FRANCAISEcoles sans frontières - History
1980-1999
-1980, France: ESF is created by Dr Nguyen Phat, a Vietnamese-born doctor; also a former member of MSF who was active in Khmer refugee camps in Thailand.
-1983, Thaïlande : ESF starts to alphabetize children and adults of the Hmong minority from Laos in Ban Vinaï refugee camp.
-1989-2001, Guatemala: on a proposal from MDM, ESF intervenes in the northern part of Ixcán, between the Altiplano and the Mexican border, where the military is pulling down villages in order to fight the guerrilla of the EGP (Ejercito Guerillero de los Pobres) and to sabotage the farmers co-operatives CPR (Comunidades de Población en Resistencia). ESF promotes a bilingual education in Spanish and K’ekchi despite the pre-eminence of the Quiché language in the region; the project consists in promoting de facto the indigenous culture, and finally gains support from the Guatemalan Ministry of Education within the framework of a linguistic agreement with the guerrilla in March 1995.
