-government organisations (NGOs), Seng Raw took the bold step of establishing, in military-ruled Burma, the NGO called Metta Development Foundation.
Seng Raw’s main concern was for Metta to build trust among all stakeholders through united efforts in comprehensive, participative, long-term interventions.
In agriculture, Metta has established more than 600 farmer field schools, enabling over 50,000 farmers to improve the management of their farms and forests.
Metta also established schools and training centres in early childhood education.
The Philippine star
