The Eastern area of Burma (often referred to as Myanmar), along the border with Thailand is a zone that has been under siege for the past several decades. The Burmese military have been constantly oppressing the indigenous peoples of this area, burning villages and crops, forcing men and women into slavery, raping, and killing.

In the past, it was possible to escape to refugee camps within the Thai border, and currently there is a string of refugee camps along the border with Thailand, the largest of which houses 45,000 people. However, political developments between Burma and Thailand have made it increasingly difficult to come to Thailand. Consequently, about 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in hiding surrounded by landmines without health care and permanent shelter.

One of the largest of the indigenous groups in this area is the Karen people. They have a population of over 200,000 people on the Burma side of the border.

Currently, there is no power grid or electrical infrastructure to serve the population or the clinic. Several thousand people will be direct beneficiaries, being able to receive medical care day or night. There will be about 5 - 6 full time medics at any given time at the clinic. Today they have to rely on flashlight at night, cannot store or provide vaccines, or positively identify diseases.

The three clinics are located in Kay Pu, Mone, and Toungoo, Karen State, Burma. Kay Pu clinic serves over 20 villages and more than 5,000 villagers. Mone clinic also serves over 20 villages which have roughly 3,000 people. Toungoo clinic serves 7 villages which have 1,000 people.

The solar power systems will be used for lights, microscope, laptop computer, and other medical equipment. Each clinic will have one solar system with 2 of 130-­‐watt panels.

The solar power equipment installation was completed at the end of October 2008. our partners BGET and SEPI provided the design and installation supervision, and trained FBR personnel on how to install and operate the system.

In November, a training refresh session was conducted in partnership with the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW). As the existing 36 clinics and 2 hospital solar systems are essentially in a war zone, there is a high turn over in personnel, as well as unusual equipment failures. At the training event, replacement equipment was delivered to those technicians who needed it, so that every clinic electrification system can function as planned.