August  6  - August 12  2009 Week 3

Thursday 6th August

Meet with Hla Htay in Mae Sariang.  He didn't come to the party last night as he was very tired from his epic 9 hour motor cycle journey.  This doesn't seem so long when he reminds me he has been in the jungle for 20 of the last 21 years since he fled Rangoon after the 8.8.88 student uprising which he was involved in.  He spent one year in Newcastle in 2002/2003 at the University which is when I first met him.  He is now headteacher of Yaung Ni Oo (meaning Dawn) school.  The school is short of funding.  It has about 500 pupils and 27 teachers.  He has a proposal for me. I hope Burmalink will be able to support some of their school.  Anne has visited it in Mae La Oon refugee camp and she says it is a wonderful school.  The school runs on the Burmese curriculum to allow students to go back to Burma and continue their studies when they are older.  Hla Htay thinks this is very important.  I ask him about his family in Rangoon and say I hope to visit and could I take a letter or message.  There is a long pause and he looks me straight in the eye saying he hasn't had contact with any of his family since 1988.  It is too dangerous.  It would put them at risk with the Burmese junta.  He says he doesn't know if his mother is alive or not.   I can't imagine not knowing whether your mother is alive or not!  I give him a big hug and promise to keep campaigning for change.  I promise to visit his school when I visit in the dry season.  He offers me the job of headteacher when I visit.  That was the easiest job interview ever - but the pay is low and no pension.  I know of teachers in their 80's in camp!

We leave Mae Sariang and head north for Mae Hong Son.  The sun is shining for the first time.  We take turns in the back of the truck as it is easy to get sun burnt.  After two long days travelling and as the sun is still shining we go to a hotel swimming pool. MHS is a tourist town but it is quiet as it is the rainy season.

We get a call from Nang, our Burmese Shan friend.  She runs a small café and invites us for dinner.  She is 7 months pregnant and looking well.  She tells us she tried to get married but as she only has a 'Hilltribe' identity card she is not allowed.  She can only register her marrige.  I don't understand, but it is another example of discrimination.

Friday 7^th August

We head off to the Jesuit Refugee Service office to meet with Sister Rachael.  We have to provide copies of our camp passes and passport in order to get into camp on Monday.  It is very difficult to get in or out of the Karenni camps.  There is strict access control.  These camps are definitely prisons.  Anne and I have passes so we should get in.  Alkhoune of the Karenni Teachers Union calls on the phone.  He is a young and active leader, desperate for change as he has spent almost all of  his life in a refugee camp.  We are supposed to meet him in Chaing Mai next week but he can't get a pass out of the camp so his trip is off. As the camp is so isolated unless he has this pass he can't even sneak out.  He risks being sent back to Burma if he is caught so he can't take the chance.  He often sneaks out of camp to go inside Burma to meet with other leaders but if he is handed over to the authorities he will be sent to prison without trial.  The good news is that I will be able to see him in camp on Monday. 

Saturday 8th August

It is raining again all day and there is no access to camps at the weekend so we relax by reading and exploring the environs of MHS when the rain eases.  A Thai massage also helps the relaxation.  They last for one or two hours.  We usually take a one hour one, but the time passes incredibly quickly.  Often I am almost asleep by the end of it.

We attend a quiz in Nang's cafe in the evening hosted by the local NGOs.  The questions are set by a young American lady who works for the UN.  The questions are bizarre.  What do I know about American literature and the finer details of women human rights activism.  Thankfully I am not the only one who is having difficulty.  Many of these young NGO workers are well educated and full of enthusiasm but when I talk to them about Burma they have little idea what is going on inside.  They just work on registrations and third country resettlement without any thought for trying to change things.  Some people (including Zoya Phan) are saying they are doing the junta's job for them by moving the Karen and others out - that is what the Generals want!

Sunday 9^th August

Declan and Lee get invited to go the local hill tribe villages.  This will involve a long truck drive on muddy roads. They will have to stay overnight in the Karen villages so Anne and I can't go as we are going to camp early Monday morning and they won't get back in time. Anne and I use the afternoon to go swimming as its not raining. 

Monday 10^th

Go into Karenni refugee camp.  It takes about one hour, we are on good roads for the first half hour then we cross a river, driving through the water and then onto mud roads which are very bumpy. We soon reach the security post were we exchange camp passes for an ID card.  It takes a further thirty minutes to drive through the camp as we have to drive up small streams and narrow paths avoiding children, dogs  and chickens.  In camp we find out that about 4500 people have left in the last year, about one third of the camp population.  Our friend Law Reh has left for the USA and many other leaders and teachers have left.  The schools now have a shortage of teachers.  I meet with Alkoune who is now deputy director of the education department as well as union rep.  He is busy interviewing for new teachers so asks me to go to the high school and do some work with the science teachers.  The one I am assigned to is leaving for New Zealand in three weeks.  I teach a two lessons of Physics with a little bit of translation.  There is a long neck Padoung (Karen) girl in the class.  She has her neck rings covered with a scarf. The long necks are kept in villages in northern Thailand were tourists can pay five pound to visit these human zoos! Not recommended.

Tuesday 11th

Back in Karenni camp again.  Alkoune tells me about his new role trying to set up a training centre inside Karenni state.  This is very tricky work as he has to work between to armed groups, the Karenni Liberation Front (a cease fire group aligned to the SPDC) and the Karenni Peoples Party (A group still at war with the SPDC).  He tries to bring people form both sides together for training but this is very complex work.  When he travels into the cease fire area he has to inform the KnPP that he is travelling with the KnLF and so not to attack his vehicle.  I am not sure I am so brave to do this work but he says he must try to bring the people together and work for reconciliation.  We hope to support his training centre and discuss ways of how to help.

I ask him about his cousins, B.. T.. and K.. R...who were arrested last year whilst doing some political work inside.  He says they received 37 year prison sentences for campaigning for democracy.  He is very worried for them as one has malaria and there is no health care in prison.  They are only 26 years old and their lives are now over unless the situation changes.  He says their parents are very upset.  They visit occasionally but they live some distance from the prison so it is difficult to travel. I tell him about Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) based in Mae Sot and tell him to ring them and ask for advice and support.  I feel I can do little else.  I feel so guilty and can see Alkoune is upset - he was supposed to go on the same trip but his wife was due to give birth so he didn't go.  We must change the situation in Burma and free these innocent prisoners.

Wednesday 12^th

Today is the Queen Mother of Thailand's birthday so it is a public holiday and no trucks go into camp.  I go to Nang's to use her computer and sit and watch one of her staff make up pizza delivery boxes out of card.  No Domino's pizzas yet in MHS but I'm sure it will come soon as a KFC has just opened! 

ASSK is given 18 months in house detention.  World leaders condemn the sentence but what will happen.  The SPDC will ignore these condemnations.  We need action.  Action to free prisoners.  Action to bring democracy. Will the world act or just condemn as usual?

Tony Stokle

MaeHong Son

Thai/Burma border