The Owl and the Pussycat http://safehaven
orphanage.org/

We have not finished posting things about the Karen people just yet. No sir Bob.  

In the borderland between Burma and Thailand there are numerous refugee camps, and the largest of them all, Mae La, lies not far from our dear Safe Haven Orphanage. This camp has been up and running over 25 years. Today around 8000 families are packed like sardines into a far too small area, with only a meter or so between houses, living behind barbed-wire, isolated from both Thailand and Burma. The Karen people make up well over 90% of the refugees living here. 

Most of the camp`s residents have been forced flee here due to the situation in Burma. The armies of the military junta burn down their village, cover the area with land-mines, force them to relocate to forced labour camps and force their children to become child soldiers. 

Even though the camps residents are for the most part safe, they are given no papers and thus, have absolutly no rights in Thailand. They exchange the constant fear of being attacked with complete hopelessness of ever improving their situation. They have little to no chances to attend school and unsurprisingly, unemployment is rife. The consequences of these factors is  alcoholism, suicide, human trafficking and countless broken families. The refugees` movement is strictly controlled and they are restricted to a relatively small geographic area. Along all the roads that lead from Mae La heavily armed Thai police and army have check-points where they operate random searches of vehicles, and people without the right papers risk being sent back to Burma.