co-founders of the Labour sans Frontieres project, will take Kumjing to Singapore for the Singapore Fringe Festival.

K umjing has travelled miles from Burma, crossing rivers and climbing mountains, to reach Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in the hope of finding a better life. Kumjing left behind her village which offered neither a good school or sufficient healthcare provisions.

In fact, ''Kumjing'' is the collective name of a group of half-human-sized papier mache dolls, representing illegal Burmese migrants. But unlike these cross-border ''illegal entities'', all the Kumjings carry passports.

''Kumjing represents Burmese migrants who illegally cross Thailand's border in search of better lives,'' said Chantawipa Apisuk, director of the Empower Foundation, a non-governmental group working on human rights and HIV issues.

Formed eight years ago, the Empower Foundation, as the name suggests, aims to ''empower'' women _ Burmese migrants _ to be able to survive in Thailand regardless of age, occupation, background or education.

The foundation's staff teach Burmese migrants to read and write Thai so that they will have a better understanding of Thai mores, and understand things like drug packaging and newspapers. Empower also arms women with knowledge on other social topics including HIV, sex and Thai art and culture.

Currently there are Empower offices in four provinces in Thailand: Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket. The office in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, is the place where these young Burmese immigrants gather to create the hand-made papier mache dolls called ''Kumjing''.

Chantawipa is a co-founder of the Labour sans Frontieres (labour without borders) project, an arts workshop started by the Empower Foundation that aims to raise awareness among Thais _ and people around the world _ of humanitarian concerns, in the hope that the public will come to see foreign migrants in a new light.

The project tells the stories of Burmese illegal cross-border migrants, who have travelled far to come to Thai border towns, through art and creating the collection of papier mache dolls.

In Burma, schools and hospitals can be woefully inadequate, with insufficient facilities for children to study or for patients to be treated. It's a dream to move to Thailand just to receive better education and medical treatment.

Relocating to the Thai border, these Burmese migrants are usually regarded as third-class citizens. They are thought of as criminals, prostitutes or thieves who come to Thailand to steal jobs, commit crime and spread disease. Labour sans Frontieres was started in an attempt to make people realise that these illegal migrants are human beings. Their rights should be protected and they should be given the same opportunities as other people.

''These Burmese migrants also have a dream ... to travel to places where they cannot go as long as they are still labelled criminals.'' said Chantawipa.

Without passports or documentation, these migrants are instantly rejected by the Thai authorities, and many are deported to Burma right away.

What is unique about this papier mache collection is that they are all carrying passports which, according to Chantawipa, symbolise a freedom these migrants hope to have one day.

To Burmese migrants, passports are considered the most significant and the most illusive of objects. Hence issuing these ''official'' documents for Kumjing, in a way, can fulfil the dreams of the migrants.

''Bangkok, as well as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, is among the dream destinations of these migrants,'' Chantawipa added.

Members of the Labour sans Frontieres project are all women, most of whom are still young. Entering the workshop, they have never been asked for their identification documents. What Chantawipa and Chumpon need to know is only their names and what kind of help they need.

According to Chumpon, ''Kumjing'' is a common name in Burma, just like ''Somchai'' in Thailand, or ''John'' in the West. However, each of the dolls has a different name with a simple Burmese pronunciation, such as Bua, Kaew, Mei, Ching, Chuay and so on.

The Burmese migrants make the dolls from papier mache and items provided by the Empower Foundation office such as clay, flour and crayons. The only thing these migrants need to do is to explore their imagination. No artistic training is necessary.

Working with these migrants is a very enjoyable task, according to Chumpon. What the project's founders and their artist friends have to do is to make the working atmosphere as free as possible so that these migrants feel comfortable to open their minds and express their feelings.

Joining forces to make this project complete are artist friends Yongkamol Israngkura na Ayudhya, Montharee Vijithanasara and Noppawan Sirivejkul, who support the project as art teachers.

To begin with, the migrants tell stories of their journey across the border by words, then they draw and finally end up making a papier mache doll to represent themselves.

So far there are no men enrolled in the project. ''Men can perhaps earn their living in other ways such as being soldiers, messengers or even being ordained as monks,'' Chumpon said.

At the moment, there are a total of over 250 hand-made dolls. None is for sale.

Kumjing and her friends are also now being exhibited at the World Cultural Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, while many have been adopted by the public and international artists around the world. Two are currently in Spain, three in Cambodia, two in Korea, two in Japan, one in Vienna and one in Switzerland.

Kumjing has now also been invited to travel to Singapore to join the prestigious Singapore Fringe Festival, from February 21 to 27. Twenty-four of these papier mache dolls left Bangkok by car yesterday _ making their way through Hua Hin, Hat Yai and Malaysia, en route to Singapore, where they are due to arrive on February 21. They will then spend a week in Singapore before returning to Bangkok on March 5.

''With passports these dolls can go everywhere, even places where female visitors are forbidden,'' added Chumpon.

Through art, the Burmese immigrants can learn to communicate with others. It's also a way to set themselves free from discrimination.

Currently the Labour sans Frontieres project is self-funded. Though at first the project was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture, Chumpon and Chantawipa have spent their own savings to pay the project's expenses, so donations from the public are always welcome.

According to Chumpon, the art project may not be as important to these migrants as earning a living to put food on the table each day. But at least making a papier mache doll gives them ''food for thought'' _ and allows them to explore their dreams and try to make those dreams come true.

''The moment these migrants create their papier mache dolls is like the moment they unlock a door to freedom,'' Chumpon said.

This is cache, read story here