Beth Adam Letters From Afar - Asia

As my overview of

Burma was quite abbreviated, I would recommend getting a copy of Christina Finks book, “Living Silence”. Here you will find a much more complete analysis of the historical and contemporary situation in

Burma.

After our morning orientation, we traveled several hours to a tribal village in the border area. Here we visited with an AJWS partner, Hill Area and Community Development Foundation (HADF). HADF is one of over 300 civil society partners in 39 countries that are supported by AJWS. Currently, AJWS has more than 100,000 supporters and takes a grassroots/ holistic approach to it’s support of it’s grantees. Most of the projects deal with human rights service delivery, hunger, poverty, disease, and social justice through the efforts and support of the Jewish community. The activities of AJWS and it’s partners empowers people to make change in their lives and the lives of those in their communities.  This is accomplished through a human rights lens and includes advocacy relating to the grantee’s work. HADF is one of 21 partners in Thailand and Burma, 6 of which are in Thailand and 15 in

Burma. The village that we visited and which HADF is located is high in the hills along the Thai-Burma border. The village residents are ethnic hill tribe people mostly belonging to the AKKA tribe. The area is very remote, mountainous, and is lush and thick jungle. A beautiful area on the surface but with many issues and problems inside. HADF programs center in the areas of education and advocacy, sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation, women’s empowerment, and health promotion. Many of the same ethnic groups live on both sides of the border. Due to the long standing situation in

Burma, many people have migrated over the border and settled in villages on the Thai side. Culturally the people are the same and they have historically welcomed these refugees. As the situation in

Burma has intensified, the number of refugees has increased dramatically and has become a burden on the already impoverished villages to which they have settled. HADF provides support for the hill tribes and collaborates with many NGO’s and government entities to promote community development, protection from harmful policies and sustaining of tribal culture. They do much work with the youth, who increasingly must move to the more urban areas in order to find work to support themselves and their families. HADF provides education to youth to prepare them as they migrate as human trafficking is common and in many cases they are taken advantage of and abused.

This was our first meeting with a project partner and was representative of all the partners that we visited in that they are all highly motivated, empowered, and dedicated to their work. It was very inspirational for me to see people living in what by western terms are “primitive” conditions and environment and how the leadership is accomplishing repair and change to their world. We were treated to a cultural exhibition of tribal costumes and dances as well as a tour of the village. We were fortunate to spend time in the home of a villager and were able to discuss with her through an interpreter her life and the life in her village. The attitude of the people is unbelievable. Our lives are so far from this…On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Golden Triangle, the intersection of Thailand, Burma, and

Laos.

On Monday, 10/29 Christina Fink, author or “Living Silence” spoke to us about Burma in orde to orient us to the situation within the country as well as what is happening in the border areas.  Since 1962

Burma has been controlled by a military junta. This junta has been and continues to be completely repressive and cruel. 

Burmais made up of many ethnic groups. The Burmans make up close to 70% of the population and the balance is made up from Shan, Karen, Rakhine, Chinese, Mon and others. Many of the ethnic peoples live along the border areas and are literally tribal and living in jungle villages. The borders between Burma, Thailand and

Laos are disputed and the ethnic groups/armies serve as a buffer. The ethnic peoples are anti-communist and the Thai government doesn’t want a merger of Thai and Burmese communists. There has been a historical “sacking” of the Thais by the Burmese and this has created a mythology and the Thais do not want armed conflict with the Burmese. Burma is a former British colony and gained independence from

Britainin 1948 (sound familiar?). The ethnic autonomy movement began in 1948 and the ethnic Karen people have been at war with the central Burmese government continuously since 1949. There have been ceasefires with the other ethnic groups but not peace. The military junta took power in 1962 and all business’ were nationalized at that time. The military junta is very cruel and repressive. There has been no economic or other planning. It is common for the junta to conscript people into forced labor. Also, children as young as 10 years old are forcefully brought into the military in order to increase the numbers and further control the population. Since the junta controls all monies, the military, except for the Generals do not pay the soldiers and instruct the soldiers to “make due” in any way they see fit. This includes taking over rural villages and hill tribe ethnic areas, stealing their food and homes. This, as well as other activities has caused mass migrations of people into the jungle and to the border areas of

Thailand. The problems today consist of a struggle for ethnic autonomy and to restore democracy in a continuously worsening economic situation.

Burma’s population is 47 million and for millions, malnutrition, lack of access to healthcare, and complete personal and political repression is the norm. Most of the population is either too poor or too isolated to have a voice in change since their main “occupation” is simply survival. In Burma, 10% of children die before reaching the age of 5 as opposed to 2% in

Thailand. A woman has a 1 in 75 chance of dying in childbirth as opposed to 1 in 900 in

Thailand. The Thai-Burma border is 1400 miles long and is disputed in areas. Heroin and methamphetamine cross freely over the border and drug use is a big problem in this part of the world. Thailand also gets much of it’s energy from Burma to the tune of $2 billion, which is 40% of

Burma’s total exports. Thailand is

Burma’s largest trade partner. China is also a very large trade partner and because of these “partnerships”, neither Thailand nor

China apply any serious pressure on the military government.

For Burmese living in

Thailand, there are 140,000 refugees who have some degree of safety but live with many restrictions. There are around 1000 activists who have no legal status and 2 million migrant workers (only 10% of whom are registered) who are subject to human trafficking and exploitation. Many of these groups do not speak the Thai language, are isolated, and have no access to human services. Refugee camps in

Thailand were first established in 1984. Residents of these camps are literally people without a country and receive only basic needs.