On October 25, 2011, Mr. Sayan Thamyoo, manager of Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR) Office in Kanchanaburi Province presented 20,000 candles, produced by the Burmese and Karen refugees in Ban Don Yang refugee camp in Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province, to the Mr. Chaiwat Limwantha, Kanchanaburi Province’s Vice-Governor, at the Kanchanaburi Provincial Coordination Center for Flood Victims in Singburi, for the relief of the flood victims.

According to COERR manager, the candles had been produced by the Karen refugees who fled unrest inside their country to Thailand and have been residing in Ban Don Yang Camp, Kanchanaburi Province’s Sangkhlaburi District, and are now willing to produce candles in order to help the poor flood victims after learning about the heavy floods that widely hit Thailand, their host country.

Refugees in Ban Don Yang are well aware of the assistance Thailand, as their neighboring country,
have been rendering to them and take this opportunity in the flood-hit time to produce candles for the flood victims to use. They urged Mr. Sayan, who represented COERR in providing raw materials for them to produce candles and in offering the candles to the Governor to convey not only the candles but also their wishes that the floods recede and the victims’ lives return to normal as soon as possible.

Candle production activity is among COERR’s programs and activities implemented to help the refugees who are residing in various shelters along the Thai-Burmese border provinces of Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi. Overall programs concern emergency relief, social services and self-help activity for vulnerable persons, child protection, agriculture, environment, traditional art, healing of memory and reconciliation, etc.

Upon receiving the candles, Mr. Chaiwat Limwantha, the Vice-governor, said that the candles, given by COERR and the refugees, would be collected/kept together with the candles received from many temples and would then be distributed to flood victims in the central region provinces, especially Singburi Province which is Kanchanaburi’s twin city in flood relief.