Barbara Lavender
Barbara Lavender has been supporting Rejoice now for many years. Barbara hails from Boulder, Colorado in USA and is a Human Rights Lawyer specialising in LGBT issues. Despite suffering from degenerative muscular dystrophy she travels to Thailand every year during the winter months in Colorado. She always makes a point of visiting Rejoice and making a donation before travelling to Fang where she meets up with Shan community leaders to work with and train a group of Shan students in a multi-media communication project coordinated with students back in Colorado.
Barbara’s connection with Rejoice was made through a charity “Burma Lifeline” which was associated with Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), and other Shan assistance programs in Chiang Mai and Fang. Burma Lifeline donated toward the cost of the diesel fuel for the pick-up truck for Rejoice’s clinic, near Fang, for Shan migrant workers.
The President of Burma Lifeline was Inge Sargent, a Shan Princess— Thusandi, the mahadevi of Hsipaw.
She has written a book “Twilight over Burma (My Life as a Shan Princess)”, which is "the story of a great happiness destroyed by evil, the overthrow of one of Burma’s most respected local leaders, and one woman’s determination and bravery against a ruthless military regime."
A TV-film has been made based on the book:. A recent article in The Irrawaddy magazine makes mention of the film in an article, “Hsipaw Haw—Abode of Tragic Shan Prince”
The Photos below taken during lunch with the Rejoice Team at Galea Restaurant in Chiang Mai.
