There are currently about 140,000 Burmese people living in ten different refugee camps in Thailand near the Thai/Myanmar border. There's another estimated 2 million Burmese living in Thailand (for a large part... illegally) integrated into the Thai economy.
So why are there Burmese refugees in Thailand in the first place?
Previously, Burma was governed mostly by a loose coalition of independent states. In the mid-1980s, the current military junta government came to power. The transition was "less than peaceful" to put it lightly. Thus, the nation of Myanmar was formed. The UN has condemned their actions with trade sanctions, etc., but that's about it. There is still an active resistance within the country of local militias (especially in the northern and eastern areas), but with the support of China, N. Korea, and Russia, the Myanmar government stays well-armed and funded to crush any resistance. When conflict breaks out, civilians often feel the brunt of the pain. Local villages are destroyed, women raped, men forced to be porters, or both sometimes used as human minesweepers.
I'm sure you get the idea.
So since the early 1990s with the help of the U.N. and various NGOs, refugee camps have been established and maintained in Thailand for about twenty years. Some refugees have been there for upwards of twenty years. Children have been born and raised there and known nothing else. Their options are limited: wait for Burma to be safe to return to, or immigrate to another country (only the lucky few are selected to do this).
So anyways... that's a little Southeastern-Asian Anthropology for ya! My foundation helps out in a small way with these camps, especially with the Church of God brethren. We visit, bring food, etc.
Here's a few shots and such from our recent trip to the Ban Mae Surin camp...
(Our plan was to visit two different camps, but due to unpassable road conditions at the first camp, we could only make one... the one we didn't go to was the one I blogged about last year.)
The driver of the White Goat. He was quite helpful and took us to the camp for a reasonable price. Muchos gracias, amigo. (Also my student, Lanunan)
Loaded down with supplies and 3 stowaways in the back, off we go...
The pavement was short-lived...
...to say the least.
It soon became clear that sitting down was a bad idea unless you want a broken/bruised booty. So this rail and I became fast friends... for 3 hours.
In case you can't tell, the roads were a little on the wet side. It's rainy season in Thailand right now, which means it rains... a LOT. But minor streams flooding the road is no reason to not keep trekkin' on.
Please forgive the corny narration...
Then we came to this river flowing across the road.
"Surely he can't be seriously thinkin' about drivin' across THIS one..."
Oh yea... he's thinking about it.
But thankfully decided against it, so over the bamboo bridge on foot it is and walking the rest of the way.
The walk wasn't bad... about an hour or so. A little tiring and hot, but definitely doable.
Ban Mae Surin Refugee Camp. (only a couple kilos from the Burma border)
Once inside the camp, we had to cross the same river 5 times (I think) on these same type bridges to get to the right section.
This is the house of the people we came to visit. We'd never met them before, but their mother works for our foundation now. So we took in some food, clothes, etc. and tried to get as much information as possible about them. We're currently trying to get permission to take them out of the camp and come to Chiang Mai for the Feast of Tabernacles in October, so we needed names, pictures, UN #s, etc.
Lunch: spicy fermented fish and white rice. Mmmm!!! (I actually always feel kinda bad eating at the refugee camps because they cook the best of whatever they have and insist that we eat first, etc... but after the ride and hike, I was hungry!)
The little guy got into the sugar. :)
"What...?"
When we left, the kids and the father went with us back to the truck to get the rest of the supplies.
Cute, eh?
The ride back was exactly like the ride there... except backwards of course. Until we got back to the pavement and hit a sharp spot and busted a tire. Leave it to those nice smooth paved roads to screw everything up. I think these guys had changed a tire or two in their day, though. (Pit time: 9:34:23... not bad!)
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