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 viewMarch 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.
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