Chiang Mai, Thailand: Princess-Sponsored Versus Non-Princess Sponsored Karen Burmese Hill Tribe Government Schools

Non-Princess-sponsored school name

Non-princess-sponsored school

The kids handing out the snacks our guides provided for the preschoolers.

The upset, snack-deprived girl

The girl's mom, about to give her a whipping for crying over our not having enough snacks to gie her one. See below.

Preschool kids' class

Princess with her school's students

Thailand is buddhist and so are its government schools

The school has workbooks, and resources-galore

Preschool associated with the princess school

Teachers' homes, overlooking mountain view

March 13, 2011

What a difference a princess makes. But, we’ll get to the princess-sponsored schools soon enough. First, our guided trek took us over mountains visiting three different Karen Burmese Hill Tribe government-sponsored schools along our path. All of these schools had much better resources and food than the Karen Burmese refugees had at their Christian or Refugee Camp-based schools along the border. These Karen hill tribe children had been in Thailand much longer than the border refugee children – for over 100 years, and had been made citizens 35 years ago. Making them citizens seems like a big step, considering the ambivalence the Thai government has shown towards the Burmese refugees on the border.

The first Non-Princess School was in the Karen Hill Tribe village where we had our homestay. The child in our homestay went to school there. It was a simple clapboard building above, painted nicely, but seemingly with little resources, like workbooks, etc. But, since school was closed for holiday, I wasn’t able to see much inside. They did have a soccer field, however.

The non-governmental preschool affiliated with the government school was pretty minimal. In fact, when we arrived at the school, the young children lined up for food the guides expected my kids to dole out to them. On our entire trek, this was the only time I disagreed with the guides. I felt uncomfortable being so glaring about our white provider status. I was so much happier with our casually walking through the village, knowing our guides would discreetly provide funding for the preschool after we left.

Click HERE for a video of children vying for food we passed out at a non-princess sponsored school, to the preschool attached to the school.

But, I let the drama unfold anyway. The adorable preschoolers lined up for a few different types of snacks. My kids were a bit bewildered with their role but the guides made the handouts happen. But, one little girl did not get her snack, and she was very distressed about it. She cried and cried, unable to stop herself even when her mother angrily dragged her out of our view to scold her over her crying. As you can see from the photos above, when we were leaving the angry mother was discreetly ripping a switch stick from the tree and carrying it towards her daughter to give her a whipping for her crying over our snacks. And, the girl only cried harder knowing what was to come. I couldn’t have imagined this would have been the outcome of our passing out the snacks – it went beyond my worst fears over the snacks.

Still, I feel like I’m learning that caning and the switch stick is a very common punishment for children. It seems to cut across Burma to Thailand to Malaysia and, I’m sure, beyond. God knows, they love it as punishment in Singapore too.

We trekked for a few hours then came across a Princess-Sponsored Thai Government School for Karen Burmese Hill Tribe children. As you can see from the photos above, these kids have it good. Between the soccer field, the xxxx volleyball-like court, the colorful, competently-organized, very well-resourced classrooms (workbooks galore!), I was impressed. And, the princess overlooked it all, esconsed in her photo above the school. I’d adore her too if I went to that school. God knows, I’d vote for the monarchy-loving political party when I grew up too!

Click HERE for a video of the princess-sponsored kids school in dance class.

Click HERE for a video of our kids playing soccer with the kids at the princess-sponsored hill tribe government school. In the dance video, Karen hill tribe girls and boys dance to disco beats, taking turns pointing at each other in the best Travolta style. The teacher was avid and very involved. They were lucky to have such teachers, it seemed to me.

So, it seemed that if you had to rank the treatment of Karen Burmese in Thailand, here’s how it would work:

Refugees from lowest to highest on the totem pole in Thailand:

1. Externally Displaced Children, fresh across the Burma border

2. Refugee children in Refugee Camp or Christian NGO-sponsored overnight schools

3. The same children, but with UNHCR Refugee ID cards, which are harder to get registered for in Thailand

4. Refugee children of parents with refugee ID cards that allow them to travel within one Thai state

5. Children of Migrant Workers (AKA refugees with jobs, so low-paid, typically, that they verge on slavery, some said)

6. Refugee teens with Christian junior college or the very rare university scholarships for Burmese refugees

I must say that I did meet one Fulbright Student who was going to be sent to the US from Thailand who was formerly from Burma. I’m not sure how he made it to the top, like that. I may try to interview him to find out how he rose through a system that doesn’t make it easy to rise as a refugee.

Abraham's Second Blog: Elephants in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Boom with our Karen Burmese hill tribe guide named Dang for 3 days, who was formerly a mahout, Elephant trainer/rider in childhood.

Abraham holding onto the slippery, wiggly back of his elephant, with our guide spotting him.

Abraham watching the mahouts throw buckets of water on us and the elephants. More on us than on the elepants!

March 12, 2011

Abraham's Blog:

They had to take the Dad with the big tusks away, whose whole body was 100 feet big. And then my elephant they shot a slingshot at. And then the guy had a dagger and it did not hurt the elephant, it didn't care. Once the mahout whacked the baby and the baby didn't care. And then Nick, our guide, had a very stick so he didn't whack then he wanted to whack them but the elephants still didn't care. The elephants chased him. There was one mahout who lived there. My elephant I rode on pooped. And then our elephant started walking. And then the baby elephant climbed up on all of their backs but couldn't climb up because they keep on walking. And then they didn't have any tusks. Only girls did not have tusks. Boys did have tusks.

And then last was the river. So the mahouts took a bucket and splashed it on us and the elephants sprayed at us. And, the elephants sprayed in their mouths because they were thirsty. And then Alice's elephant went all the way under the water. And then the baby was so excited that it rolled in the water. One baby was big and one baby was small. So the big baby didn't like the water but still stayed in. But the little elephant baby liked it so it wanted to stay in so it stayed.

And then when we were going back home, me and Mommy saw the baby nursing his Mommy. And then we saw a mahout who stomped his feet to make my elephant come. And then when I was very close to my car I saw a guy pulling a big wagon of hay for the elephants. And, I thought it would break the bridge. But, it did not.

The End. From Abraham.

Abraham's First Blog: Bamboo Rafting in Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 12, 2011

Abraham's First Blog: Why do they call it bamboo rafting? We got wet a little and then there were bags of rice in the water to make bumps. And then there were rapids. Remember those rapids? And then there were more rapids. Then there were people who were stuck. Daddy splashed water on them. I sat a little in the back used the bamboo stick to paddle. Like a paddle in a paddle boat.

Alice's Blog -- Chiang Mai, Thailand: Elephants

Elephants were loose in the jungle when we collected them for our rides. They are loose all night long, reluctant to come to work.

Kneeling down for us to climb up onto their necks.

Alice's elephant submerging itself, causing Alice to almost fall off.
Alice is in red shirt on right.

March 12, 2011

Alice's Blog:We got to the place where the elephants live. We changed into our bathing suits because we were going to wash the elephants. We went up into the jungle onto a high perch to find the elephants who were wild and loose in the jungle. We found them and got on them. We sat on them for a long time going out of the jungle and down to the river. When we got to the river, some of the elephants pooped as they walked into the river. Then mahouts (elephant riders) with buckets splashed water on the elephants and us. My elephant went all the way down under the water and I had to hold on as tight as I hold onto the monkey bars. We swung to the side and I almost fell in the river. And then we got out and the elephants walked up a steep, slippery slope. And, we got off the elephant onto a platform. And we changed back into our normal clothes. And got back into the car. The end.

PS The baby elephants are crazy!!! They run around chasing everyone, acting like they are going to butt their heads into you. One our tour guides named Nicky was chased by one of them and had to run as fast as they can

PPS Look two blog posts below for Griffin's recent blog post on Thailand.

Kuala Lumpur: Climbing a waterfall

After a long, almost lost, taxi ride to a waterfall in Kuala Lumpur, we found the waterfall hike and the ATV's. There is a 45 minute hike to the waterfall. But, Malaysians don't like to sweat much. So, they rode ATV's. I love the Muslim scarf under the helmet!

God, I love my new SLR camera!

Two beautiful male specimens, oh and a gorgeous waterfall!

March 6, 2011

We picnicked at the top of a gorgeous waterfall. It was very safe and shallow with no chance of near-death experiences, if you've read previous postings! The cool water was so refreshing in this heat. And, more importantly, we all needed an escape from the intensity of KL city life, including the excessive work load I'd taken on for a few weeks. Ah, it cleared my head for a few relaxing hours...

Griffin Post: Vine swinging in Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 16, 2011

We went trekking in the mountains of Thailand .On the hike we found a vine that looked liked a swing in the forest.Alice discovered it first ,we started taking turns swinging on the vine .It was amazing ,when your pusher let go you would swing very unstably over a little grassy spot and go very high in the air then swing back .Boom boom wanted to try so he got on (our guide had to carry him) .When he was on we decided to let him go very slowly in case he fell .The moment he let go he toppled backward and started to cry .from then on we did not let him on the swing again .

Click HERE to see a video of the kids swinging on vines on a mountain outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.