Once in the nearby town of Mae Sot, we settled in a hotel where we stayed between visits to Huay Ka Loke, the name of the children's refugee camp. Every morning we drove about 20 minutes to the camp that boards refugee children from Burma, going through several police checks and picking up translators along the way.
Talking with the workers at Huay Ka Loke enabled me to learn about the political conditions and civil war that's gone on since World War II affecting generations of Burmese. Conflicts continue in Burma including fighting between Kachin Independence Army and the Karen minority group in the eastern half of the country on the border with Thailand. Apparently, the Karen people, among other ethnic groups, supported the British while they ruled the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the British fall (during the second World War) Burmese authorities refuse to recognize anyone who supported them. As a consequence, these ethnic groups have been pushed to the border of Thailand without the privileges of protection and other social support systems afforded by government. Most (if not all) of the displaced kids in our camp are from the Karen ethnic group.
The police checks we experienced are routine in the northern part of the country because so many Burmese pour over the border as illegals in search of a safe environment and education. Typically an entire family cannot afford to cross so parents send one or more of their children, often not knowing where they will end up. There are an estimated 100,000 displaced children along the Thai-Burmese border but only 7,000 of them get an education.
The camp near Mae Sot, however, offers instruction from qualified volunteers and teachers so the kids can work toward taking government tests and attend local high schools (if they pass) and/or go back to Burma to invest in positive change there. This is much like the educational system in India. The alternative to getting an education is devastating: children who do not have a stable family and do not get an education can end up in Burmese factories where they don't get paid and they also run the risk of being trafficked into the sex slave trade.
A sad situation that requires doing what we can to help and, especially, support them with much needed prayer.
