Living on the Edge

On November 8th 2010 one day after the General Election in Burma, armed conflict between Burmese government troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Brigade 5  sent thousands of refugees fleeing across the border from the town of Mywaddy to Mae Sot, Thailand. Some sources estimated that numbers of refugees reached about 20,000. To us in Mae Sot witnessing the situation there appeared to be an endless stream of people pouring across the Moei River (Thai/Burma border) Friendship Bridge or wading across the river itself. 

The Thai authorities were well prepared for the influx and soldiers directed incoming Burmese to a field beside an army barracks just outside of the town. Tents, latrines, medical care and food were ready for them. It was a baking hot day as the crowds spilled onto the field to find shade under coloured awnings. They were mostly women and children as the men stayed behind to protect property. They carried little with them and some were clearly shocked and fatigued. For a crowd of thousands of people the atmosphere was strangely hushed.

All schools on the Thai side of the river closed and our team of teachers took the day to deliver food to the homes of their Burmese colleagues  who felt too threatened by the heavy presence of Thai soldiers to go out on the streets.  We took a sack of rice and some vegetables to the home of  Min Zaw, a teacher working at the school on the rubbish dump. Their home, a house on stilts in a rather muddy back alley, was crowded with family some of whom had crossed from Burma that day. 

After two days the fighting died down and the refugees began to return home. We resumed our work with a renewed sense of the terrible instability of life for so many Burmese people. 

TEFL.com is sponsoring The Burma Education Partnership's Mobile Teaching Programme on the Thai/Burma border.  You can learn more about BEP here.