Life in Burma

Burma is a former British colony that only received independence in 1948.

There are 400,000 soldiers among Burma’s population of 50 million.

Aung San Suu Kyi was elected President in 1990, but the result was ignored by the military authorities.

Burma has at least 1,300 political prisoners.

There are 50,000 child soldiers in Burma – more than any other country in the world.

Burma is the world’s largest producer of heroin.

There are 21 different ethnic groups in Burma, speaking over 160 distinct languages or dialects, but only Burmese is allowed to be taught in schools or used in the state controlled media.

In spite of EU economic sanctions against Burma, Total Oil is one of the regime’s largest investors.

Filling out forms…

Filling out complex application forms in a second or even third language takes a lot of time and effort. Applications involving copies of documents are bulky and can be expensive to post by mail. They are also extremely time-consuming to process and often if the applicant doesn’t meet any of the criteria, it is a huge waste of effort on the applicant’s part, but because they are often desperate for any support, they will still apply hoping they will be lucky. Email completed forms to burmatrust@fastmail.fm.

It is also a waste of BEST’s time dealing with applications that clearly don’t meet our criteria.

This year we are operating a new system on a trial basis, where applicants can fill out a simple application, which is then emailed to BEST in Scotland.

If you do meet the criteria, you will be invited to apply on a more detailed form.

Because BEST is wholly run by volunteers, unfortunately we do not have the resources to acknowledge receipt of applications, nor do we send rejection notices. If you have not heard back from us, you must assume your application has failed.

Anyone sending false documents, making untrue statements or failing to disclose all relevant information will NOT receive a grant this year or in the future.

If we have given you a grant in the past, we will only consider a new application if you have fulfilled the conditions set out in your grant letter and supplied us with a full report on your studies and you have completed a new email application form.

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