08 August 2009

Mae Sot


Mae Sot. We came here not knowing what to expect. We came here to volunteer with refugees from Myanmar. The image in our heads was of a small town with little infrastructure on the fringes of Thailand. What we found was almost the exact opposite. There are many different worlds existing in Mae Sot, many hidden from the average passerby's eye. Yet you can feel that something is going on that you are not aware of. The minute that we entered the town, we got a very strange vibe; even as we write, we don't know how to explain this feeling. Our suspicions were confirmed as over the next three weeks we found out about the many layers of corruption, exploitation, fear, hope, and resistance all stacked crudely on top of each other in Mae Sot. What we knew before coming to Mae Sot was that there was a large group of refugees fleeing Myanmar's oppressive military government, the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council.) A brief definition of terms: A refugee is a person who is recognized by the UNHCR (United Nations High Council on Refugees) to have fled their homeland because of persecution or natural disasters. These people have defined rights and a legal status. A migrant worker is a person who leaves their native country in persuit of better employment opportunities. Many migrants illegally work and live in Thailand, others cross the border on a daily basis, and a small minority qualify for daily work permits. Political refugees or exiles are exactly what they sound like. Some are legal and some are not. Some have refugee status and some do not. The process of determining a refugee is seemingly arbitrary. It is not unusual to find a family who migrated and live together, yet have one member who is a political exile, another migrant worker, and a recognized refugee. Mae Sot is a complicated and informative introduction to the politics of both Thailand and Myanmar. We're not sure how to structure this entry, so we'll let the pictures help us along. We're pretty sure we will be talking about this a lot when we get back. Onto Mae Sot...

Mae Sot is located 6 km from the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. The first thing we did when we got to town was another visa run as our 2 week Thai visa had expired yet again. It turns out this was the perfect introduction to an area whose very existence is completely a product of the porous border.

Thai side stamps our passports before walking over the bridge to the Myanmar side.

Max looks from the "Thai/Myanma Friendship Bridge" at the river that forms the natural border. That small dot in the middle of the river is an inner tube, illegally ferrying workers from one country to the other.

Watch this video.

Public service billboards on the Thai side warn of the dangers of human trafficking, goods smuggling, and not having a work permit. In our opinion, these are a joke as the entire local economy is dependent on the infringement of these laws.

Kara went down to the border a couple of times over the course of our time here during "rush hour." The price of an inner tube border ride is dependent on the cost of the bribes that the police on both sides demand. Instead of daily bribes from individual workers, the inner tube workers pay the police by the week or the month. For some reason this price fluctuates quite dramatically.

Some weeks before arriving in Mae Sot, Kara had gotten in contact with an international NGO that works with exiled political groups. The NGO provides free English and human rights education to over 20 groups in the area. They also work in three of the surrounding refugee camps. Kara shot for the NGO, meeting many of these pro-democracy groups in their centers, which also serve as their houses and classrooms. These organizations must operate in secret because they are persecuted by both the Burmese and Thai governments. Many members of these groups travel back and forth across the border, distributing information and supplies. Because of the very real danger of deportation, imprisonment, torture, or death that these activists face, Kara can not post the photos she shot for the NGO. Here is Max at the NGO house where we stayed for three weeks.

This is the Mae Sot you can see from its surface. Downtown is made up of three streets: Top street, Middle street, and Bottom street. We were initially surprised at the amount of commercial activity and the number of people contained in this boom town. There is a plethora of goods and money flowing through Mae Sot; the downtown area reflects this. For a Thai town of its size, it is surprisingly built up with 5 banks, many shops, and international brands such as Tesco and KFC. A sign of wealth very specific to Thailand is the shiny brand new pick up truck. We saw many in Mae Sot, almost all of them silver. This was our first tip off that there was a lot of money being made here. If you only stopped into Mae Sot for a visa run, you could come away thinking it was just a busy trading post doing remarkably well. There are no tourists in Mae Sot; no traveler in their right mind would spend more than one night here. As there are no sights to see in Mae Sot, there are two types of Westerners found here- visa runners and NGO workers. The latter group supports a healthy smattering of A/C and WiFi equipped coffee shops, tastfully lit restaurants, and (of course) bars. The population is about 80% Burmese. The rest are Thai, Chinese, and various Southasian immigrants. Though there are many Burmese living permanetly in Mae Sot, a large percentage cross the border daily.

Burmese stupa in the middle of town. Although we didn't know it then, the design for this stupa is distinctly Burmese. We passed by this stupa every day on our way home. It was surrounded by packs of wild dogs who scared us every time.

Gem traders. Gems are one of Myanmar's largest legal and illegal export. Every day you can find many people in this shop as well as the surrounding streets, looking to get some shiny rocks. The gem trading world is not very understood by us, but we think its shady.

One of the many many sweatshops. Cherokee and Ralph Lauren are just two of the big companies who fill their orders at these factories. The factories vary in size, some are huge multi building complexes with barb wired fences and armed guards. Others are just a small house with the windows closed. The Thai mafia is very intertwined with this textile industry in particular.

Just outside the downtown area, the residential communities begin to look familiar again with one story buildings, dirt roads and fields.

Speaking of fields, the surrounding countryside of the town is largely agricultural and employs much of the migrant labor force.

Here is a glance at the holding cell for workers awaiting deportation. Most likely they will recross the border in the morning with their pockets much lighter and their desperation for work all the more acute. These tactics do nothing to stem the tide of migration and their purpose is to keep the labor force cheap and submissive. About once a month, the police make massive raids on hundreds, if not thousands of migrant workers in an effort to make their quotas and establish their dominance.

Night market is the social melting pot of Mae Sot with Thais, Burmese, and NGO workers all coming through to eat some tasty, cheap, and greasy food. We weren't sure whether to greet the staff in Burmese or Thai. We ate here for many nights before Kara's stomach resigned in protest.

Larvae, a delicacy in both Myanmar and Thailand and a regular at the night market.

After three days of waiting for assignments, Kara began her clandestine operations, as Max was sent to a village to build a playground. The village was established for the sole purpose of educating various Burmese students. Some were children of migrant workers, others came from across the border for the school year and returned to Myanmar during the "summer" break. The border was within site of the hillside village just a couple kilometers away. These three days were the longest period of time we have spent apart on this whole trip. Above you can see students spreading sand over the nearly completed site. Students are required to volunteer time to improve their school, a practice that we feel is ethically questionable when it involves difficult manual labor and potentially dangerous power tools. However, many students were excited to help and in the end they could enjoy a playground that would have not been there otherwise.

This guy was so hardcore. He was one of the paid workers at the site and a former KNU (Karen National Union, a revolutionary ethnic separatist group in Myanmar) soldier. He worked straight through the day in the blazing heat, drinking no water and taking few breaks. His work was skillful and efficient in stark contrast to many of his peers. Max salutes you. In this photo, he is completing the platform that he and Max built together.

Students enjoy the playground minutes after its completion.

The invocation of the playground. The principal gave several long speeches and the students presented Max and the other volunteers with traditional Karen shirts.

Watch this video.

Max and Thawah. Thawah was the project coordinator and designer of this playground. He was young and motivated and a pleasure to work with. Over the weekend, Max and Thawah became friends and continued working together on other projects in Mae Sot.

There are nine camps along the Thai Myanmar border. Three of them are within a couple hour's driving distance from Mae Sot, the closest being Mae La. About 50,000 refugees live in this camp, which is a skinny plot of land situated between this road and the mountainous border of Myanmar. This camp is not just a temporary or makeshift solution; many of Mae La's inhabitants have been living here for over a decade. The camp has a school, and functions like a village community, however its residence have no freedoms, no jobs, and nothing to do other than wait for the possibility of assimilation into Thai society. They are essentially in refugee purgatory. Though the UNHCR along with other international NGOs donates resources and monitors the camp, the Thai government is responsible for granting refugee status which gives people access to food, shelter and water. The Thai government is not granting visas or citizenship to long term refugees and new, unrecognized refugees arrive daily. This leads to a growing amount of mouths to feed and house from very limited resources. Kara went to this camp and was shocked to find it more like a poor village than a emergency camp.

View of the camp from the road.

Our friends! The little head is Vania, below are Ania and Ignacio. We met up with them almost every night and had many long thought provocing conversations about life and the world. Ania and Ingacio are an international power couple. They are so awesome and we hope our paths cross again soon somewhere on this planet.

Inpromtu yoga class.

Unwinding at Thymes bar, a NGO stronghold. Right to Left: Thawah, I forget his name, and Siobhan.

As one might expect, Aung San Su Kyi was very popular in the schools where Kara was shooting. This is a textbook bearing a painting of the imprisoned National League for Democracy (NLD) leader. This is the only photo Kara feels comfortable posting online from her project. You'll see more later in person, unless you work for the SPDC.

At work on the second playground project. This site was much bigger and more complicated. The school was brand new and very well built. We hope the same will be said of it's playground. Max is seen working with Colas, another volunteer on the project. Colas is extreamly capable at whatever he puts his mind to on top of being friendly and intelligent. In this picture they are attempting the herculean task of cutting through a steel rimmed truck tire. Max says it was a pleasure to work with him, and hopes they remain friends.

By this point Kara was close to completeing her project, and so she came over to help out on the playground. This picture is of our favorite paid worker on the project. He took an immediate liking to Kara, and by extension to Max as well. He had the best smile, blackened as it was by years of Betel nut chewing. Whenever Kara was not working on the site, he would run over to Max to ask 'where is your wife?'

Kara and the "student army" under her direction painted every piece of wood in the massive playground. Marcus, the project leader said she did this in half the time it normally takes. Above is a tire climbing structure that was built by Max and painted by Kara.

We had a lot of fun working together on this playground. It was physical and challenging and kicked our asses a little bit. Also it was a tangible contribution made to the community with percievable results. We just wish we were small enough to play on it! Well, MAX wishes he was small enough...

After 3 weeks of emotional, informative, and challenging volunteer work, we left Mae Sot for Myanmar itself. This picture comes from our last experience in Mae Sot before boarding an overnight bus to Bangkok. We were walking along the highway on route to the bus station and a nice Thai couple picked us up and dropped us at the station. The stars were out, the night air was fresh, and we were feeling bittersweet about leaving. We understood why so many people have dedicated their lives to helping others here in Mae Sot. We joked about our experiences and even talked about coming back one day.

As we got out of the truck we heard the sound of a baby crying. Looking for the root of the noise, we looked up to find a massive truck, filled to the brim with goods and about 50 migrant workers standing on top. Like a bucket of cold water, we were once again hit with the realization that we can always leave, but the places and people we visit still remain.
This entry is dedicated to the workers of Mae Sot. May the world realize that your struggle is our struggle.
-Kara and Max