Mae La Refugee Camp

A few weeks ago Poh Cho, Ni Shar and their two children took me to visit their family in Mae La Refugee Camp. I had never visited a refugee camp before and usually visitor's are not allowed into the camp. Ni Shar's father is one of the area leader's in Zone C of Mae La, he asked permission for my visit which was very kind of him.

Mae La is split into three Zones. A, B & C. We visited Zone C which has mostly Muslim Burmese residents and some Karen.

We left at around 8am. I forgot my passport for the Thai checkpoints so Poh Cho had to take me back to pick it up!

We got a song taew which was about an hour and a half long journey. I slept all the way there. When I woke up, the song taew was completely packed with people hanging off the back and such. This is normal for Thailand though.

We got to the camp and walked through to Ni Shar's father's house. He lives with his wife and daughter. I know his daughter already because last year she lived at Say Ta Nar with Poh Cho and Ni Shar. I taught her for a little bit last year when I was covering for the Canadian teacher Emily. She is called Zar Zar Lin and she is so smart and beautiful and kind. I was SO happy to see her again because this year, she moved back to Mae La to go to further study.

I met Ni Shar's family, they all live so close together. The houses aren't that small but they are quite close together. You can stand at their front door and chat to their Auntie at her house.

Zar Zar Lin took me to see her school. I met her head teacher briefly and had a look round the school. Then we visited her friend's house.

The roads inside the camp are awful and full of potholes but there were people with motorcycles inside. Mostly, people walk everywhere. There were a few market stalls and shops around. They had potatoes, which is all I need to live somewhere haha! By the end of my visit I soo wanted to go and live with Ni Shar's family.

People aren't allowed to take photos inside the camp, but I was allowed to take photos of the scenery and Ni Shar's family.

These are the gorgeous mountains on one side of the camp. The camp is sort of in a valley. There's mountains on one side and on the other is a huge long road that leads from Mae Sot to the border.

You can read a much better description of Mae La here: http://asiabible.wordpress.com/mae-la-refugee-camp

This is Ni Shar and her father. He is looking at my passport to see what it looks like. Burmese people are so interested in our passports.

Her family were lovely to me and gave us loads of yummy Indian/Burmese food.

I asked some questions about the camp, so we talked about things to do with the camp.

This is Ni Shar's mother and father. The little girl was around all day, I don't think she's a relative.

Before we left, Ni Shar's dad invited us back to visit at Muslim New Year on the 7th of Novemebr. This is the same date as the Burmese 2010 elections. He told us that because of this clash, Muslim's inside Burma are not allowed to celebrate their New Year.

But this is not a problem for Muslims inside the camp.

We could take as many photos as we liked from outside the camp. You can see a few of the houses from this picture. They are made from wood, bamboo, leaves etc.

I asked if people were allowed to leave the camp. I was told they weren't previously but it seemed people were hanging around outside, walking along the road or just sitting outside. Poh Cho said that people pay bribes so they can be let outside the gate by the Thai officers.

He also said that some people go outside of the camp to work because the rations given by TBBC are not enough for their family needs. This is illegal and they could face being sent back to Burma if they get caught doing this.

The children sleeping. Such a long day!

I had a fantastic visit to Ni Shar's family, they were so kind and generous to us. It was such an amazing opportunity to get a glimpse of how life works inside Mae La. I am so grateful to Poh Cho, Ni Shar and their family for letting me visit them.

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