Friday, July 30, 2010
American Specialist Children’s Hospital in Mawlamyine Overflowing with Patients
WCRP: More children in Mon State are getting sick this year than last year and hospitals are struggling to keep up. The American Specialist Children’s Hospital in Mawlamyine was full in May. Since June, patients have been sharing beds and sleeping on the floor. The hospital, which mainly treats children from the Thanphyuzayart area, has two hundred and fifteen beds. Children are sleeping three to a bed and patients continue to arrive. “Even though the hospital has a lot of beds, there aren’t enough for my child and he has to sleep on the floor,” said one patient’s mother. “Last month there were over seven hundred patients in the children’s hospital. This month that number has increased to over one thousand,” said a nurse from the Children’s Hospital. Neighbors living near to the hospital have seen many new children arrive daily, but very few leave.
The nurse added, “During the months of June and July more than twenty children have died from influenza and other contagious diseases.” This month is expected to be worse for all patients, as influenza and other contagious diseases are spreading quickly among the children in the overcrowded hospital.
Patients who need blood transfusions told WCRP’s field reporter that the hospital’s supply of blood is very low and that blood had to be obtained from Mawlamyine Hospital.
It is not only patients in Mawlamyine that are suffering due to overcrowded hospitals. Myawaddy and Kawkareik Hospitals in Karen State have also reported that they do not have enough beds to keep up with the influx of patients. With illness expected to increase as the rainy season continues, there does not look to be an end to this problem in the near future.
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The nurse added, “During the months of June and July more than twenty children have died from influenza and other contagious diseases.” This month is expected to be worse for all patients, as influenza and other contagious diseases are spreading quickly among the children in the overcrowded hospital.
Patients who need blood transfusions told WCRP’s field reporter that the hospital’s supply of blood is very low and that blood had to be obtained from Mawlamyine Hospital.
It is not only patients in Mawlamyine that are suffering due to overcrowded hospitals. Myawaddy and Kawkareik Hospitals in Karen State have also reported that they do not have enough beds to keep up with the influx of patients. With illness expected to increase as the rainy season continues, there does not look to be an end to this problem in the near future.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010
HIV child hopes for the future
“I don’t want to take a lot of medicine. It is very boring. I just want to be the same as the other children. They don’t have to take medicine like me,” said Mi Saw, a Mon child who lives in the Safe House run by the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), near Huay Malai in Kanchnaburi province, Thailand.
Mi Saw* is 13-years-old and HIV positive. She lived in Halockanee, an Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) resettlement site, on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burma border with her mother and father before moving to the Safe House. Her parents were diagnosed with AIDS when she was 5-years-old. Her mother died first and Mi Saw was left to care for her ailing fatherHIV child hopes for the future
July 16, 2010
Chan Chan, WCRP
“I don’t want to take a lot of medicine. It is very boring. I just want to be the same as the other children. They don’t have to take medicine like me,” said Mi Saw, a Mon child who lives in the Safe House run by the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), near Huay Malai in Kanchnaburi province, Thailand.
Mi Saw* is 13-years-old and HIV positive. She lived in Halockanee, an Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) resettlement site, on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burma border with her mother and father before moving to the Safe House. Her parents were diagnosed with AIDS when she was 5-years-old. Her mother died first and Mi Saw was left to care for her ailing father. She is the only daughter in her family and when her father died, she had no close relatives to live with. The teacher from her village told her about the Safe House and she arrived there in February 2006.
“I am in grade 3 at the Thai-Christian School near the Safe house,” said Mi Saw. “When I arrived here I was crying, but now I am happy to stay here with my friends. I can speak 3 languages: Burmese, Thai and Karen. I go to school from 8am to 4pm and when I finish, I go to my room to do my homework and play with my friends. When I have free time, I make Karen bags and Karen T-shirts to help the Safe House.”
Mi Saw goes to the Kwai River Christian hospital in Sangkhlaburi, Kanchanaburi Province, monthly, there she is given the medicine she needs to control the HIV. She has to take pills twice a day, at 7 in the morning and 7 in the evening. The white pills are very large and they stick in her throat. She does not like to take them, but she knows they help her. When she first arrived at the safe house, she had lesions all over her body. These have now gone thanks to the medicine.
Ma Joe Phyu, a 49-year-old Karen woman from Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State, is responsible for the children who live at the Safe House:
“I am their teacher. My duty is to care for 30 children including 3 children who are HIV positive. I teach them on the weekends, prepare food, and make sure they are healthy … I also teach them Burmese, English, Karen, and Mathematics. We started the children’s Safe House program in 2005 with eight children, we now have 30. I take care of them as if they were my own children. I always tell them to try hard at school because education is so important for their future. I can tell them to try hard many times, but it is up to them. If they work hard they’ll have a chance to attend high school and university. If they study hard and succeed in school their futures will be better.”
TBBC provides the medicine for the children at the Safe House and God’s Kids Christian organization provides the funds for their education, food and clothes.
In the past, most of the HIV/AIDS patients that came to the Safe House clinic were men, but now the clinic is admitting more women. Daw Paw Lu Lu, the coordinator and co-founder of the Safe House, believes this increase is due to the rise in women migrating to and working in Thailand.
“Some men don’t control themselves and they contract HIV, and they give it to their wives who then pass it on to their children. We feel for the innocent children who are born with HIV. It is not good for their future. In 2009, a 5-year-old child and a 2-year-old child arrived to the Safe House after both their parents died from HIV/AIDS. The children had also contracted HIV from the parents. They now go to the hospital every month. The 5-year-old child is in grade one at the Thai-Christian school. There has been an increase in children being admitted who have contracted HIV/AIDS from their parents” Said Daw Paw Lu Lu.
In her room, Mi Saw keeps a photo of her old teacher from her village in Halockhanee by her bed. She looks at the photo and talks about her teacher often.
“Now I am in grade three. When I grow up I want to be a teacher. This is my wish. I would like to teach the children like me who have no parents and I would like to help those children like my teacher helped me.”
Read more...
Mi Saw* is 13-years-old and HIV positive. She lived in Halockanee, an Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) resettlement site, on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burma border with her mother and father before moving to the Safe House. Her parents were diagnosed with AIDS when she was 5-years-old. Her mother died first and Mi Saw was left to care for her ailing fatherHIV child hopes for the future
July 16, 2010
Chan Chan, WCRP
“I don’t want to take a lot of medicine. It is very boring. I just want to be the same as the other children. They don’t have to take medicine like me,” said Mi Saw, a Mon child who lives in the Safe House run by the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), near Huay Malai in Kanchnaburi province, Thailand.
Mi Saw* is 13-years-old and HIV positive. She lived in Halockanee, an Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) resettlement site, on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burma border with her mother and father before moving to the Safe House. Her parents were diagnosed with AIDS when she was 5-years-old. Her mother died first and Mi Saw was left to care for her ailing father. She is the only daughter in her family and when her father died, she had no close relatives to live with. The teacher from her village told her about the Safe House and she arrived there in February 2006.
“I am in grade 3 at the Thai-Christian School near the Safe house,” said Mi Saw. “When I arrived here I was crying, but now I am happy to stay here with my friends. I can speak 3 languages: Burmese, Thai and Karen. I go to school from 8am to 4pm and when I finish, I go to my room to do my homework and play with my friends. When I have free time, I make Karen bags and Karen T-shirts to help the Safe House.”
Mi Saw goes to the Kwai River Christian hospital in Sangkhlaburi, Kanchanaburi Province, monthly, there she is given the medicine she needs to control the HIV. She has to take pills twice a day, at 7 in the morning and 7 in the evening. The white pills are very large and they stick in her throat. She does not like to take them, but she knows they help her. When she first arrived at the safe house, she had lesions all over her body. These have now gone thanks to the medicine.
Ma Joe Phyu, a 49-year-old Karen woman from Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State, is responsible for the children who live at the Safe House:
“I am their teacher. My duty is to care for 30 children including 3 children who are HIV positive. I teach them on the weekends, prepare food, and make sure they are healthy … I also teach them Burmese, English, Karen, and Mathematics. We started the children’s Safe House program in 2005 with eight children, we now have 30. I take care of them as if they were my own children. I always tell them to try hard at school because education is so important for their future. I can tell them to try hard many times, but it is up to them. If they work hard they’ll have a chance to attend high school and university. If they study hard and succeed in school their futures will be better.”
TBBC provides the medicine for the children at the Safe House and God’s Kids Christian organization provides the funds for their education, food and clothes.
In the past, most of the HIV/AIDS patients that came to the Safe House clinic were men, but now the clinic is admitting more women. Daw Paw Lu Lu, the coordinator and co-founder of the Safe House, believes this increase is due to the rise in women migrating to and working in Thailand.
“Some men don’t control themselves and they contract HIV, and they give it to their wives who then pass it on to their children. We feel for the innocent children who are born with HIV. It is not good for their future. In 2009, a 5-year-old child and a 2-year-old child arrived to the Safe House after both their parents died from HIV/AIDS. The children had also contracted HIV from the parents. They now go to the hospital every month. The 5-year-old child is in grade one at the Thai-Christian school. There has been an increase in children being admitted who have contracted HIV/AIDS from their parents” Said Daw Paw Lu Lu.
In her room, Mi Saw keeps a photo of her old teacher from her village in Halockhanee by her bed. She looks at the photo and talks about her teacher often.
“Now I am in grade three. When I grow up I want to be a teacher. This is my wish. I would like to teach the children like me who have no parents and I would like to help those children like my teacher helped me.”
Read more...
Friday, July 2, 2010
10 Standard students forced to study through the night
10 standard students required to pay 5000 kyat (4.95 USD) per month to attend an all night study program in Khaw-Zar sub-township, Mon State. The fee covers the costs of using the school after normal hours, petrol for the generator, and materials. Regular school hours are from 9am to 3pm and the compulsory program is from 6pm to 6am, Monday thru Friday. Students return home on the weekends and during break periods.
According to local sources, teachers from the Basic Education High School independently undertook the program two years ago in hopes of improving test scores. Last year only 3 of the 22, 10 standard students passed the March final exam, which helps determines future college placements.
Local sources told WCRP that last year, Khaw-zar Sub-township Peace and Development Council Chairman, Kyaw Moe, provided a couple rooms in the USDA office for the night study program. Additionally he supplied State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) soldiers, petrol for the building’s generator, and extra electricity. No support, financial or material, was provided for the program this year.
Financial support for this year’s program may have been withheld because last year some of the 10 standard students had problems with the patrolling SPDC soldiers.
Students reported that while they were sleeping soldiers threw stones through open windows and on one occasion entered their sleeping quarters. This year an ongoing rotation of 3 parents stay with the students during the night study program.
In neighboring Ye Town, 10 standard students from Basic Education High School 1 have the option of attending a night study program, but it is not required. “I only attended the program for one day … now I study at home. I think it is better [to study at home] because students were too talkative at the night study program,” said a student from Ye town.
As WCRP, Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) and various other news organizations have reported, extended school hours, to help students prepare for 10 standard final exams, have been mandate in several areas throughout southern Burma.
Read more...
According to local sources, teachers from the Basic Education High School independently undertook the program two years ago in hopes of improving test scores. Last year only 3 of the 22, 10 standard students passed the March final exam, which helps determines future college placements.
Local sources told WCRP that last year, Khaw-zar Sub-township Peace and Development Council Chairman, Kyaw Moe, provided a couple rooms in the USDA office for the night study program. Additionally he supplied State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) soldiers, petrol for the building’s generator, and extra electricity. No support, financial or material, was provided for the program this year.
Financial support for this year’s program may have been withheld because last year some of the 10 standard students had problems with the patrolling SPDC soldiers.
Students reported that while they were sleeping soldiers threw stones through open windows and on one occasion entered their sleeping quarters. This year an ongoing rotation of 3 parents stay with the students during the night study program.
In neighboring Ye Town, 10 standard students from Basic Education High School 1 have the option of attending a night study program, but it is not required. “I only attended the program for one day … now I study at home. I think it is better [to study at home] because students were too talkative at the night study program,” said a student from Ye town.
As WCRP, Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) and various other news organizations have reported, extended school hours, to help students prepare for 10 standard final exams, have been mandate in several areas throughout southern Burma.
Read more...
The child’s life, hopeless in the future
Early in the morning I was awoken by the chickens beautiful singing. I opened my eyes and looked around my room. Through the window I could see the mist falling to the earth in small droplets and my neighbors cooking rice or praying to the monks. I stood up and headed to the bathroom for a shower. After, I met a friend who was accompanying me to Bleh-donephai, a resettlement site near the Thai-Burma border. My friend was wearing two jackets to protect her from the cold, but she said she could still feel the cool air through her layers.
I felt the air and tried to imagine how people without warm clothes were able to survive. My friend and I chatted as we waited for the car to pick us for our trip. I could not see clearly down the road because of the mist.
The journey took a couple of hours and our first stop was in a small Karen village in Huay malia. I noticed that most of the houses were made of wood and bamboo. Near each house was a small patch of vegetables where Roselle and sweet potato plants were growing. We looked around the village for an hour or so and then continued our trip.
Half an hour later we arrived at the small Mon village of Bleh-donephai. The 100 or so houses in the village are in a New Mon State Party (NMSP) controlled area. The houses were built in the same style as the previous village only with bamboo and thatch grass instead.
As I walked through the village I noticed that their drinking water came from two rivers that flowed through the middle and end of the town. A wooden bridge spans across the middle river, connecting either side of town and mountains encompass the landscape.
The villagers’ main sources of income are rice cultivation along the hillside and hunting. Most villagers hunt boars, frogs, rats, deer, and monkeys.
Jonda Non, a 15-year-old Mon girl, lives in Bleh-donephai. She shares a small hut with her mother, 2 sisters (3-months-old and 6-years-old) and her 9-year-old brother. Her father is a hunter and normally sleeps in the forest.
Sadly, Jonda Non has never tasted meat and her father’s inconsistent hunting is barely enough to support the family. “When I was 5-years-old, my father fell and rolled down a mountain. He broke his leg and he could not work [hunt] for a while. My family decided to sell our property to find another job in a different village. We walked for three days to get to this new village Bleh-donephai and decided to live here.
I want to go back to my old village to see my relatives, but we have no money or time to visit them,” said Jonda Non.
Jonda Non’s hut is at the end of the village near the river. Large grass leaves cover the roof of her small abode while the floor and structure are made of bamboo, there are no doors. Jonda Non and her family moved into the one room hut a couple of months ago after another family had abandoned it.
As she invited my friend and I inside I noticed pots and blankets divided the hut into cooking and sleeping areas. In the sleeping area there was one blanket, two pillows and a small box. The kitchen consisted of two pots -one for washing, one for cleaning- and a water bucket. I noticed several ants floating in the washing pot.
As I interviewed Jonda Non, her 3-month-old baby sister cried in her arms. Their mother had not yet returned from work and there was no food in the house to eat. In hopes of cooing the baby, Jonda Non sent her 6-year-old sister to borrow sugar from the local shop, but 10 minutes later the child returned empty handed; the shop owner had refused to give her the sugar on credit.
Jonda Non filled a bottle with warm water and nursed the baby anyway. As the baby fed, Jonda Non explained to me how she tries to balance school and family responsibilities.
“I am in 3rd standard at Bleh-donephai Mon National Elementary School. I want to continue my education till I graduate, but my family is so poor, I always have to miss school to help earn money for food. Often, I have to go to the forest with my mother during school to pick and sell grass leaves so we can buy food. Before I go to school, I have to cook, help with my sisters and wash clothes.
I’m always late to school because I have to do all of the housework. Sometime my teacher beats me with a small bamboo rod because of my constant tardiness.” Said Jonda Non. Normally students in 3rd standard are 8-years-old, but in Bleh-donephai most children have to work, help their family and attend school. Because of these other obligations, students, like Jonda Non, often fall behind in their studies and find it difficult to consistently attend school and keep up with their peer group.
Bleh-donephai’s elementary school is in the middle of the village and is surrounded by trees and a playground. On Mondays and Fridays all students and teachers wear Mon ethnic clothes to school.
Jonda Non cannot afford nor has ever owned Mon clothes. Consequently every Monday and Friday the students tease her, “don’t sit with us, you are so dirty. If you want to sit with us, you should wear Mon clothes like us.” She tells them, “I don’t’ have any Mon clothes to wear,” but they continue the harassment every week. She explained to me, “I have never asked my mother to buy Mon clothes for me. I know she has no extra money.”
When Jonda Non was in 2nd standard she was awarded a Burmese sarong for being the top student in her class. Unfortunately at that time, her family had no money for food and both her parents were sick. Though she adored the sarong, she secretly sold it to buy food for her family.
Jonda will finish 3rd standard this March and the school in Bleh-donephai only offers classes up to 4th standard. The middle school is in a neighboring village a half hour’s walk away. “I am not sure what to do about the up coming year. I have to choose between continuing my education and helping my family. I cannot do both, and I am worried about my future. Should I continue to help my family or my schooling?” said Jonda Non as she tried to hide her tears from her mother.
“I feel so bad for my child. I want her to study like other children. Now my children have no chance to study and they have to work like adults. They do not have enough food like other children because I cannot properly support them,” said Jonda Non mother.
We finished talking around 4:00pm and as my friend I headed to the car the sun was setting into the mountains. When I arrived home, I turned on the lights and ate dinner with my friend. Before I fell asleep, I remembered what Jonda Non said “I would like to be a doctor because I want to treat poor people in villages that do not have health care. I think my dream will never come true because of my family’s financial situation.”
Read more...
I felt the air and tried to imagine how people without warm clothes were able to survive. My friend and I chatted as we waited for the car to pick us for our trip. I could not see clearly down the road because of the mist.
The journey took a couple of hours and our first stop was in a small Karen village in Huay malia. I noticed that most of the houses were made of wood and bamboo. Near each house was a small patch of vegetables where Roselle and sweet potato plants were growing. We looked around the village for an hour or so and then continued our trip.
Half an hour later we arrived at the small Mon village of Bleh-donephai. The 100 or so houses in the village are in a New Mon State Party (NMSP) controlled area. The houses were built in the same style as the previous village only with bamboo and thatch grass instead.
As I walked through the village I noticed that their drinking water came from two rivers that flowed through the middle and end of the town. A wooden bridge spans across the middle river, connecting either side of town and mountains encompass the landscape.
The villagers’ main sources of income are rice cultivation along the hillside and hunting. Most villagers hunt boars, frogs, rats, deer, and monkeys.
Jonda Non, a 15-year-old Mon girl, lives in Bleh-donephai. She shares a small hut with her mother, 2 sisters (3-months-old and 6-years-old) and her 9-year-old brother. Her father is a hunter and normally sleeps in the forest.
Sadly, Jonda Non has never tasted meat and her father’s inconsistent hunting is barely enough to support the family. “When I was 5-years-old, my father fell and rolled down a mountain. He broke his leg and he could not work [hunt] for a while. My family decided to sell our property to find another job in a different village. We walked for three days to get to this new village Bleh-donephai and decided to live here.
I want to go back to my old village to see my relatives, but we have no money or time to visit them,” said Jonda Non.
Jonda Non’s hut is at the end of the village near the river. Large grass leaves cover the roof of her small abode while the floor and structure are made of bamboo, there are no doors. Jonda Non and her family moved into the one room hut a couple of months ago after another family had abandoned it.
As she invited my friend and I inside I noticed pots and blankets divided the hut into cooking and sleeping areas. In the sleeping area there was one blanket, two pillows and a small box. The kitchen consisted of two pots -one for washing, one for cleaning- and a water bucket. I noticed several ants floating in the washing pot.
As I interviewed Jonda Non, her 3-month-old baby sister cried in her arms. Their mother had not yet returned from work and there was no food in the house to eat. In hopes of cooing the baby, Jonda Non sent her 6-year-old sister to borrow sugar from the local shop, but 10 minutes later the child returned empty handed; the shop owner had refused to give her the sugar on credit.
Jonda Non filled a bottle with warm water and nursed the baby anyway. As the baby fed, Jonda Non explained to me how she tries to balance school and family responsibilities.
“I am in 3rd standard at Bleh-donephai Mon National Elementary School. I want to continue my education till I graduate, but my family is so poor, I always have to miss school to help earn money for food. Often, I have to go to the forest with my mother during school to pick and sell grass leaves so we can buy food. Before I go to school, I have to cook, help with my sisters and wash clothes.
I’m always late to school because I have to do all of the housework. Sometime my teacher beats me with a small bamboo rod because of my constant tardiness.” Said Jonda Non. Normally students in 3rd standard are 8-years-old, but in Bleh-donephai most children have to work, help their family and attend school. Because of these other obligations, students, like Jonda Non, often fall behind in their studies and find it difficult to consistently attend school and keep up with their peer group.
Bleh-donephai’s elementary school is in the middle of the village and is surrounded by trees and a playground. On Mondays and Fridays all students and teachers wear Mon ethnic clothes to school.
Jonda Non cannot afford nor has ever owned Mon clothes. Consequently every Monday and Friday the students tease her, “don’t sit with us, you are so dirty. If you want to sit with us, you should wear Mon clothes like us.” She tells them, “I don’t’ have any Mon clothes to wear,” but they continue the harassment every week. She explained to me, “I have never asked my mother to buy Mon clothes for me. I know she has no extra money.”
When Jonda Non was in 2nd standard she was awarded a Burmese sarong for being the top student in her class. Unfortunately at that time, her family had no money for food and both her parents were sick. Though she adored the sarong, she secretly sold it to buy food for her family.
Jonda will finish 3rd standard this March and the school in Bleh-donephai only offers classes up to 4th standard. The middle school is in a neighboring village a half hour’s walk away. “I am not sure what to do about the up coming year. I have to choose between continuing my education and helping my family. I cannot do both, and I am worried about my future. Should I continue to help my family or my schooling?” said Jonda Non as she tried to hide her tears from her mother.
“I feel so bad for my child. I want her to study like other children. Now my children have no chance to study and they have to work like adults. They do not have enough food like other children because I cannot properly support them,” said Jonda Non mother.
We finished talking around 4:00pm and as my friend I headed to the car the sun was setting into the mountains. When I arrived home, I turned on the lights and ate dinner with my friend. Before I fell asleep, I remembered what Jonda Non said “I would like to be a doctor because I want to treat poor people in villages that do not have health care. I think my dream will never come true because of my family’s financial situation.”
Read more...
A home for the unwanted
“I want to go back home. Can you take me?” a mentally challenged woman asked me while my friend and I were visiting the Safe House near Huay Malai in Kanchnaburi province, Thailand. But for this woman, and many of her fellow patients, the Safe House serves as the only “home” such individuals can find.
It had taken us about 45 minutes to travel to the Safe House by motorbike. When we arrived the manager, Daw Paw Lu Lu, was accompanying an HIV positive patient to the Kwai River Christian Hospital, a five minutes drive from the Safe House. As we waited to interview her, staff from the Safe House gave us a tour of the organization’s grounds and projects. Small houses and buildings connected by gardening projects, fish banks and a pig farm scattered the Safe House property. When Daw Paw Lu Lu returned we sat down and she patiently answered my questions about the Safe House, while my friend photographed the weaving centre.
Daw Paw Lu Lu, a 61-year-old Karen woman, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), and the Christian Church of Thailand, founded the Safe House in 1993. The Safe House was a coordinated effort of the three organizations to aid the increasing number of displaced migrants struggling to survive on and around the Thailand-Burma border. Over the past 17 years, the Safe House has treated over 1500 patients suffering from varying illnesses. Patients of the Safe House are members of various nationalities, ethnicities and religions; presently there are Mon, Shan, Karen, Arakan, Akha, Thai, Malay, Khmer and Indian patients at the residence.
Daw Paw Lu Lu explained to me that the aim of the Safe House is to help mentally impaired, or terminally ill, individuals who have no other option. This includes individuals suffering from: HIV/AIDS, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Tuberculosis (TB), schizophrenia, mania, epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, and various other ailments.
In the past, most of the HIV/AIDS patients that came to the clinic were men but now the clinic is admitting more women. Daw Paw Lu Lu thinks the increase is due to the rise in women migrating to and working in Thailand.
Since she was 27, Daw Paw Lu Lu has been studying and providing healthcare on and around the Thailand-Burma border. Initially running the Safe House alone, she now has a round-the-clock staff of 14. Other then caring for patients, Safe House staff runs various recreational, rehabilitation and vocational programs to aid in the patients’ recovery. Able patients can tend to the: vegetable gardens, fish banks or pig farm. Other activities include: soccer, crafts, brick making and chicken husbandry. Additionally, the Safe House’s weaving centre and loom project teaches patients how to weave Karen bags, purses, scarves and various other goods.
Ma Htin Phyu, a 22-year-old Karen women, who runs the loom project explained to me how she came to the Safe House:
One day a troop of SPDC soldiers were fighting in my village so we ran to Nu Poe refugee camp. While I was living in the camp, my aunt contacted me and invited me to live with her in Huay Malai and she told me about the Safe House. So my husband and I came, and we now live with my aunt. When I arrived, I attended the loom training and now I work at the Safe House. I don’t want to go back to my village because if I live in my village I will constantly worry about SPDC soldiers. I am very happy to work here. I also have two children who attend the Christian school in Huay Malai.” Ma Htin Phyu is from Paw Nan village, Karen State, and has worked at the Safe House for several years.
Through the weaving centre and loom project, the Safe House provides jobs and opportunities for patients to earn an income if and when they are capable. At the front of the Safe House there is a small store where all the goods from the two projects are sold. When an item is purchased the profit goes back to the maker.
In a separate building, there are 30 live-in children; some sick, some orphaned, and some merely the children of patients. TBBC provides funds so the children are able to attend the local Christian school.
“I have been working here [the Safe House] for five years. My duty is to care for the children, I teach them on the weekends, prepare food, and make sure they are healthy… Also I teach them Burmese, English, Karen, and do Math with them. I am tired, but I am happy to take care of them. They are very cute,” said Ma Joe Phyu, a 49-years-old Karen woman from Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State, who is responsible for the live in children. In total, three Safe House staff members tend to the children while they are not attending school. In an attempt to accommodate all students, the Christian school, provides language classes in Karen, Burmese, English, Thai, and Mon.
Currently the Safe House is supporting 42 patients, 19 female and 23 male with the average age of 37. There are six adults and two children with HIV/AIDS, 22 patients are mentally ill, 14 patients are suffering from an assortment of chronic physical illnesses. Additionally there are 10 chronically sick elderly patients over the age of 70. TBBC provides the: staff, rent, food, clothes, furniture, appliances, cutlery, medicine, and medical supplies for occupants of the Safe House. The Safe House is currently in the midst of a 5-year plan to become independent.
Potential patients have to meet strict criteria before the Safe House is able to accept them as in-patients. Admitted patients usually do not have a home, family or any kind of support network. Patients that cannot or do not recover, are able to rely on or live at the Safe House for extended periods of time.
Land limitations are currently creating difficulties for the Safe House and its occupants. The 22 mentally ill patients share two cramped dorm like spaces, which are divided by sex. Daw Paw Lu Lu explained that due to the confined quarters, fights are quite common.
“We do not have enough land and it causes problems. Also, the land that we use is rented and the landlord may want it back in the future. We also do not have enough toilets.” Said Daw Paw Lu Lu. For the 42 occupants and 14 staff there are only four toilets, two of which are inside the mentally impaired patients’ male quarters. When fights break out, between the patients, or if the quarters are locked, everyone is blocked from using the toilets.
“I want to help the people who have no place to stay and no one to care for them. I try to give them a place to sleep and treat their diseases. I also try to help migrant workers who have problems and make it so they can stay in our Safe House comfortably.” Said Daw Paw Lu Lu.
By Chan Chan
Read more...
It had taken us about 45 minutes to travel to the Safe House by motorbike. When we arrived the manager, Daw Paw Lu Lu, was accompanying an HIV positive patient to the Kwai River Christian Hospital, a five minutes drive from the Safe House. As we waited to interview her, staff from the Safe House gave us a tour of the organization’s grounds and projects. Small houses and buildings connected by gardening projects, fish banks and a pig farm scattered the Safe House property. When Daw Paw Lu Lu returned we sat down and she patiently answered my questions about the Safe House, while my friend photographed the weaving centre.
Daw Paw Lu Lu, a 61-year-old Karen woman, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), and the Christian Church of Thailand, founded the Safe House in 1993. The Safe House was a coordinated effort of the three organizations to aid the increasing number of displaced migrants struggling to survive on and around the Thailand-Burma border. Over the past 17 years, the Safe House has treated over 1500 patients suffering from varying illnesses. Patients of the Safe House are members of various nationalities, ethnicities and religions; presently there are Mon, Shan, Karen, Arakan, Akha, Thai, Malay, Khmer and Indian patients at the residence.
Daw Paw Lu Lu explained to me that the aim of the Safe House is to help mentally impaired, or terminally ill, individuals who have no other option. This includes individuals suffering from: HIV/AIDS, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Tuberculosis (TB), schizophrenia, mania, epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, and various other ailments.
In the past, most of the HIV/AIDS patients that came to the clinic were men but now the clinic is admitting more women. Daw Paw Lu Lu thinks the increase is due to the rise in women migrating to and working in Thailand.
Since she was 27, Daw Paw Lu Lu has been studying and providing healthcare on and around the Thailand-Burma border. Initially running the Safe House alone, she now has a round-the-clock staff of 14. Other then caring for patients, Safe House staff runs various recreational, rehabilitation and vocational programs to aid in the patients’ recovery. Able patients can tend to the: vegetable gardens, fish banks or pig farm. Other activities include: soccer, crafts, brick making and chicken husbandry. Additionally, the Safe House’s weaving centre and loom project teaches patients how to weave Karen bags, purses, scarves and various other goods.
Ma Htin Phyu, a 22-year-old Karen women, who runs the loom project explained to me how she came to the Safe House:
One day a troop of SPDC soldiers were fighting in my village so we ran to Nu Poe refugee camp. While I was living in the camp, my aunt contacted me and invited me to live with her in Huay Malai and she told me about the Safe House. So my husband and I came, and we now live with my aunt. When I arrived, I attended the loom training and now I work at the Safe House. I don’t want to go back to my village because if I live in my village I will constantly worry about SPDC soldiers. I am very happy to work here. I also have two children who attend the Christian school in Huay Malai.” Ma Htin Phyu is from Paw Nan village, Karen State, and has worked at the Safe House for several years.
Through the weaving centre and loom project, the Safe House provides jobs and opportunities for patients to earn an income if and when they are capable. At the front of the Safe House there is a small store where all the goods from the two projects are sold. When an item is purchased the profit goes back to the maker.
In a separate building, there are 30 live-in children; some sick, some orphaned, and some merely the children of patients. TBBC provides funds so the children are able to attend the local Christian school.
“I have been working here [the Safe House] for five years. My duty is to care for the children, I teach them on the weekends, prepare food, and make sure they are healthy… Also I teach them Burmese, English, Karen, and do Math with them. I am tired, but I am happy to take care of them. They are very cute,” said Ma Joe Phyu, a 49-years-old Karen woman from Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State, who is responsible for the live in children. In total, three Safe House staff members tend to the children while they are not attending school. In an attempt to accommodate all students, the Christian school, provides language classes in Karen, Burmese, English, Thai, and Mon.
Currently the Safe House is supporting 42 patients, 19 female and 23 male with the average age of 37. There are six adults and two children with HIV/AIDS, 22 patients are mentally ill, 14 patients are suffering from an assortment of chronic physical illnesses. Additionally there are 10 chronically sick elderly patients over the age of 70. TBBC provides the: staff, rent, food, clothes, furniture, appliances, cutlery, medicine, and medical supplies for occupants of the Safe House. The Safe House is currently in the midst of a 5-year plan to become independent.
Potential patients have to meet strict criteria before the Safe House is able to accept them as in-patients. Admitted patients usually do not have a home, family or any kind of support network. Patients that cannot or do not recover, are able to rely on or live at the Safe House for extended periods of time.
Land limitations are currently creating difficulties for the Safe House and its occupants. The 22 mentally ill patients share two cramped dorm like spaces, which are divided by sex. Daw Paw Lu Lu explained that due to the confined quarters, fights are quite common.
“We do not have enough land and it causes problems. Also, the land that we use is rented and the landlord may want it back in the future. We also do not have enough toilets.” Said Daw Paw Lu Lu. For the 42 occupants and 14 staff there are only four toilets, two of which are inside the mentally impaired patients’ male quarters. When fights break out, between the patients, or if the quarters are locked, everyone is blocked from using the toilets.
“I want to help the people who have no place to stay and no one to care for them. I try to give them a place to sleep and treat their diseases. I also try to help migrant workers who have problems and make it so they can stay in our Safe House comfortably.” Said Daw Paw Lu Lu.
By Chan Chan
Read more...
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Burmese woman arrested by Thai police without just cause
WCRP: During the first week of January, 2010, in Kroarad community, Mahachai, Thailand, three plain clothed Thai policemen unwarrantedly arrested a 50-year-old Mon woman for drug procession. The women explained to Labour Rights Promotion Network (LPN) field officer that she was preparing to go to work when three policemen knocked on her door and arrested her. The woman cannot speak or understand Thai and the officers did not speak Burmese or offer a description of her charges. She also stated that earlier in the day, on two separate occasions, she saw the same officers knocking on her neighbors’ door; which are well known throughout the community for drug distribution. At the time of her arrest the officers were not wearing uniforms.
From the police station the confused woman called her Thai literate son for help. Upon arrival an officer informed her son that his mother was being charged with selling marijuana and her bail was set at 50,000 baht (1,520 USD) and if not paid immediately they would put her in jail. The son returned home in efforts to raise the necessary funds, but without relatives or a support network in Mahachai he was unsuccessful.
“Please help me, don’t let me be alone. Why are they [Thai authorities] making me stay here? I don’t sell drugs; I have never seen any in my life. What ever they said I understand nothing and I was afraid of them.” The woman said, while in Thai custody, to the LPN field officer.
Three days after her arrest the police questioned her without a translator present and coerced her into signing a statement admitting that she was selling drugs. The woman is currently being held in Brohamin jail in Mahachai while she waits for a court hearing.
According to the LPN field officer, cases like this are very common, and LPN often handles incidences of Burmese migrant workers being wrongfully arrested by Thai authorities and then threatened with extortion or jail. LPN is a Thai NGO based in Praek sub-district, Muang district, Samut Sakhon province, Thailand, which focuses on protecting labor rights.
The woman, originally from Lamine Sub-Township, Ye Township, Mon State, migrated to Thailand one year ago. She had migrated to meet her son and escape a jobless market in Burma. During the night she legally works at a prawn factory and during the day her son works at Asia Sea Food Factory.
Read more...
From the police station the confused woman called her Thai literate son for help. Upon arrival an officer informed her son that his mother was being charged with selling marijuana and her bail was set at 50,000 baht (1,520 USD) and if not paid immediately they would put her in jail. The son returned home in efforts to raise the necessary funds, but without relatives or a support network in Mahachai he was unsuccessful.
“Please help me, don’t let me be alone. Why are they [Thai authorities] making me stay here? I don’t sell drugs; I have never seen any in my life. What ever they said I understand nothing and I was afraid of them.” The woman said, while in Thai custody, to the LPN field officer.
Three days after her arrest the police questioned her without a translator present and coerced her into signing a statement admitting that she was selling drugs. The woman is currently being held in Brohamin jail in Mahachai while she waits for a court hearing.
According to the LPN field officer, cases like this are very common, and LPN often handles incidences of Burmese migrant workers being wrongfully arrested by Thai authorities and then threatened with extortion or jail. LPN is a Thai NGO based in Praek sub-district, Muang district, Samut Sakhon province, Thailand, which focuses on protecting labor rights.
The woman, originally from Lamine Sub-Township, Ye Township, Mon State, migrated to Thailand one year ago. She had migrated to meet her son and escape a jobless market in Burma. During the night she legally works at a prawn factory and during the day her son works at Asia Sea Food Factory.
Read more...
A mother’s fears realized
“I don’t want to return until I have earned enough money to start a shop for my family in my hometown,” said Mi Yi, a Mon woman from Kaw-kha-lein village, Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, southern Burma. In Mi Yi’s hometown jobs are scarce, wages are low and most villagers survive by cultivating rice or tapping rubber trees. There are about 400 households in the village and the school goes up to 6th standard.
Three years ago Mi Yi, her daughter Mi Mon, and her husband migrated to Thailand with a broker, through the Three Pagodas Pass crossing. Mi Yi did not want to leave her village, but without a job or an income, she had no choice.
“When we were in Burma, we didn’t have enough to eat and we were indebted to our neighbors. I wanted to work in my hometown, but we had no money to open a shop. We migrated to Thailand in hopes of finding better jobs,” said Mi Yi.
When Mi Yi’s husband was a New Mon State Party (NMSP) solider they moved a lot, but there was always food on the table. After they had children, two daughters and two sons, the problems started. Severe food shortages and a lack of work, forced Mi Yi to uproot her family and move to Thailand. At the time she was very concerned about pulling her youngest daughter out of school, but she felt that moving was important for the family’s livelihood.
Mi Yi explained, “When we migrated to Thailand I took my youngest daughter too, even though she was attending school. She was very young and I was worried if I left her alone in the village she would be harassed by the male villagers.” Mi Mon, Mi Yi’s youngest daughter, is now 16-years-old and has not attended school since the family left Burma.
Mi Mon elaborated, “I had to go with them to Thailand; my sisters and brothers had already migrated. If I hadn’t gone to Thailand, I would have had to live alone in my village. I was so sad to leave school, I was 13-years-old and in 4th standard when we left Burma.”
Over the past three years, Mi Yi and her family have had various factory and construction jobs throughout Mahachai, Samu Sakhon, Thailand. At first, working without Thai ID cards, they received low wages and regularly had to hide from the police during routine factory checks.
“I remember one time while we were working the police came and checked the factory. Luckily, we escaped by running from the building. Now we have Thai ID cards and we work on construction sites building houses. We are constantly changing jobs and we never have extra money. Even though my daughter, husband and I work everyday we never have extra money. If we work today, we can eat today,” said Mi Yi.
When Mi Mon first arrived in Thailand she took care of her niece while her aunt and parents worked various jobs. After awhile, Mi Yi felt it was unsafe for her daughter to be alone in the apartment all day, so she found Mi Mon a job working beside her at a construction site. Mi Mon and her parents now work together from 8am to 6pm, each making 180baht (about 5.50 USD) per day. Of the 100 plus employees at the construction site, around 15 are also Mon. The family currently lives in a small studio apartment, which is partitioned into bedrooms by a sheet. The community they live in is predominantly Mon, and many of the cultural traditions they found in their old village persist.
On 6 of January, Mi Mon was feeling a bit ill and went to bed early. As she slept, a 50-year-old Mon man climbed through a hole in their apartment wall and into bed with her. Mi Mon explained, “Around midnight while I was deeply asleep, he came in and laid behind me. When I woke up I saw him in my bed, I was shocked and afraid of him. I ran to where my parents were sleeping and cried to my mother.”
“I know this guy… he raped a woman in our village,” Mi Yi said when she saw the man sleeping in her daughters bed. Mi Yi and her husband shouted at the man, but they could not wake him. Around 5 am, the man independently stood up and left through the front door. Mi Mon and her parents smelled alcohol on him as he departed.
The exact situation Mi Yi feared, and diligently tried to protect her daughter from, came to life in their small studio apartment. “I am depressed about the situation, my daughter is so young,” stated Mi Yi.
After the incident Mi Mon’s parents, hoping to shield their daughter from further pain, kept quiet, but the intruder did not. “My daughter told me, nothing happen with that man, but he bragged to his friend and said he slept with my daughter and held her,” added Mi Yi.
Two weeks after the incident the man’s family insisted the two be wed. The mother of the man told Mi Yi, “I want my son and your daughter to be married, if your daughter doesn’t marry my son, it’s ok, but, because of this situation, your daughter will loose face.”
In Mon culture, if a woman is sexually harassed, the elder generation strongly encourages the couple to wed. If the couple is in love, or agrees, is not a concern; it is only important that the man takes responsibility for the woman.
“I didn’t know him and I had never spoken to him before. My co-workers told me, he told them, he had a small gun, so many people are afraid of him. Nothing happened [sexually] with him and really I don’t want to marry him,” said Mi Mon. Mi Yi is supporting her daughter’s decision not to marry the man.
A couple weeks after the incident, Mi Yi filled a formal complaint with the Labor rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN), an organization that helps migrants in Mahachai. They are now in process of suing the man for sexual harassment.
“I don’t think women, who have been sexually harassed, should be forced to marry their attacker,” said Mon Women Organization’s (MWO) Sangkhlaburi advisor, an organization that promotes Mon women’s right throughout southern Burma and Thailand. “Sometimes, in these situations, after the marriage, the man runs away and the woman are left alone to raise the child, and, the community judges her and no one supports the woman. It is a very difficult situation … and as far as I know, Mon culture insists women only have one husband, ever.”
According to LPN, “the majority of migrant workers in Mahachai and their families are from Burma… but Mon constitutes the biggest ethnic group in the province.” There are around 2 million Burmese migrants in Thailand and, according to The Irrawaddy, “the largest Burmese migrant community” is in Mahachai.
As WCRP and various news and watchdog organizations have repeatedly reported, instances of sexual abuse and coercion are common threats for Burmese migrants in Thailand.
Read more...
Three years ago Mi Yi, her daughter Mi Mon, and her husband migrated to Thailand with a broker, through the Three Pagodas Pass crossing. Mi Yi did not want to leave her village, but without a job or an income, she had no choice.
“When we were in Burma, we didn’t have enough to eat and we were indebted to our neighbors. I wanted to work in my hometown, but we had no money to open a shop. We migrated to Thailand in hopes of finding better jobs,” said Mi Yi.
When Mi Yi’s husband was a New Mon State Party (NMSP) solider they moved a lot, but there was always food on the table. After they had children, two daughters and two sons, the problems started. Severe food shortages and a lack of work, forced Mi Yi to uproot her family and move to Thailand. At the time she was very concerned about pulling her youngest daughter out of school, but she felt that moving was important for the family’s livelihood.
Mi Yi explained, “When we migrated to Thailand I took my youngest daughter too, even though she was attending school. She was very young and I was worried if I left her alone in the village she would be harassed by the male villagers.” Mi Mon, Mi Yi’s youngest daughter, is now 16-years-old and has not attended school since the family left Burma.
Mi Mon elaborated, “I had to go with them to Thailand; my sisters and brothers had already migrated. If I hadn’t gone to Thailand, I would have had to live alone in my village. I was so sad to leave school, I was 13-years-old and in 4th standard when we left Burma.”
Over the past three years, Mi Yi and her family have had various factory and construction jobs throughout Mahachai, Samu Sakhon, Thailand. At first, working without Thai ID cards, they received low wages and regularly had to hide from the police during routine factory checks.
“I remember one time while we were working the police came and checked the factory. Luckily, we escaped by running from the building. Now we have Thai ID cards and we work on construction sites building houses. We are constantly changing jobs and we never have extra money. Even though my daughter, husband and I work everyday we never have extra money. If we work today, we can eat today,” said Mi Yi.
When Mi Mon first arrived in Thailand she took care of her niece while her aunt and parents worked various jobs. After awhile, Mi Yi felt it was unsafe for her daughter to be alone in the apartment all day, so she found Mi Mon a job working beside her at a construction site. Mi Mon and her parents now work together from 8am to 6pm, each making 180baht (about 5.50 USD) per day. Of the 100 plus employees at the construction site, around 15 are also Mon. The family currently lives in a small studio apartment, which is partitioned into bedrooms by a sheet. The community they live in is predominantly Mon, and many of the cultural traditions they found in their old village persist.
On 6 of January, Mi Mon was feeling a bit ill and went to bed early. As she slept, a 50-year-old Mon man climbed through a hole in their apartment wall and into bed with her. Mi Mon explained, “Around midnight while I was deeply asleep, he came in and laid behind me. When I woke up I saw him in my bed, I was shocked and afraid of him. I ran to where my parents were sleeping and cried to my mother.”
“I know this guy… he raped a woman in our village,” Mi Yi said when she saw the man sleeping in her daughters bed. Mi Yi and her husband shouted at the man, but they could not wake him. Around 5 am, the man independently stood up and left through the front door. Mi Mon and her parents smelled alcohol on him as he departed.
The exact situation Mi Yi feared, and diligently tried to protect her daughter from, came to life in their small studio apartment. “I am depressed about the situation, my daughter is so young,” stated Mi Yi.
After the incident Mi Mon’s parents, hoping to shield their daughter from further pain, kept quiet, but the intruder did not. “My daughter told me, nothing happen with that man, but he bragged to his friend and said he slept with my daughter and held her,” added Mi Yi.
Two weeks after the incident the man’s family insisted the two be wed. The mother of the man told Mi Yi, “I want my son and your daughter to be married, if your daughter doesn’t marry my son, it’s ok, but, because of this situation, your daughter will loose face.”
In Mon culture, if a woman is sexually harassed, the elder generation strongly encourages the couple to wed. If the couple is in love, or agrees, is not a concern; it is only important that the man takes responsibility for the woman.
“I didn’t know him and I had never spoken to him before. My co-workers told me, he told them, he had a small gun, so many people are afraid of him. Nothing happened [sexually] with him and really I don’t want to marry him,” said Mi Mon. Mi Yi is supporting her daughter’s decision not to marry the man.
A couple weeks after the incident, Mi Yi filled a formal complaint with the Labor rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN), an organization that helps migrants in Mahachai. They are now in process of suing the man for sexual harassment.
“I don’t think women, who have been sexually harassed, should be forced to marry their attacker,” said Mon Women Organization’s (MWO) Sangkhlaburi advisor, an organization that promotes Mon women’s right throughout southern Burma and Thailand. “Sometimes, in these situations, after the marriage, the man runs away and the woman are left alone to raise the child, and, the community judges her and no one supports the woman. It is a very difficult situation … and as far as I know, Mon culture insists women only have one husband, ever.”
According to LPN, “the majority of migrant workers in Mahachai and their families are from Burma… but Mon constitutes the biggest ethnic group in the province.” There are around 2 million Burmese migrants in Thailand and, according to The Irrawaddy, “the largest Burmese migrant community” is in Mahachai.
As WCRP and various news and watchdog organizations have repeatedly reported, instances of sexual abuse and coercion are common threats for Burmese migrants in Thailand.
Read more...
Fleeing Prying Eyes; A Mothers Search for Safety
Mi Cho*, a 40-year-old Mon woman, was born, married and gave birth to her six children in Alaesakhan village, Yebu Township, Tenasserim Division, southern Burma, however, because of increased instability throughout Mon state, she was forced to migrate to an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) area near the border of Thailand.
In January, three village militia soldiers unexpectedly paid a visit to Mi Cho’s husband. Thinking it was a friendly visit, her husband let the militia soldiers into his house without hesitation. Once inside the soldiers said, “We are here to arrest you,” not taking the charge seriously, because all previous encounters had been social, her husband did not resist the arrest. The soldiers then drew a knife and took him into custody.
Alaesakhan village is deemed a conflict area or “black zone” by the SPDC because of active splinters groups in the area. The SPDC mandates that all villages in conflict areas have militias, called Pyi-thu-sit, and villagers are seasonally forced to join through a lottery system. Village militia soldiers are used to fight armed splinter groups, arbitrarily arrest villagers, and patrol their village or surrounding areas.
After the arrest, Mi Cho’s husband was given to SPDC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282. He was then accused of being in contact with the Mon National Defense Army (MNDA), an active Mon splinter group in the area, and sending them food. “My husband has not contacted any splinter group. I don’t know why they arrested him,” Mi Cho proclaimed.
According to Kaowao, LIB No. 282 is a special battalion that guards the Yadana Gas Pipeline, and surrounding area. In the past, LIB No. 282 has been ambushed by the MNDA which is led by Major Jalon Taw who broke away from the New Mon State Party (NMSP) last year.
Mi Cho was not home during her husband’s abduction, but for weeks after, militia soldiers regularly visited her house in the middle of the night. During the visits, the soldiers would threaten her, frighten her family and accuse her of also supporting the Mon splinter group. Commonly, after the man of the family is killed or goes missing, their wife and children are the next targets.
Two weeks after the abduction, a SPDC soldier from LIB No. 282 informed Mi Cho that her husband was still alive, “If you want to see your husband, you can look for him in Tavoy town,” said the soldier. She however does not think her husband will ever be free.
By February, about a month after the abduction, Mi Cho could not handle the harassment any more. With no support or belongings, Mi Cho and her six children fled to Panan pain hakot village; an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) area within the NMSP controlled area of Mon State. Her youngest son was 6-months-old when they fled.
Upon arrival in Panan pain hakot, Mi Cho reconnected with Mi Khing, a neighbor from Alaesakhan village who had fled a couple weeks before Mi Cho. Mi Khing, had not yet secured a job, but she shared her food with the newly arrived family anyway. “When I saw her, I was so sad. She was so disappointed in her life and cried to me. They have many problems, now they live in a small hut made of bamboo, the neighbors help them but they cannot find enough food,” said Mi Khing.
Before Mi Cho fled, she worked at a small rubber and Betel nut plantation, and seasonally cut grass at a neighboring farm. In her old village she could earn enough to support her family, but jobs are scarce in the IDP area. Additionally, food, healthcare, education, land rights, employment and travel are a constant struggle.
Of her six children, the oldest is 16-years-old and the youngest is now 6-months-old. Her two middle children were in 2 standard and 0 standard at a Mon National school before they migrated. In the IDP area none of her children have the opportunity to attend school.
Mi Cho confided in Mi Khing, “I am so depressed, I am also afraid to go back to my village. I am worried they [SPDC soldiers] will kill us [if we return], but our property is there [in Alaesakhan village].” Mi Khing explained that SPDC Soldiers had a meeting on the 25 February and later that day they announced, to the village, that those who had fled or plan to flee are not allowed to return.
Mi Cho does not know how long her family will be able to survive in the IDP area or where she will head next.
Unfortunately, Mi Cho’s story is identical to so many in the IDP area. Over the past 4 months, 100s of residence from NMSP controlled areas have fled to IDP areas because of increased instability in Mon State and Tenasserim Division. Recently, because of the NMSP’s refusal to transform into a Border Guard Force (BGF) for the SPCD, mass fleeing has increased and rumors continue to circulate about the longevity of the NMSP’s 15-year-old ceasefire agreement with the SPDC.
According to WCRP field reporters, most villagers flee because of village militias (forced conscription and harassment), forced labor, accusations of contacting or supporting a splinter group, and death threats from SPDC soldiers.
Read more...
In January, three village militia soldiers unexpectedly paid a visit to Mi Cho’s husband. Thinking it was a friendly visit, her husband let the militia soldiers into his house without hesitation. Once inside the soldiers said, “We are here to arrest you,” not taking the charge seriously, because all previous encounters had been social, her husband did not resist the arrest. The soldiers then drew a knife and took him into custody.
Alaesakhan village is deemed a conflict area or “black zone” by the SPDC because of active splinters groups in the area. The SPDC mandates that all villages in conflict areas have militias, called Pyi-thu-sit, and villagers are seasonally forced to join through a lottery system. Village militia soldiers are used to fight armed splinter groups, arbitrarily arrest villagers, and patrol their village or surrounding areas.
After the arrest, Mi Cho’s husband was given to SPDC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282. He was then accused of being in contact with the Mon National Defense Army (MNDA), an active Mon splinter group in the area, and sending them food. “My husband has not contacted any splinter group. I don’t know why they arrested him,” Mi Cho proclaimed.
According to Kaowao, LIB No. 282 is a special battalion that guards the Yadana Gas Pipeline, and surrounding area. In the past, LIB No. 282 has been ambushed by the MNDA which is led by Major Jalon Taw who broke away from the New Mon State Party (NMSP) last year.
Mi Cho was not home during her husband’s abduction, but for weeks after, militia soldiers regularly visited her house in the middle of the night. During the visits, the soldiers would threaten her, frighten her family and accuse her of also supporting the Mon splinter group. Commonly, after the man of the family is killed or goes missing, their wife and children are the next targets.
Two weeks after the abduction, a SPDC soldier from LIB No. 282 informed Mi Cho that her husband was still alive, “If you want to see your husband, you can look for him in Tavoy town,” said the soldier. She however does not think her husband will ever be free.
By February, about a month after the abduction, Mi Cho could not handle the harassment any more. With no support or belongings, Mi Cho and her six children fled to Panan pain hakot village; an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) area within the NMSP controlled area of Mon State. Her youngest son was 6-months-old when they fled.
Upon arrival in Panan pain hakot, Mi Cho reconnected with Mi Khing, a neighbor from Alaesakhan village who had fled a couple weeks before Mi Cho. Mi Khing, had not yet secured a job, but she shared her food with the newly arrived family anyway. “When I saw her, I was so sad. She was so disappointed in her life and cried to me. They have many problems, now they live in a small hut made of bamboo, the neighbors help them but they cannot find enough food,” said Mi Khing.
Before Mi Cho fled, she worked at a small rubber and Betel nut plantation, and seasonally cut grass at a neighboring farm. In her old village she could earn enough to support her family, but jobs are scarce in the IDP area. Additionally, food, healthcare, education, land rights, employment and travel are a constant struggle.
Of her six children, the oldest is 16-years-old and the youngest is now 6-months-old. Her two middle children were in 2 standard and 0 standard at a Mon National school before they migrated. In the IDP area none of her children have the opportunity to attend school.
Mi Cho confided in Mi Khing, “I am so depressed, I am also afraid to go back to my village. I am worried they [SPDC soldiers] will kill us [if we return], but our property is there [in Alaesakhan village].” Mi Khing explained that SPDC Soldiers had a meeting on the 25 February and later that day they announced, to the village, that those who had fled or plan to flee are not allowed to return.
Mi Cho does not know how long her family will be able to survive in the IDP area or where she will head next.
Unfortunately, Mi Cho’s story is identical to so many in the IDP area. Over the past 4 months, 100s of residence from NMSP controlled areas have fled to IDP areas because of increased instability in Mon State and Tenasserim Division. Recently, because of the NMSP’s refusal to transform into a Border Guard Force (BGF) for the SPCD, mass fleeing has increased and rumors continue to circulate about the longevity of the NMSP’s 15-year-old ceasefire agreement with the SPDC.
According to WCRP field reporters, most villagers flee because of village militias (forced conscription and harassment), forced labor, accusations of contacting or supporting a splinter group, and death threats from SPDC soldiers.
Read more...
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