trip to Mae Sot

Last week, the Thai studies program took a trip to a place called Mae Sot. It is about 5 hours from Chiang Mai and a part of Tak Province. Mae Sot is right on the border of Thailand and Burma. It is largely a Burmese town because refugees and immigrants have set up their lives there. So there is ton of Burmese food and writing and stores everywhere. The political situation in Burma (Myanmar) is not very good. It is ruled by a ruthless regime that has completely stripped people of their human rights and has basically sought to extinguish anyone who does not comply. There are many ethnic minorities throughout the country that are especially targeted and are continuously forced out of their homes and villages, becoming IDPs or 'internally displaced peoples'. The army basically invades these villages of Karen people along the border (near Mae Sot), raping and shooting, burning down villages and planting land mines around the ruins to ensure that people won't dare to return. These people have very few choices. They either end up in forced labor camps, refugee camps, or they illegally migrate into Thailand where they face poverty, poor working conditions, and discrimination in many cases. Mae Sot is an area where there are many local organizations and NGOs that are working to resist oppression and assist those impacted. So our trip this weekend allowed us to meet many people working in various fields each with different histories and stories. 

We left last Thursday and pretty much drove all day until we reached Mae Sot. We had the incredible opportunity to have dinner with the Karen National Union leader. He works on behalf of the Karen State (an ethnic minority) and his union has been a major force of opposition against the SPDC Burmese army. It was interesting to hear him speak because he has been involved for a very long time and he seemed so fearless despite the fact that there are many who would love to see him gone. 

The next day we started out by having breakfast at a Burmese tea shop. One of the professors with us on the trip, Win Min, is an activist and scholar. He lived in Mae Sot for a while but grew up in Burma and has been a major player in the fight for a free Burma. So he has many connections in the area and he was the one who coordinated a lot of our weekend. This place was great... Burmese food kinda tasted like a fusion of Indian and Thai food to me. They gave us a ton of freshly made nan bread and then there was this chickpea dip sort of thing that was so delicious. And then they also had Burmese tea which was amazing. The owner was so nice and lively... one of his waiters was a boy who looked like he was maybe around 12 or 13 years old but he had this crazy loud, booming voice and he would call out each of the orders running around. It was really great. After breakfast we headed over to the Karen Department of Health and Welfare. The man who spoke to us told us how difficult but also how important it is to provide healthcare to Karen people because the Burmese government doesn't provide them with anything.  He said that communicable diseases, malnutrition and pregnancy risks are their primary issues that they treat. It was interesting because blamed not only the Burmese government but the Thai government as well for refusing to recognize the right of these people to healthcare. 

Next we went to visit an NGO called BGET- Border Green Energy Team. They work in villages doing all sorts of projects like setting up solar panels or hydro-powered electricity systems. It was definitely a new perspective and approach than what I have read about or seen as of yet. The craziest thing about this visit to BGET was that I ran into a woman who went to Bard! She graduated the year before I came to Bard so I never knew her. And to make the coincidence even more outrageous we figured out that when she was a student she began the project that I know lead with a couple of other women at Bard. She was one of the founding members of the project I lead called the "Children's Expressive Arts Project". I have always heard things about her and had seen some pictures of her but I had never met her. (she is like a celebrity to me!) So we were able to talk about mutual friends and I caught her up on the news about everyone. She also was in the dance department which is my second home at Bard so we got to talk about that as well. It was tooooo weird, but absolutely wonderful and it was so refreshing to talk to someone who had so many of the same strong ties that I do from home. Anyway, she is in grad school now in California now and is doing a semester long internship with BGET and she is focusing on hydro-powered energy. 

After that crazy encounter we next went to visit the Mae Tao Clinic for immigrants and refugees. We were given a guided tour by a wonderful woman who had been working there for a very long time. This place was amazing... it is difficult to even describe but basically it was a cluster of small facilities and rooms for all sorts of illnesses and health issues. We walked by one room where there were these 5 doctors who were foreigners who had come for a week to treat people with eye problems. There were large groups of mostly elderly people sitting on small mats waiting to see these doctors for eye surgeries. We walked past another room where there were 3 newborn babies who had been orphaned and left at the pregnancy ward. Another room we went into provided prosthetics for amputees and people who had lost limbs due to land mines.  After that we ran into Dr. Cynthia Muang who began the clinic in 1989. She is considered the Mother Theresa of Burma so it was such an honor to meet her. 

Next we went to the headquarters of the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. This group works to assist Burmese political prisoners and their families, collect data and information about the situation of political prisoners and works with international groups like the Human Rights Watch. There were 3 speakers there who were all political prisoners at one time--all serving around 3-7 years in prison simply for being a part of the resistance movement on Thailand. They were very generous in telling their stories and explaining about the current situation of political prisoners. Burmese prisons are internationally known to be some of the worst institutions. These people talked about the physical and mental torture they went through and the horrific conditions under which they lived. It was amazing to sit there and watch them recount their experience without crying or breaking down. They talked about how thy could only leave their cell for one hour a day and see sunlight and how they weren't even allowed to read books. I think it must be therapeutic for them to tell their stories to others... but I also can't fathom how difficult it would be. 

The next day we traveled to a refugee camp about an hour away that was right on the Burma border. There was a worry that we might not be let in because it just depends on who is sitting guard that day but one woman who was a Karen graduate of Payap had a connection with a teacher at the camp which helped us get in. As we drove along the road approaching the camp there were seemingly infinite clusters of small bamboo huts packed around the lowlands below this mountain. It just kept going on and on. Just over the mountain was Burma. To get to the school we had to take a little trek on this dirt path. When we got there the teacher led our whole group onto the stage where we sat facing a group of about 200 Karen, college-age refugees. We just kind of stared at each other while we waited for everyone to get settled and I wondered about what each of their stories were and what they thought of us sitting on this stage above them. They sang a couple of songs for us which were extremely powerful... they had beautiful voices and harmonies. We sang a little song for them too but it wasn't nearly as impressive. After that we took a tour of the camp... I was actually a little surprised about the conditions of the people leaving there.  There was electricity and internet and little shops dispersed throughout. But on the whole, coming to a refugee camp is often the last resort for these people because they don't want to leave their homes and communities. Many of the people there live away from their families because they have been displaced. When we were leaving this man approached me... he was probably about 50 years old and had an american flag wristband and a pepsi bag slung around his shoulder. He just took my hand and explained that he was imprisoned for 9 months because he had contacts with the US government. He said that he had met Jenna Bush and that he had the cell phone number of the white house. He also mentioned that he liked McCain better than Obama (this was pre Obama's win) because McCain was older and deserved to get president because he might not have another chance. He also liked McCain better because he was a prisoner as well. It was quite an interesting perspective. Then he told me that he loves freedom. I just listened, he might have been a little off of his rocker but who wouldn't be after a life like his? 

That pretty much concluded our trip. The next day we drove back to Chiang Mai and didn't get back until late Sunday night. I felt completely drained... there was a lot to process and digest. It has taken me all week to simply garner the energy to write about an experience like I had last weekend. I didn't know if writing it down could do justice to what I learned and saw. I know this was a long one but I hope that you were able to bear with me. 

I only have about a month and a half left of my semester... how the h-e-double toothpicks did that happen?

Here's some more pictures:

http://s438.photobucket.com/albums/qq110/emilyfwolff/Mae%20Sot/