Schools for Shan Refugees Inc

Our goal is to help Shan refugee children who live in migrant camps get a basic education, while helping Shan adults earn decent wages.

For several years the founder, Bernice Koehler Johnson, taught English to Shan refugees from Burma, who had escaped to Thailand. She became knowledgeable about and sympathetic with their need and desire for education.

We support approximately one hundred Shan refugee children who have fled to Thailand. Some of the children are in a migrant camp school that we support; students from another migrant workers’ camp receive scholarships to attend Thai schools. At a third location, we support orphans who attend Thai schools. We spend three to four months a year in Thailand, observing the schools and methods being used and trying to find new and better ways to help refugee children.