PHOTO ESSAYS: FBR: JUNGLE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE KAWTHOOLEI

Inside the Karen State, young students at the Free Burma Ranger Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei engage in a clincal teaching environment and provide aid and medical care to hundreds of local Karen and internally displaced people inside the conflict zones of Burma.  

Despite recent political reform, increasing promise of international support and recent ceasefire agreements, the Burmese Army continues to resupply and advance on ethnic states in parts of Burma. Human rights abuses are still a daily occurrence, villages are being burned and shelled and the number of internally displaced people inside Burma continues to grow. At a perceived historically pivotal moment, many ethnic communities question whether permanent change is truly possible or only a political state of mind.  

The Free Burma Rangers’ (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.