Visit to Burmese Refugee Camp

Gav: Ok so last ime I blogged I said that we were going to try and get to a nusery or orphanage. Well when we left here last night and got back to the hostel the one of the guys there said that they were a few short for a run to the refugee camp here. The thing is, this place is kept under wraps by the Thai gov and it's not a place that tourists know about never mind get int-only UN aid workers and alike.
So we obviously accepted and had a beer with the guy at the guest house to make sure it was safe. Afetr an hour or so we deided to get some supplies from the local store and strolled out of the hostel. As we were walking Sue turned to me and said 'You know what, i feel so much safer here than I did at the Siam Hotel' (the hotel on the next street that we had stayed the previous night). Just as she said that, aguy walked past in a bomber jacket and black pants carrying a shiny samuri sword. On every junction to the store (about 500m away there was a guard with a sword! So we s$aT ourselves and laughed our way back to the hostel to get ready for the next days trip!We have since found that this is local security. I said to Sue last night as we were walking along 'Yeah it's pretty scary but I think that there on our side!' .Well it seems that they are. There's lots of secrets that this town keeps and like our landlord at the moment says 'You would need a lomg time here to understand the area...and even then you wouln't fully understand!
So be prepeared, pretend you're back in school and I'll give you a brief history lesson.........
Burma (or Myanmar whatever you wanna call it) is a military dictatorship which in this scenario means that they basically want everyone to follow their rules (like em or not) If you don't then it means that you'll probably be tortured or worse. So the border town where we are in Thailand is just next to the Burmese area of Karen. Now, the Karens are split up into two groups (are you taking all this in at the back Hewitt?) The Buddhist Karens and the Christian Karens. In order to keep their land the Buddhist Karens have signed a peace treaty with the dictatorship. The Christian Karens haven't and because of which have had their life made hell (Bromley and Rymes-stop giggling, if the joke is so funny why don't you come out to the front of the class and tell everyone?). Their land has been taken and many people have been slautered in the process (basically you get a warning and if you don't leave your home you get horrendous things happen). So Burmese government keep taking more and more land off them and persecuting the Karens. So the Karen rebels (keep awake Statham)live in the jungle areas and are an army in themselves. But the other people of this aea who want a nice peaceful life cannot, cos they are scared to death by the situation so they come into Thailand, over a river and claim asylum or become refugees. They have nothing. So the place we went to today was a refugee camp for displaced Karens (of all ethnic backgrounds)who just want to live in peace and raise their families. It was a real eye opener. There was a Thai armoured vehicle paroling as we approached the entrance.It was a real eye opener.(Keep up Sutton)
Walking around the camp of around 50-60,000 people. It was like a city built into the surrounding mountains and valleys. We went to the hospital which was like a military field hospital, with lots of poor souls in there, We saw a woman really porrly and very underweight who looked like she was dying. We saw an HIV hospital being built, and went around a church school where we had a chat with a burmese teacher who told us some of the hardships that his fellow countrymen were facing. Then we were invited to get something to eat at a music fair where the music students were performing. OK they didn't do any of The Beatles songs but I let them off with that! We had a bite to eat then it was time to go. It was a great experience and although the camp was incredibly basic they had electricity and street pumps with clean water running and there did seem to be a true sense of community between the people. They did not openly show there suffering and were smiley and pleasant. I was worried that we would arrive and be met with a real desperate sight of suffering and so, but looking at these people I just thought that they had no idea of their future, their security and had no sense of their own identity. Thailand hasn't signed up to some imigration traet and therefore can kick their arses out at any time. Our guide told us that ultimately they didn't want to be exiled or moved to another country because that would dilute their collective identity.
Antway it was an interesting day and it was a pretty unforgettable one as well. So we all came back with our guide and have spent the last few hours having a great old time with a few couple of guys from Canada, a guy from New Orleans and a guy from Texas (who claims to have invented the squeegee!!!!). Having a strange but great time here and we are popping out for a beer tonight before heading back to Bangkok tomorrow. This is a starnge but fascinating place!"

you tube movie from someone else is here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB3ILrsT9Pw&mode=related&search=
as soon as we get a new camera we're gonna start posting stuff onto you tube.