Vardan Tadevosyan

Vardan Tadevosyan is the director of 'The Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre' in Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabagh. He lives in Stepanakert with his wife and two daughters aged 2 and 8.

"In January 1999, I came to work in the disused war-damaged building which Baroness Cox had founded as the future rehabilitation centre. I had previously been working in Yerevan where I was Head Educator and Lecturer in the International Post-Trauma Rehabilitation Centre. Seven years on the centre has treated over 1000 patients with a wide range of conditions. At the heart of my work is an emphasis on teamwork. I have trained my own staff in physiotherapy. Patients can also receive speech and psychological therapy and there are opportunities to do ceramic and art work, wood carving, information technology and music. These may be purely therapeutic but can also greatly improve the patients’ occupational prospects."

SaSa

“I am SaSa from the Chin Hills of Burma. I was born in a very small village called Lialaipi, Chin State Western Burma. My Mom did not know my date of birth but  I am lucky because my school teacher gave me my date of birth.

I finished middle schooling in my native village since there was no more schooling after the middle school. I left my village for Rangoon, the Capital City of Burma in order to attend high school. I finished my high School education in 1997 and became the school teacher after realizing my friends in the Chin villages have no teachers.

In 1999 I came to the India Burma border. After 7 days of walking on foot, I arrived in a safe place. I found my way further inside India from where I my secondary schooling had been conducted, which finished in 2002. I have many stories to tell from those days.

In 2002 my villagers sold all their cows, hens and pigs. The proceeds of which, allowed me to travel to Armenia in order to study the medicine.

Now I am in my final year of studying medicine for my people who have suffered so much under the brutal regime of Burma for the last 47 Years. The on-going Chin State famine has continued to kill my people.

Graciously, HART has helped me to help my peoples to survive from this deadly famine which have already killed hundreds.

HART helps the famine victims as well supports the clinics opened in the India Burma border where my people can come for the medical attention which they desperately need”.

Cheery

HART helps the Chin people of north-western Burma, with support for clinics in the India borderlands and funding for cross-border medical work. Cheery is one of our Chin friends.

“Since 1962, when the military dictatorship took power, the Chin have lost all hope of self-determination. I was a kid when the 1988 student uprising happened in Burma. I joined the demonstration along with my auntie, one of the student leaders. There we heard that many students were killed by the military soldiers while peacefully demonstrating to demand democracy and freedom.

So I grew up with the idea that the soldiers would kill anyone who stood against them. I remembered Daw Aung San Su Kyi condemning the military dictators. My whole family supported and was eager to vote for her. I later came to know that she was put in jail. I did not join University after high school because I knew that I would learn only the regime’s perspective and I would not be able to talk about the reality of the people in my country.

I came to India in 1999 and met with some Chin women in exile. I volunteered as a school teacher, where I taught Chin and Burmese because those Chin children can no longer speak or write these languages. The regime doesn’t allow the teaching of Chin language at schools in Chin State. Later in India, I worked with the Chin Women’s Organisation as a volunteer. I learnt the terms: human rights, constitution, democracy, freedom of expression.

Although the Mizo people of India do not want us here, I know that Chins cannot go back to Burma because the military authorities are ready to persecute their own people. Violence, persecution, witnessing people dying in the jungle with little or no access to medical care —these are my everyday experiences. But I am happy to be here, committing whatever little strength I have to my people.”

Cheery now works with the Women's League of Chinland (WLC).

Victor Biak Lian

Victor Biak Lian has been working for the democracy movement in Burma since 1988. As a University student in Rangoon University, he took part in the pro-democracy uprisings in 1988 and led his fellow Chin students in the demonstrations. After being arrested twice for his activities as a student leader in Burma, Victor was forced to flee Burma. He fled to India where he was eventually resettled to Canada as a UNHCR refugee.

In exile, Victor has continued to be actively involved in the struggle for democracy in Burma. To raise international awareness about the serious human rights abuses committed against the Chin people, Victor co-founded the Chin Human Rights Organization, which continues to be a key advocacy organization for the Chin people. Victor is also a founding member of the Chin Forum and the Chin National Council, which is a coordinating body of the Chin Democratic Forces that base in Mizoram, Aizawl. Over the years, he has served with various organizations dedicated to the plight of the Burmese people, including the National Reconciliation Programme of the Union of Burma and the Ethnic Nationalities Council. Victor is currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) was established in 1995, and registered as not for profit organization in Canada as it is impossible to legally register in Burma or its neighboring countries India or Bangladesh. As part of its efforts to restore democracy and human rights to Burma, the CHRO has been independently documenting human rights violations perpetrated by Burma's military regime against the Chin of Burma. Abuses such as racial discrimination, forced labour, rape, and religious persecution are commonplace for the Chin as well as many other peoples in Burma. CHRO produces a news bulletin six times a year, which is disseminated to human rights institutions and individual supporters around the world. Accordingly, CHRO has become a key advocate internationally for the support of the Chins and people from Western Burma, those living in Burma as well as those living as refugees in other countries.

Shan Women's Action Network

The Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) is a network of Shan women active in Thailand and along the Thai-Burma border. Its mission is to work for gender equality and justice for Shan women in the struggle for social and political change in Burma through community-based actions, research and advocacy.

SWAN was set up on 28 March 1999 by a group of Shan women active in Thailand and along the Thai- Burma border seeking to address the needs of Shan women. In fact, before the formation of SWAN, Shan women in various locations had already been active in a number of projects to assist women. Even though informal networks were in place, it was felt that more could be achieved, in addressing both practical and strategic needs of Shan women, if a more concrete network among the various women could be formed.

This Shan women's network would also be able to coordinate with other women's organizations from Burma, as well as GOs and NGOs working with women locally, nationally and internationally.

Dr Rosaria Martins da Cruz

In East Timor HART has been supporting a primary health care clinic; Hiam Health. The clinic gives support to the patients and out-patients at Dili National Hospital. In particular it aims to help those in extreme poverty who have no means of support while they are in hospital and away from their villages.

Coordinated by Rosaria Martins da Cruz, HIAM-Health continues the work started by the Karidade-Health organisation, which had been inspired by the voluntary work of Rosaria at the hospital.

After Karidade-Health was forced to withdraw support, she continued to work alone as a volunteer with minimal support for six months until alternative sources of financial support for the service became available. The continuation and success of the program was achieved largely due to the tenacity of Rosaria and her willingness to work initially without wages, in the hope that a donor organization might be found.

In January 2004 the name of the organisation was changed to HIAM-Health (HIAM being an abbreviation of the East Timorese words Hamutuk Ita Ajuda Malu or "Together we help each other"). The organisation, which had previously been registered as an International NGO (INGO) was formally registered as a 'Local NGO' run by a Timorese.

Bishop Ben Kwashi

Bishop Ben Kwashi coordinates the medical programmes and the Christian Institute for further education and professional training in Jos, the capital of Plateau State. HART assists with these medical programmes as well as the Christian institute which provides for both Men and Women, professional training in vitally important subjects such as maternal and child health.

Born in September 1955, he studied at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria and was ordained in 1982. He has worked in rural and urban areas. In 1987 his church and home were totally burnt down in religious riots. In 1992 he was consecrated and enthroned as Bishop of Jos.

Under his leadership many Junior and Secondary Schools have been established as well as effective health care programmes, reaching out to many in need, including a very large number of HIV/AIDS patients – whatever their religion. Bishop Kwashi is married to Mrs. Gloria Ladi Kwashi; they have six children.

Bishop Elias Taban

Bishop Elias Taban co-ordinates the Orphanage, as well as the health and agricultural programmes supported by HART in Yei, Southern Sudan.

“My name is Bishop Elias Taban. I was born in the Southern Sudanese town of Yei in May 1955. Two hours after I was born over 50 men from the Yei police station were paraded, disarmed and gunned down by order of a Muslim northern Sudanese police officer. My mother escaped to the bush, where I was hidden for three days. At the age of 13 I was a child soldier in the first Sudanese liberation movement known as Anyanya.

Later I received a diploma in Civil Engineering as well as an advanced diploma in Theology. I speak five languages: English, Lingala, Arabic, Bari and Swahili. In 1990 I founded the Presbyterian Church in my province. In 2003 I was voted President of SEA, the Sudan Evangelical Alliance.

I am married with four adopted children who were orphans of the war. My wife supports me in Ministry, and holds a diploma in Theology. She leads the largest women’s church organisation in the area known as Christian Women Empowerment Program. My wife was previously a Captain in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army Movement, though now she dedicates her time to humanitarian causes with me.”

Christine

Christine works as the manager of the Orphan Rehabilitation Centre in Patongo, Northern Uganda.

Christine gained her degree in social work from Kampala University, Uganda. Christine and her family are native to Patongo and the north.

It was Christine who formulated the basic vision and plan, several years ago, for the Orphan Rehabilitation Centre.