The Best Friend : Alms-bowl pamphleteer

The Best Friend Library Mae Sot (Thailand)

The Best Friend Library – Mae Sot is a library and information center operated completely through the efforts of volunteers and donations from supporters. It is a hotspot for Burmese migrants, refugees and interested people from all over the world who come here to learn...read more

Peace Campaign

The Best Friend Project’s Peace Campaign commenced in 2006 with a 29-day peace march from Cologne to Berlin led by Ashin Sopaka. Since then it has evolved into much more: from The Best Friend’s home in Mae Sot...read more

Rubbish Dump of Mae Sot

Along the Thai-Burma border the rubbish dump of Mae Sot, Thailand has become a refuge for many migrant families from Burma. Houses, constructed from bamboo and plastic materials currently exist at the rubbish dump...read more

Burma Voices

For decades, the people of Burma have been silenced by a brutal regime that cracks down every peaceful opposition with brutal force. The Burmese people can and want to speak out though, and recent technology has enabled them to do so better...read more

Saturday 20 October 2012

Alms-bowl pamphleteer

On the fifth floor of a building in Mae Sot, Thailand, King Zero welcomes young visitors. Like him, they come from Burma. Dressed only in a saffron robe, he fulfils one of his duties as a Buddhist monk: the transmission of the Dharma, the teachings of Buddha. He recites some traditional prayers and gives blessings to the young. They kneel before him three times. They may not know, but this thin, small man is on the Burmese government’s list of most wanted persons. [more on himalmag.com]

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