Hi, I am Hannah, a researcher from the UK who has been volunteering for the past 3 years to support access to higher education for displaced students from Myanmar on the India border. I manage a programme of 14 undocumented students from Myanmar to participate in Masters programmes in Northeast India, they are all currently in their second year.

Due to the cancellation of USAID by the Trump administration, the vital funding for scholarships has been withdrawn. The funds provided tuition fees and access to essential services like healthcare and housing.

The students are studying the following subjects at the Master level: Business, English, Political Science, Social Work, Economics and Travel and Tourism. These students, 8 of whom are women, have faced extraordinary challenges in the years since the coup, including conflict, displacement and economic hardships. All students are members of Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement, leaving their jobs and previous studies to stand against the illegal junta takeover in February 2021. This means that they cannot return to their hometowns and villages in the current situation, as they risk arrest, torture and even murder at the hands of the Myanmar military. Many of them no longer have villages to return to, as the Myanmar military has set fire to huge areas of towns and communities in Chin state. For the past four years, the majority of students have been residing in refugee camps, unable to access education or livelihood opportunities.

I am competing in the Sri Lanna Triathlon in northern Thailand in January 2026 to raise money for the students, to help keep them enrolled in their programmes and provided with their living costs. Any donation is most welcome, £5000 is the amount we need for one month of costs. Thank you.