Page 2

IOM Resettles 50,000 Myanmar Refugees Since 2004 (Continued from Page 1)

While the largest number of refugees have been
accepted by the US, other resettlement countries
now include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the Neth-
erlands and the United Kingdom.
abroad. It works closely with the Royal Thai gov-
ernment, UNHCR and the governments of resettle-
ment countries.

IOM’s 34-year history of refugee resettlement

from Thailand began in 1975 in the aftermath of
the Vietnam war, when it helped nearly half a mil-
lion Indochinese refugees from Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia to leave the country and start new lives

Escort Episode
Many of staff members had the opportunity escort refugees bound to
the United States these past months. Each one came back with their
own story to tell. Cultural Orientation (CO) Trainer Ms. Nuttakarn
Sumon was kind to share with us one of the episodes from her escort
experience.

"Next time, I’ll remember to

add M-150 and Red Bull in
our list."

Image: www.iconocast.com

CO Trainers repeatedly inform refugees during
the orientation sessions about what items they are
allowed and what items they are not allowed to
bring in their carry-on luggage. Despite of this,
many refugees still bring with them bottles of
orange juice, fresh mangoes, limes, and the likes.
have a little sip each. The other bottles were
shared with the other adult refugees.
When I returned to Thailand, I told Khun Jum
(Ms. Pojaman Som-In, CO Officer) about this epi-
sode.

On the day of our departure, there was a slight
delay in the immigration. While I was waiting with
the refugees I was assigned to escort, one of the
adults went to the convenient store. He spent his
last Thai money to buy 4 bottles of M-150 (energy
drink). He gave it to his wife and his 4 kids.
As soon as I saw this, I went to ask the family
why they wanted to drink the M-150. They told me
it was sweet and had a nice taste. I then told the
father that if they drank the energy drink, the
whole family will have a hard time sleeping and
will not have enough rest. They looked disap-
pointed to have to throw away the stuff they just
bought. I felt bad for them, so I allowed them to
Nat: During the pre-departure orientation at the
airport, the Operations Staff and I advised the refu-
gees that they should not consume liquor or soda
before or during the flight. Fifteen minutes later, I
saw one of the fathers buy energy drinks for the
whole family before they boarded the plane. Can
you believe it?
Jum: You told them about alcohol and soda, not
once you mentioned about M-150. (laughing) We
should be specific in what we tell them.
Nat: Well, I never actually thought about
that. Next time, I’ll remember to add M-150 and
also Red Bull in my list.
 Page 3

New
IOM DDG Elected Source: www.iom.int

Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón Elected as Deputy Director General of IOM

Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón of Costa Rica has today [30

June 2009] been elected as the next Deputy Director General of the
International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Ambassador Thompson Chacón was elected by a two-thirds majority

vote of the Council, which brought together IOM Member States.

From left to right: Current IOM Deputy
Director General Mrs. Ndioro Ndiaye,
IOM Deputy Director General-elect Am-
bassador Laura Thompson Chacón, and
IOM Director General Mr. William Lacy
Swing.
Laura Thompson Chacón brings to IOM a wealth of international ex-
perience, most recently as Ambassador and Permanent Representa-
tive of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Office and other International Organizations
in Geneva.

Over the course of her diplomatic career, she has represented Costa Rica
to UNESCO, the United Nations and other international organizations in
Geneva.

In this capacity, Ambassador Thompson Chacón chaired several bod-

ies on migration and refugee related matters, including the Execu-
tive Committee and the Council of the International Organization of
Migration, and the Executive Committee of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Previously, she has held various posts as Legal Counsel to diverse

international organizations in Geneva, including the United Nations
Compensation Commission.

She participated as a fellow professor or a panelist in several seminars and

roundtables on a wide variety of subjects ranging from migration, human
rights, education, environment, to disarmament and compliance with interna-
tional treaties, throughout the regions of the world.

Ambassador Thompson Chacón obtained a Masters degree in international

relations with a specialization in international law from the Institut
Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales of Geneva and holds a degree
in law from the University of Costa Rica.

In addition to Spanish, her mother tongue, Ambassador Thompson Chacón is fluent in English, French
and Greek – and has basic knowledge of Italian and Portuguese.

The new Deputy Director General will begin her assignment on 1 September 2009.
 Page 4

YtÜxãxÄÄ yÜÉÅ
Irena
Dear all colleagues in Thailand,

It is time to say good bye for now. I have been working in

different capacities with all of you in the past nearly six
years and it has been a very rewarding time for me. Pro-
fessionally as well as personally. We have together, each
of us in our own capacity, helped many thousand of mi-
grants leave, transit, arrive and live in Thailand. At the
same time we have helped Thai government authorities to
understand the needs of migrants and have helped de-
velop the capacity to positively and constructively benefit
from the presence of migrants. Despite all our work so far the
job is by far not done.

Migrants are still in difficult situations and the government authorities still don't have
the appropriate tools to address the ever changing and
challenging situations migration imposes on them.

I wish you all the enthusiasm and energy to continue

your work and wish you all personal as well as
professional success.

While in my new assignment in Geneva I will be dealing

with global issues I will be very much interested to hear
from you and to learn how you are personally doing and
how your work is progressing.

If you come to Geneva please let me

know so we can meet.
Until we see each other again.
Irena Vojackova-Sollorano
IOM Southeast Asia RR
MRF Bangkok, Thailand
Ms. Irena VOJACKOVA-SOLLORANO started her
career with IOM Manila as Development Officer
many years ago. She was transferred to Bangkok
as Regional Representative in September 2003
from Vienna, Austria. As of June 2009, she has
been recently transferred to IOM Geneva, Swit-
zerland where she will oversee the Migration
Management Services.
Best wishes from all of us...
IOM MRF Bangkok
 Page 6
STAFF FAREWELLS
Dr. Rachain Weannara
Migration Health Physician, Health Assessment
I would like to thank you all for as-
sisting me during these 5 years with
IOM Thailand especially medical sec-
tion and all resettlement programs.
Of course without participating of all
sections and assisting with each oth-
ers in professional manners, this
program would not be an excellent
job.
I was recruited to work for IOM Thai-
land in April 2004 initially assigned at
WTK, Bangkok and lastly Maesot. I
would like to thank Dr. Tom who
gave me chance to be part of this
significant IOM mission. I do enjoy
every moment of working with IOM
and I know that I will miss you all.
Yet no one is perfect; I do apologize
if by any mean I have done anything
wrong to any of you (if any).
From now I will be joining my family
in Paris and am looking forwards to
be back with IOM again when the
time is right.
Varisara Anansiribovoran Dr. Peter Robert Shannon
Finance Assistant, Counter-Trafficking Migration Health Physician, UKTBDP
It’s such a great time to work with Goodbye everyone.
people in IOM and I can’t refuse
that IOM is one of the best places Thank you so much for a great 3 ½
to work. years.
With smile, fun, and active charac- Maybe we will work together
ters of IOM spirits really impress again some day.
me and I will keep this in my mem-
ory. That’s a big pity that I can en- Meanwhile you can contact me
joy this only 6 months and I wish I here: doctorpetershan-
could stay longer. non@msn.com
Please keep in touch! my personal Best wishes to you all!
email is wharn_ka@hotmail.com.
By the way, thank you my team-
mates in CT – Counter Trafficking
and Finance unit for bringing me all
wonderful experiences; and I
bet that no one can’t find this
anywhere but here”.
http://www.roadandtravel.com
 Page 7
I was a volunteer at Diversitat,
one of Australia Integrated Hu-
manitarian Settlement Strategy
(IHSS), which provides intensive
initial settlement support to
newly arrived refugees and Spe-
cial Humanitarian Program (SHP)
entrants.
At first I visited Diversitat facili-
ties and refugee services facili-
ties such as the Geelong Com-
munity Health Centre (This place
provides medical services for the
refugees who first arrive in Gee-
long), the Norlane Neighbour-
hood Centre (They provide the
community garden for the refu-
gee to study planting their vege-
tables here and then when they
know how, they can grow at their
backyards), and the Geelong
Community Shed (This place is
like a metal and carpentry work-
shop for men. So the men can
gather when they want to).
Then later, I attended settlement
group meeting at Diversitat. At
the meeting, I gave a slide show
presentation about refugee camp
in Thailand to Diversitat staffs,
DIAC representative, Church vol-
unteers, Victoria police officers,
high school teacher, etc.
After the presentation, they liked
my slide show and the informa-
Being with the
Karen Community
in Australia Feature Article By Mr. Patcharapon Podamrongchai
Mr. Patcharapon is a Cultural Orientation Trainer based in Mae Sot, Thailand. He took 3
months on Special Leave Without Pay (SLWOP) in March 2009 through May 2009. He
took some time to volunteer with the community of Karen refugees in Corio, Australia.
He is now back and was generous to share with us his experience.
tion about refugee in Thailand
which they never knew in details Apart of the job with Diversitat
before. Thus, there and all. I really had a great time
were many places with my Karen host family who
asked me to be guest were my students both parents
speaker and talked to and son. I first met them when I
them afterward. So I conducted AUSCO adult and chil-
was a guest speaker to dren class in Ban Mae Surin in
the following venues; Thailand on November 2007.
North Geelong High Then on January 2008 I visited
School, Corio Primary GATE, refugee service in Gee-
School, Foundation long and met them again. This
House in Melbourne, year they were very kind to host
Centrelink in Warribee, me. It was my third time to see
Centrelink in Corio, them. With them, we drove to
Corio Rotary Club, Gee- Philippe Island to see penguin. I
long local commu- taught them driving. We went
nity radio station, multi-cultural Asian grocery shopping at
soccer club and Diversitat in Gee- Footscray. We cooked and had
long. dinners with colleagues from Di-
versitat. I really established rela-
I was invited to Karen wedding at tionship and connection with
Hoppers Crossing. Grace is Karen Karen community in Geelong.
and works at Corio Childcare Ser-
vice. She married
with Karen gentle-
man whom she
met in the camp. It
is a big Karen com-
munity
there. Many of
them drove cars,
nice cars, to the
wedding.
I participated in the
sport and leisure
activity with African
and Karen children
organized by Diversitat, Barwon We still keep in touch and they
Community Health Service and invited me to visit them again
Sacred Hearth College. on Christmas 2010.
 Page 8

PrintScreen Source: www.seoconsultants.com

www.nemahaweb.com

The Windows Print Screen Key can be a power-
ful tool if you know how to use it to its full poten-
tial. There are some who initially think that when
they press the Print Screen Key that it will literally
be sent to the printer! That's okay, we've all been
there, done that. Just don't tell anyone! Actually, if
you are using DOS, it will be sent to the printer.
You can now send this file to anyone via email, use
it in a presentation, create your own little book of
screenshots showing how to perform a specific
task, etc. The possibilities are endless.
We use the Windows Print Screen Key regularly.
You probably will too once you get the hang of it!

The sole function of this key is to take a snapshot

or picture of your computer screen and copy it to
the clipboard (the clipboard is an invisible holding
area for content that is copied). Its the same thing
as if you copied something from a document and it
is now on your clipboard waiting to be pasted in its
final destination. It’s that simple.
Now, for those who have read this far, we are go-
ing to share another neat little feature of the Win-
dows Print Screen Key. Pressing Alt + Print
Screen

Now, how do you get to see those Screen Cap-

tures or maybe even send them to someone? The
quickest and most effective method is to have a
graphics editing program handy. If that is not an
option, you can open your favorite word processing http://techcrew.wordpress.com
program and create a new document. Position your
cursor at the beginning of the document or ...will take a screenshot of the currently selected
wherever you want the screenshot to appear. window, not the entire screen like the normal
screenshot function. This allows you to target that
specific window that you have open and nothing
Using your keyboard, press
else. No more
Ctrl + V which will Paste
cropping those
the screenshot in your
screenshots to
open document. Now you
grab the content
can Save (Ctrl + S) the
you were after!
document to wherever you
wish, make sure to name it
appropriately so you can
easily find it.
www.codinghorror.com
 Page 9

Welcome, new interns! BIRTHDAY

Michael JAUNG
Michael joins us as an intern
with the Regional Migration
Health Unit at the IOM Regional
CELEBRANTS
DoB
1
July
Last name
SIMOVSKA-NIKOLIC
First name
Mirjana
Office until mid-August 2009.
He holds a BS in Microbiology
3 SRIPANGPONG Lalitsa
and BA in International Studies 3 NGAOJALAR Piengpaga
from the Ohio State Universtiy. He is currently an MD 5 PRAYADSAB Sugunya
Candidate at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.
5 LIKHITRUNGRAT Chalermpon
5 FONGSAMUTR Kajontip
Christopher LEE 6 SUPPASOET Prapai
Christopher joins us as an 9 POTHIPOCH Anchalee
intern with the Regional Migra- 12 MICHAUD Thanaporn
tion Health Unit at the IOM
Regional Office until mid- 14 NAISANGUANSRI Varaporn
August 2009. 14 HIRANMEKAWANICH Waranya
He holds a BSc in Neuroscience
and English Literature from the McGill University. He is 14 PIYASIL Chawarat
currently an MD Candidate at the Harvard Medical School 17 KOWIRIYAWATE Atchara
in Boston, MA.
17 PINYOMATUSKUN Mary
Wannaprapa KAROM 18 BASTIANSEN Stein
18 GIATMOLEE Walaipan
Wannaprapa will be interning
with the Counter-Trafficking Unit 18 KOTHU Arkom
in Bangkok for 6 months until 21 SRIKEERATIKARN Anusit
mid-December 2009
She holds a BA in Social Work 22 INTAPHAD Charoensin
from Thammasart University, 25 YAMBUPA Songwoot
Bangkok. At present, she is
pursuing a Master’s degree in 30 WANNHONG Narongrit
Global Studies, major in Social Work at the Lund Univer-
sity, Sweden.

DIRECTORY By Arthit Intakaew
The IOM Thailand telephone directory is regularly
updated by our Receptionist Khun O. Please keep him
informed in case you change your contact numbers.
Click here to download the updated directory.
Note that this e-publication is produced exclusively
for IOM staff in Thailand and is for internal
distribution only.
Comments, suggestions, and contributions will
be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact
Ms. Kimberly Santos at hrbkk@iom.int.
HOLIDAY
Wednesday, 8th July
BUDDHIST LENT DAY
The tradition of Buddhist Lent or the annual
three-month Rains Retreat known in Thai as
"Phansa" dates back to the time of early Bud-
dhism in ancient India. All holy men, mendicants
and sages spent three months of the annual
rainy season in permanent dwellings. They
avoided unnecessary travel during the period
when crops were still new for fear they might
accidentally step on young plants. Lord Buddha
decreed that his followers should also abide by
this ancient tradition, and thus began to gather
in groups of simple dwellings. http://sunsite.au.ac.th