We have some new missions we focusing on - Raising money for clean water
Helping internally displaced people on the border to eat
Supporting 40 students for basic food supplies and hygiene on the Thai- Myanmar border, with no supplies
Raising $10 per month for one person to have a plate of rice each day
see below for more details……..
Help the refugees
Raising money for basic food needs and medical care for refugees along the Thai/ Myanmar border
Myanmar refugees living in vulnerable communities simply cannot access the medical services they desperately need.
YOU can help!
The ‘Help the Refugees’ Project is dedicated to assisting with basic food and medical support for Thai refugee camps and those living along the border. During our mission trip in 2024-2025, we saw firsthand the lack of medical resources and lack of food supplies, and the situation has continued to be in crisis with more aid cut.
With medical care still in dire need, the refugee camps along the Thai Burma border have now been told from April to July, their rice ration funding has been cut from (equivalent) from AUS $12 to $4 per person per month. This means that these refugees already in dire need, are now without food for many weeks in each month.
This is a table set for 40 refugee students, and is their daily rice and basic ration. This has now been cut to a quarter of what they were otherwise receiving.
Everyday, in Myanmar, people are being attacked and driven from their villages in the hilltribe areas, and their villages are bombed and burnt down. They flee towards the border, with no other place to go. As of late 2024, over 3.5 million people are internally displaced within Myanmar, with significant concentrations in the Southeast, Northwest, and Rakhine State. This marks a record high since the military coup in February 2021, which triggered widespread armed conflict and humanitarian collapse.
The humanitarian crisis has been compounded by the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake in March 2025, which killed over 3,700 people and injured more than 5,000. The quake disrupted aid delivery and worsened food insecurity and health access for displaced populations.
We have partners who are going across the border to deliver food, water and supplies to several of these displaced people camps. In one camp, they have just arrived recently and have set up basic shelters, and when our partner arrived, they had no way of getting supplies to them. Our partner has to travel through by boat and motorbike to get there, and trucks have to go through checkpoints that can be very difficult to get through. We recently donated money that we raised for rice, oil, salt and fish cans and basic hygiene kits.
When I visited the Myanmar–Thailand border, I saw with my own eyes what no report can truly capture—the heartbreaking reality of families living with almost nothing. We met so many people, with so few resources. I had purchased some small hair clips and hair ties, and the children in the refugee camps jumped up and down to reach for them, treasuring them. One of the refugee ladies in Melbourne told me the story of when she was young and a Westerner came and gave her a small bracelet. She treasured that for over a decade, having such few belongings to call her own.
These familiews have fled violence with only the clothes on their backs. They had to leave their villages and their homes, many had been burnt or bombed. Just a little help from us can bring a world of hope to them.
Our Mission - Clean drinking water
Inside the remote mountains just across the Myanmar border, nearly 2,000 displaced people are trapped in just one area we have connections with. They are unable to cross into Thailand and unreachable by road. The only way to reach them is by boat, crossing the lake from Thailand, bringing whatever few supplies can be carried. These families—many with small children—are now surviving in makeshift shelters, exposed to the heat, thirsty and dehydrated. With no clean water available, they are drinking from a rudimentary rainwater collection system, heavily contaminated and unsafe. As a result, many are now suffering from waterborne diseases. Cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, and hepatitis A are all major risks in these conditions—painful, potentially deadly illnesses that spread rapidly in communities without access to clean water or sanitation.
Children are especially vulnerable. We saw firsthand the desperation in their eyes and the quiet suffering of those too weak to cry out. But hope is not out of reach. Our Mission is to raise AUS $2700 to supply a water filtration system to the refugees stuck on the border, so they can have clean drinking water.
A small donation—just a few dollars—can help deliver clean water, hydration salts, and basic medicine to these families. For them, it can mean the difference between life and death. For us, it's the simplest act of compassion.
Next Door Artisans is a Social Enterprise in Melbourne.
Here, the Karen and Karenni refugees from Myanmar bring to life their creativity, make connections and display amazing resilience.
Our mission is to foster a true sense of belonging for Karen and Karenni refugees who have fled the conflict in Myanmar. Through creative expression, cultural preservation, and meaningful community connection, we support them as they rebuild their lives, honour their heritage, and find healing and hope in their new home.
Building lasting change to improve the lives of Karen and Karenni refugees settling in Australia.
When these families arrive in Australia, their journey doesn’t end—it transforms. These individuals aren’t simply seeking safety. They are searching for something deeper: a chance to belong, to be seen, and to begin again with dignity. They long to go beyond survival—to find meaning, connection, and a future where they can thrive.
In Australia, we have the privilege of being part of that healing journey. When we welcome refugees with open arms, we do more than offer shelter—we offer a chance to rebuild identity and purpose. Many reconnect with their roots through traditional crafts like weaving, farming, woodwork, and embroidery. Others explore new pathways in art, gardening, music, and community involvement—each activity becoming a quiet act of restoration, of joy rediscovered.
But to truly support healing, we must do more than provide services. We must create spaces of true welcome—where trauma is met with compassion, where stories are honoured, and where each person feels they have something valuable to offer. Because they do. Every person who arrives carries not only pain, but resilience, creativity, and wisdom.
By seeing refugees not through the lens of their past, but through the promise of their future, we help transform lives. We help them go from being refugees to becoming neighbours, friends, coworkers, and leaders. And in doing so, we enrich our own communities with the beauty of their culture, the strength of their stories, and the gift of their presence.
Let us be the kind of country where every refugee feels welcomed—not just with words, but with opportunity, connection, and building a sense of meaning and purpose again.
Myanmar refugees in Australia, making woven tressels for the community garden.
Fostering traditional crafts and creations.
Many of these refugees come from a life deeply rooted in the hills and jungles of Myanmar, where survival was a way of life. They lived off the land, using traditional skills passed down through generations—farming, weaving, woodworking, and foraging—techniques that sustained their families and defined their identity. But war and displacement tore them away from everything they knew, leaving them in a world where their hands, once skilled in survival, felt empty.
Through our program, they are not just reconnecting with these lost traditions—they are reclaiming their sense of purpose. By sharing their skills and contributing to their new community in Australia, they find dignity, belonging, and the fulfillment of knowing that what they create, grow, and build matters. This is more than just a program; it is a way for them to heal, to feel valued, and to weave the threads of their past into a hopeful future.
Karen and Karenni refugees meeting for a craft and art group each week, for wellbeing, connection and exploring creativity.
Lavender heatpacks, a wall of love, handcreams and various handicrafts made by the refugees in Melbourne to raise money for the crisis in Myanmar and Thailand refugee camps.
Next Door Artisans provides a therapeutic environment for Karen and Karenni refugees in Australia to participate in various forms of art, craft, woodwork, weaving and gardening.
These products are then sold to assist with funding for essential services within the refugee camps along the Thai/Myanmar border.
Together we can help those who are less fortunate with essential services and immediate need.
Sign up to hear more about what we are doing towards this cause and how you may be able to participate or help in the work that is being done.
