Shoptalk: Thai-Burma Border Karen Burmese Refugee School Visit

On my way to and from the border refugee school, there were constant roadblocks with Thai soldiers checking cars for Burmese refugees and demanding bribes if they found any refugees. This soldier demanded a bribe from my driver for his not having seatbelts in the car...how sweet of him to care!

The school I visited

Girls' dorm where I spent the night. They sleep on wooden platforms separated by sheets.
The satellite dish is for the village leader's home.

The boys' dorm sleeping 80.

The Karen Burmese nurses working in Singapore took their vacation time to come here to give food and medicine to Karen fleeing the war. The Thai soldiers gave them a hard time and stopped them from giving any food/medicine. Pastor Peacefully earned his name by negotiating with the soldiers. Then one Thai solider secretly told him to give out the medicine anyway, after his negotiation failed. The Karen with thumbs out in the picture above is in pre-college bible school. He loves to play guitar and sing Contemporary Christian tunes.

The new puppy dog, replacing the former dog who'd been eaten by the refugee students. See below.

She and I spoke over laundry hand washing about her hopes and stymied dreams, feeling like she has fallen short of being competitive enough to get a scholarship for college. It's sometimes an unfairly high standard for refugee students from Burma, but I guess they're lucky even to have a small chance at funding and access. While she waits for college, she'll teach at the refugee school, with some reluctance.

Karen Burmese shirt on right.

Stylin, with same camera on his shirt as the one taking this picture.
Man, my eyes look tired after a night sleeping in the girls' dorm.

Where the 18 and older classes are taught - note the dirt floor.

Love is alive and well in refugee schools on the border -- "I miss you very much. Can you give me your phone number?" written on a desk from a boy to the most gorgeous girl in the 18 and overs class.

Ironic textbook for refugees

School classroom with the Thai flag, even though it's not a Thai government school. The border of Burma can be seen in the not-so-far distance. That's how incredibly close to the border they are. When they sleep at night, they hear shooting and mortar rounds from the conflict just a mountain away.

Exam time. Boys wear the Karen Burmese traditional clothing and some wear the face paint also.

Rice and fish paste twice daily. The head teacher was concerned that they do not get enough food so it is hard for them to concentrate in school sometimes.

Brandon is the only "foreigner" teacher there. He's from the U.S. and has taught there for 2 years! He's very committed and goes to a Karen Christian church. His friend above weaves and makes Karen clothing for the students and adults in the village. She had me over for coffee and jack fruit, fresh from the tree outside her home. She was lovely and so was her adorable baby. She couldn't speak lots of English, but Brandon teaches her English, seemingly in exchange for his favorite Karen Burmese addiction -- betel nut chewing. Click HERE to watch him demonstrating how to prepare the betel nut for chewing.

Her baby. Check out the sling swing.

Karen Burmese jackets she makes for the villagers.

The head teacher is on the left. Pastor "Peacefully," the community leader, is on the right.
They are going to a traditional wedding 6 hours away. Everyone asked if I was coming.
It was hard for me to say no!

Soccer

The caravan leaving for the wedding. I think they leave the American, Brandon, in the back for the Thai soldiers at checkpoints. Having a foreigner often confuses and distracts the Thai soldiers so they are less likely to demand outrageous bribes from refugees with so little money.


I stayed in the girl's dorm and talked with this girl the most -- she is the top student in her 18 and over grade. She wants to go to university. She told me she dreams of traveling the world. She, like all the other refugees at the school, seemed pretty happy but also felt trapped since the Thai soldier checkpoints typically prevent them from leaving their school.

We spoke of hopes and dreams over pedicures in the girl's dorm. I told them of when Ken proposed to me in marriage. I sang them the Joni Mitchell song "Case of You" that Ken played me when he proposed.

Bridge from Thailand to Burma with a border crossing. The border is shut down now because there has been so much violence from the Burmese government soldiers towards the Karen Burmese along the border. And the Karen National Union does its best to fight back and resist.

Thai government soldier under the bridge, trying to slow down the constant trickle of refugees to and fro, sneaking under the bridge.

March 10, 2011

I went to the Thai-Burma border on a Fulbright travel grant to study Karen Burmese persecuted ethnic group children, in their refugee schools right across the border in Thailand. I wanted to compare their mental health to that of the Burmese refugee students in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who I've been studying this year. I expected Karen Burmese refugees in Thailand would be much worse off than those in Malaysia, since they were closer in time and space to conflict and persecution in Burma. I found the opposite to be true.

I flew into Chiang Mai, Thailand by myself and met with an organization called "Partners" who had put me in touch with a Karen Burmese refugee school along the Thai-Burma border, to which I'd next take a 6 hour drive over the mountains. They debriefed me on the conflict in Burma. In a few minority ethnic states in Burma, the Burmese government is trying to violently quash a 60-year-old uprising, or a resistance may be a better term. Often, it seems to qualify for ethnic cleansing of the Karen Burmese ethnic group. Lately, the conflict has gotten really nasty, with Burmese soldiers leaving behind decapitated villagers and raped women. Karen Burmese have a resistance group called the Karen National Union who have been fighting back. Karen villagers have been flowing across the border to avoid the conflict, and the Thai government has been shutting the border down as a result.

Partners has been training and organizing Karen to develop their schools in Burma since the Burmese government won't give them schooling or they only get school til age 8! When I visited the school called TMK, above, I thought the kids at the border school would be much worse off mental health-wise, with post-traumatic stress syndrome and worse, fresh from the conflict zone. I thought they'd be much worse off than the refugee kids hidden in the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia refugee schools who we've interviewed about their mental health.

I found the opposite to be true. These Burmese Karen who are exposed to more war conflict seem better off than the Burmese refugees in Kuala Lumpur. Many of the kids at the refugee school in Thailand I visited above felt lucky to be in school. They felt safe. They were pretty happy, in fact, much happier than most of the Burmese refugee kids who I've seen and studied in Malaysia.

Why were they happier? First, let me say that I think the kids at the border schools were actually worried about their parents' safety back in Burma. Early in the morning, I could hear the girls in the girls dorm talking by cell with their parents. And, I think the border school kids felt trapped, since the Thai soldiers were blocking their ability to travel or really even rarely leave their school. Imagine never being able to leave your school. At least, they liked their school, mostly. Still, they were happier than those Burmese in Malaysia. Why?

I think refugee public policy in Malaysia and Thailand affects the refugee students' mental health. Both Malaysia and Thailand are not signatories to the 1951 UN convention for protection of refugees. In Malaysia, that makes the children more vulnerable. For instance, a phenomenon has developed that local citizen Malaysian men prey on refugee girls, molesting them on their way home or mugging them in the elevator. One girl we interviewed also had to push furniture in front of her door after school, to protect her and the other women in her apartment from local men trying to break in. She had PTSD from the whole experience of being targeted to and from school and in her home. If Malaysia signed on for protection of refugees, then the local men would be less likely to exploit these refugee kids. And, we could have called the police to protect her. But, now, we cannot call the police. We actually called UNHCR, instead, and, in a rare moment, they are trying to place her in New Zealand with her sister, to protect her. Most refugee kids continue to be vulnerable in Malaysia.

Thailand seems different. In Malaysia, there is a rigid system not allowing refugee children to go to government schools. Therefore, only 30% of refugee kids in Malaysia go to poor quality "refugee learning centres" for a half day of school. In Thailand, there is a more flexible system. Certain groups of refugees can go to school in Thailand. If you have certain ID cards, some children of migrant workers and certain refugees who've lived in Thailand some time can have limited range of movement, within one state, and sometimes can go to government school. And, I'll also blog about the Karen hill tribe students who've been in Thailand for 100 years and were given citizenship 35 years ago can also now go to Thai government schools.

Still, many refugee kids in Thailand not only can't get access to school but they are also harrassed by Thai soldier. These refugees fresh across the border and are called "Externally Displaced People," who are seen as only temporary in Thailand and the Thai want to make life really uncomfortable for them. Click HERE is you want to see a brief media piece showing you life of the externally displaced people. I did not visit any of these people. I stayed at a nice school for Karen refugees.

The TMK school is lovingly run by Pastor Peacefully, an Australian named Shirley, and a head teacher who's excellent and well-loved. They live right next to the border. The students are a range -- children of migrant workers, externally displaced people, formerly of the refugee camp, and with parents back in Burma. Most with parents in Burma cannot go back and visit their parents, one hasn't seen them for a couple years. The problem is that the conflict is raging along the border and further inside.

The students wake up to a delivery of rice and fish paste at their dorm door. They eat it with their hands from a bowl. They chat on their cells with their parents, chat with their friends as they bathe/wash their clothes in the bathroom (the bathroom is where I chatted most with the initially shy teens I boarded with), and then they go to class for most of the day. They play soccer, some sort of checkers, flirt, gossip, and chat with the adult teachers. There is a Karen village surrounding the school, providing them their Karen uniforms. It is a Karen island in a Thai country, and no one is allowed off the island.

Pastor Peacefully has adopted (wait, pause, let it sink in -- ADOPTED!) 10 of the oldest students so they can have the same less restricted travel rights inside Thailand as he has. They can now travel within their local state, and have more flexibility about traveling beyond. Let me tell you, this is not uncommon for a leader to do. Another leader of a school I visited (Elpis Learning Centre in Mae Sot) not only took Karen children into her home for foster care (the parents were threatening to sell them into sex or child labor slavery), paid the parents not to sell them into slavery in Bangkok, but she also ADOPTED some kids so they could have more rights. Wow, is all I could say. I was amazed.

I don't want to idealize these kids' lives, but I felt changed after seeing them. The ones I saw in TMK school were blessed, rare, and part of a Karen community that is so strong. The Karen in Malaysia are also famous for being the most organized, education-valuing, and focused ethnic group, and that has a clear effect on the kids' mental health. Sometimes, a strong community is better than any therapy.