Mae La Refugee Camp/Temporary Shelter, 25-27 April 2012

Mae La Temporary Shelter, Mae Sot, Tak Province, Thailand

To say I was excited about this trip sounds perhaps inappropriate given the nature of the visit.  Going to conduct field research in Thailand’s largest “temporary shelter” – a shelter that has been around since 1984 – seemed daunting given that there are approximately 49,000 displaced persons in the camp.  Nevertheless, the entire week prior to the trip, and the entire six hour bus ride up to Mae Sot on the border between Thailand and Myanmar – I was itching with excitement at the chance to walk around my first “refugee camp.”

I prepared myself for a difficult and emotional visit.  I expected to see hardships, trash littered dirt alleyways, bad water, smelly waste areas and those little brown innocent wide eyes that stare up at you.  When our military escort into the camp pulled up to park, I anxiously jumped out of the car.  We were told we could not take pictures and each of us had carefully listened to directions by shoving our cameras in our clothes hidden from plain sight.  

Our first stop was the Managerial Unit – where we were taken inside a room and given a debriefing of the area.  I tried to sneak around and “go to the bathroom” and investigate the things outside the arranged meeting room, but didn’t find anything.  I listened as the camp officers outlining the composition of the camp:

• 26,822 people living in the camps, 4,583 families, are displaced directly due to conflict in Myanmar.
• Since January 2006, a total of 31, 503 displaced individuals have been resettled in third countries, with the majority (28,482 people) being sent to the United States. 
• On average, 70-80 babies are born each month in the camp

Although the camp had not taken new arrivals since 2007, there are individuals who return illegally – sneaking into the camp.  This creates a problem for both the camp officials and the families, as food is rationed based only on those who are registered, and as a result, should more family members sneak in unregistered – the food rations must be split unevenly between some families.  Furthermore, religion was an issue, with nearly 50% of the camp practicing Christians, 35% Buddhist and another 15% practicing Islam.  This division through religion was largely noticeable with the camp’s 59 churches, 4 temples and 5 mosques.

And with that brief introduction, we split up into our research groups, met our translators, and set out into the unknown…Mae La camp.