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Myanmar . Sangkhlaburi is a small town of wooden houses napping on the shore of a large reservoir , so well-made it resembles a real lake . The town skyline is surrounded by green hills , dominated by a Buddhist temple ’ s golden dome . Under the big wooden bridge , connecting the two shores , small floating boats swing quietly . The population is a mix of Mon and Karen , the main ethnic groups who repeatedly fled from Myanmar for decades , now living together with Thai natives .
We came here to meet Tom and Lynda , an English couple who left everything to be volunteers for Children of The Forest .
Founded by their son around fifteen years earlier , Children Of The Forest now hosts around one hundred and fifty children , and includes a school , a clinic , and a house for women in need . Tom explained that the foundation ’ s purpose is to give children the instruction needed to access Thai education so that they can obtain citizenship . The heart of the matter is that these children , although they ’ re born in Thailand , keep their parent ’ s refugee status which means no rights , unless they pay substantial
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