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.

x

Catch Up

The nursery have gotten many packages from Gillian, the Campie nursery teacher. One of the times, she sent bunting that the teachers hung on the ceiling.

Teacher Ku Paw told me about this little boy. He lives with his Grandmother in Mae Sot because his parent's live and work in Bangkok. They are working away from him so they can send money back to him in Mae Sot. He's about 4 years old.

Many people who live in Mae Sot or Thailand work hard so they can send money back to their families. They keep a small amount for themselves and send money back to the Parents, children, siblings etc.

These are some of the kids from the nursery waiting to go home. They were sitting outside chatting away, I asked teacher Ku Paw what they were talking about and she said they were saying they're excited to go home and see the little brothers and sisters.

This is Zwe and teacher Za Za. Zwe is a student in my English after school class and teacher Za Za is a nursery teacher. They are lovely people and their whole family speak great English.

My little brother Heh Blu Soh and one of my favourite teacher's Eh Say. She is lovelyyyy!

There is a student in my English class who is quite a good artist. He wanted to learn more so I took some of his drawings to Sein Sein Lin. She is one of the artists at Borderline shop. She really liked them and will start teaching him on Sundays.

That night Lisa, Ailsa, my roommates and I went to see Poh Cho and Ni Shar. Ni Shar made yummy food and Poh Cho told my roommates about what he teachers in his school. Poh Cho speaks a lot to the children in his school about political topics such as Child Soldiers, Child trafficking, Child rights etc. Not many schools feel safe enough to do this and to not have any involvment in political subjects.

Here are some of Yan Naing Win's pictures.

We got another package from teacher Gillian for CDC nursery. The teachers were really happy, they just don't show it in photos. They look a bit confused because they didn't know what the contents of the package were.

Mum asked me to get photos of Grade 6's and 7's. Teacher Myo Nyunt took them. I think he enjoyed it, they were so creative!

This is teacher Myo Nyunt looking very fashionable as usual. Thought I'd get a photo for the Campie teacher's. I'll have a book of all his fashionable outfits by the time I leave.

I made mince and tatties! Yummmmmmmm!

Sat and ate dinner at the front door beside a little frog!

Then my roommates and I went out for a night out with our friends Joe and Stalin.

First, we went to My Mae Sot bar and watched a Burmese band play.

Joe.

Stalin.

Lianna and I.

Ben and Stalin.

Ben and Joe.

We bought a bottle of Rum for like £3. Spirit bottles are sooo cheap.

Ben and Lianna.

They all got up to sing a Burmese song, I sat out and filmed it haha.

We've been trying to explain to people that a ring on your 'ring finger' means you are either engaged or married. They really don't understand that. So we tried a different tactic of telling people that if they wear a ring on that finger everybody'll think they're off the market and won't want to be their boyfriend/girlfriend. That definitely works! haha.

Stalin and I got married!

Ben and Lianna danced.

We lost Lianna! We thought she went to the toilet and she'd been about 20 mins so I went to find her and she was with one of the barmaids getting Thannaka and make-up put on haha.

Then we went off to Y2K, the club in Mae Sot. I've never wanted to go before cause it seemed really sleazy. But we were in a good group so it seemed like fun.

Gang!

The club was cool, I never thought there'd be a club like that in Mae Sot. There was a live pop band playing like a gig. They let you take in bottles of spirits and just buy mixers so we did that.

On our table, there was free popcorn!!

I haddddddddd to get a photo of the toilet sign! So funny!!

The next day (with a big hangover) I went with Yan Naing Win to Sein Sein Lin for an art lesson.

More blogs to comeeeeeeee. Next one is about Mae La refugee camp I think.

This week I had a fabby time in Chiang Mai. Met up with my roommates a lot and we made new friends and went to good bars.

Yesterday we had a day off for World Teacher's Day so me, the Thai teacher, her sister and 3 students went to a waterfall and climbed up it!!

x

Internet

Sorting out my emails etc. Not had time to blog today but I can do it tomorrow.

Sitting in the tuck shop at CDC on the internet and a HUGE influx of students just came in handing me money for things haha.

Tomorrow! x