Littlehampton student returns to refugee camp

Former Littlehampton Academy student Rebecca Byatt, 18, will spend a month helping to brighten the lives of young Burmese refugees, who have fled their country into neighbouring Thailand.

She is now busy raising as much money as possible for her visit to the No Poe refugee camp, for the persecuted Burmese minority group, the Karen.

Rebecca, of Arun Close, said: “I want to better the children’s lives. They really haven’t got much.

“The children there are so cute and have been through so much. It makes you realise just how lucky you are.

“When I went there in 2009 I said that I would come back to them. Everyone makes promises that they break. I don’t.

“Some day I hope to live out there permanently and help these children.”

Rebecca will be joining a group of eight Littlehampton Academy students, along with the school’s chaplain, Paul Sanderson, for the mercy mission, arranged by the humanitarian charity the Cred Foundation.

Together, they will help to support the Karen refugees by teaching youngsters basic English and providing them with essential, education supplies.

The group will have to contend with a three-day trek through the leafy jungle of Thailand’s Umphang District to reach the camp.

Living conditions there are basic, with hundreds of huts constructed from forest bamboo, scattered across the site.

Paul said: “Rebecca went with us two years ago and she has been desperate to come back, ever since. So we’re more than happy for her to come out with us.

“The camp is designed to house about 5,000 people, but in reality it holds closer to 8,000 refugees.

“We just want to show them that people from across the world are thinking about them.”

Rebecca, who also works as a part-time volunteer with a project in Wick run by the charity Spurgeons, helping disadvantaged children in the area, will be hosting a fund-raising event tomorrow (Friday) at Occasions Nightclub, in Worthing, from 7.30-11pm.

The evening will include a range of fun-filled activities from raffles to races and even a quiz.

Tickets are £2, with all the money raised being split equally between Spurgeons and the Cred Foundation.

“All of the money raised will help Spurgeons to buy Christmas presents for the children, as often this time of year is rarely a joyful one for them,” said Rebecca. “It will also help us to buy toys, books and clothes for the refugees.”

Rebecca hopes to eventually spend a year helping refugees.

The Karen are the largest minority group in Burma. Most live in Karen state, in the east of the country.

In the last decade, about 100,000 have fled Burma into Thailand and live in camps along the country’s western border.