A Girl Named 'B'

I have a story to share, but this time the story is not mine nor is it the story of our volunteers; it is the story of one little girl and her incredible journey to freedom.

This little girl, let's call her B, was found working as a slave in a province nearby. Child slavery is still very much alive in parts of rural Thailand, and these children often suffer a lot at the hands of brutal 'owners.'

Child slaves are forced to hide, cook, clean house, and perform any day to day duties their owners require. They are often beaten, underfed, and treated no better than stray dogs on the streets. Once these children get older they are then sold off to another owner and often end up trafficked into the profitable sex industry in big cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and in some cases smuggled abroad if the price is right.

Children that become victims of slavery usually come from desperate economic situations. The ex-child slaves I have met here all have a similar story: their families escaped ethnic genocide in neighboring Burma only to find an even more difficult life in Thailand's border refugee camps. With nowhere to go and no future economic opportunity available to them, Burmese refugees often fade away in the camps without hope or help.

Imagine living within the cracking bamboo walls of an over-crowded camp, constantly begging for food and basic needs from soldiers and NGOs with limited resources; it's easy to understand how some parents become faced with desperate decisions. Children are often smuggled out of refugee camps and sold to people who promise to provide a sustainable source of income for the child and for his or her family. Some parents buy the lies about their children going to study in Bangkok and finding jobs in the big cities, and the dream that they will be able to send money home regularly. Some parents know better, know that their child may end up a prostitute lost somewhere in the gaps of black market Thai society...but they decide that surely any life outside the camp will be better than the one they live now.

B's story begins very much the same way. She can't be more than 8 or 9 years old, but it's hard to say since she has no idea when she was born or what her birthday is. She is confused and doesn't remember much of her family or previous life, she only knows the hell where she's been trapped for an unknown number of months or possibly even years. She was found in a Thai home, working as a slave in a gay couple's home outside of a big city. On top of the day to day struggles of keeping a clean house, she has been permanently scarred physically and emotionally by their sadistic abuse. Her body is riddled with scars and burn marks from cigarette lighters, and that is only just the beginning. She was forced to watch x-rated films and pornography and then forced to act out the scenes with another little boy in the house for the sick pleasure of her owners.

The true measure of her trauma is still unknown, and it may take years to really know the full scale of damage she has suffered at such a young age.

The story of how I met her is full of demons, heroes, danger and unwavering bravery...but for the sake of this little girl and everyone involved in her rescue I'll have to keep this one a secret, always. What you should know now, is that she is finally safe. She smiles, she plays, and she is making new friends every day (especially in the arms of our volunteers.)

Days like today when it is rainy outside and the humidity feels like it's choking you, it's easy to feel tired, discouraged and emotionally drained. Volunteer work is physically demanding, and struggling to adapt to new climates, diets, lifestyles and cultural nuances can test the patience of saints... But then, we must always remember to step back and take a minute to absorb and reflect upon our surroundings. We volunteer not just for our personal fulfillment, but for the good work and support of struggling organizations and more importantly for the well-being of individuals like this little girl, B.

Reality check.

Road of Resistance, Burma documentary

Gross human rights abuses by the Burmese government have prompted the outflow of hundreds, thousands of refugees to Thailand. Burma also exploits more child soldiers in its on-going internal conflict than any other country in the world, with an estimated 75,000 children-in-arms right now.

I have seen first-hand victims including elderly, children, ex-child soldiers, fleeing this persecution and I know that after 60 years of little to no change for these innocents it's time for all of us to do more.

The situation in Burma has become an obsession of mine. I know that most of you reading this right now are thousands of miles away, but even from afar we can do our part to help. When I'm not working in camps along the Thai/Burmese border, I do weekly documentary viewings and hold educational group discussions with every single one of my volunteer groups (regardless if they are directly or indirectly working with Burmese people.) It's a small task for me, but I can honestly say I have educated hundreds of young minds about the plight of the Burmese people, and it is my hope that maybe 1 person out of a 100 will be inspired to take action in the near future.

This is the most recent documentary I've started showing my volunteers, and now you can view it online for free! So please, spend the next 45 minutes being moved, and hopefully moved to action!

The Road « Road of Resistance

"In the summer of 2006, four friends from San Diego, California set out on a mission to expose the atrocities being done to the people of Burma, more specifically, the Karen people – one of the country’s largest ethnic groups. Burma has quietly been host to the world’s longest running civil war – waged between the country’s military dictatorship and detractors from the regime.

Burma is a closed country known for strong penalties including imprisonment for people found inside its borders without the proper documentation. However, they knew that in order to capture the story they needed, they would have to sneak across the border through Thailand. With backpacks filled with borrowed film equipment they set out without a clue of how they would break inside a countryside filled with landmines, Burmese soldiers, and wet season torrential weather. They didn’t know what they would find, or if anyone would listen to their story when they returned."

-- Road of Resistance: A Journey into Burma's War-Torn Karen State.

Inspired to do more? Start here:

FREE BURMA RANGERS

BURMA CAMPAIGN UK

US CAMPAIGN FOR BURMA

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Sangklaburi, Life Along The Thai/Burmese Border

...Right now the situation in Burma remains dire…thousands of people are suffering along the Thai/Burmese border with nowhere to go. Organizations, NGO and Government alike have come together to do as much as they can for the refugees, but the camps are barely able to cope with the numbers of Burmese coming in every day, and supplies are limited.

Yet, despite what’s going on across the Thai/Burmese border 20 kms away Sangklaburi remains to be the quiet, charming, sleepy little town I have always loved it for. Children still go to school, monks study quietly in the temples and women barter and sell their home cooked foods at the market…life carries on.

Feeling inspired, I took a camera around the town looking for smiles. There are so many sad stories every day, but the people here are resilient and determined to carry on. I went to the local temple for some peace and understanding and came across a gang of ‘mini monks’ who instantly brightened my mood. I also spent the afternoon visiting the Burmese Mon and Karen resettlement villages, lending a hand where I could and learning more about the needs of those living day to day along the border.

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....Sangklaburi and The Longest Wooden Bridge in Thailand...

I'm starting to grow roots here in Sangklaburi again. I'll be staying here for the next 3 months with children rescued from the border, and I can honestly say there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now.

It's 4 pm now, so the children walk lazily in the heat and stiffness of their school uniforms and chase the chickens down the street as they make their own way home. Motorcycle taxi drivers toot and tease me as they zoom by, and I'm thinking it's time for me to cough up the 1$ it would cost to jump on the back of a bike and escape the humidity! Construction workers lay down their tools and join in a locals' game of football that seems to be a daily occurrence in front of the temple grounds. And all around smiles and polite nods greet me as the locals seem to recognize the 'white girl' that keeps coming back again, and again, and again.

Life surrounds Khao Laem Lake here. This was once the site where 3 rivers joined together, until the 1970's when the Thai government decided to dam the water for better resource management programs in the surrounding villages and provinces. So now, the lake has flooded the lowland valley and the people have adapted their culture to life along a lake---floating village culture.

Villagers meet their needs by fishing in the lake off one-manned motor boats, and building bridges to cross from one side to the other...in fact, the longest wooden bridge in Thailand is found here.

The bridge links the Thai villages to the Mon villages across the lake. The Mon is an ethnic minority group that was once part of a powerful empire in Siam's history. Today, this Mon village is known more as a protective hub for Burmese refugees. This village has been here for years and is now home to several human rights groups caring for the refugees and creating a resistance movement against the military junta across the border. Life on the Mon side is where Burmese culture reigns: the locals still rub their faces with yellow 'tanaka' root to keep away the burning sun, the men don checkered sarongs tied high up on the waist, and chewing beetle nut is more than a past time here...it's a cultural stamp.

Today I chose to visit some of the local sites I haven't seen in a while: the wooden bridge, the streets of the Mon village and the sacred temples and pagodas for the Mon Buddhist population.

**This video was created when I was playing around with my Picasa application...my first attempt ever, so be kind!

News from Thai/Burmese Borders, Nov.2010

***Thanks for my friends working diligently with human rights organizations in Mae Sot and Sangklaburi for sharing this information and fighting for the cause.***

I'm not sure what news if any has been shared over there about the Burmese election this past week, so I want to give you an update since it's been a really intense time felt all throughout the Thai/Burmese borders. About to get even more intense, since for the first time in a year the Burmese democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from her house arrest by the military government---the same woman who has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years.

SHAM ELECTIONS...

The elections have been recognized internationally as a fraud, to say the least. There have been reports of bullying and threats of violence towards civilians and democratic politicians throughout the country. People were forced to vote for the junta or risk being shot. Dead names loaded the voter registry and people feared mortar and bomb attacks at the polling stations, so most of the countrymen stayed at home and didn't vote. Only a few voting stations were open, making it impossible for citizens from the remote countryside to place a vote. I've been told the citizens were visited by the military guards days before the elections and had their names put on a list; they were then told they didn't need to vote the next day since their vote was automatically counted for.

Little information is coming out of Burma since they haven't had internet or phone lines for weeks and journalists have been prohibited from entering this month. Since border control has tightened so much, activists have been unable to smuggle much information out through their usual channels. And yet, an overwhelming win for the military government has been counted---surprise, surprise. The military now control 25% of the parliament, and the civilian wing that holds the rest of the seats are ex-military officers who retired from the service just days before the election actually took place. Basically, a puppet regime for the military has been installed.

FIGHTING BREAKS OUT ALONG THE BORDERS...The big news lately has been about the Myawaddy region, along the Thai border. The DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) is a breakaway faction of the military who has been fighting in resistance to the junta for years now on behalf of the Buddhist Karen population in Burma. In Myawaddy, they took control of a strategic polling station, shooting and launching grenades and bombs against the Burmese military. There are verified reports that bullets and grenades landed on the Thai side too; counting 4 injuries and 1 death of innocent Thai civilians caught in the overspill. It is unknown how many Burmese people are dying behind those closed borders.

REFUGEES STORM THE THAI BORDERS...There has been a mass exodus of Burmese crashing into the Thai borders all along the central region seeking refuge. The numbers jumped from 5,000 to 15,000 refugees in one day, just hours after the elections. All of the borders have been shut down, and all traffic is being heavily monitored on the Thai side. My friends in Mae Sot (Thai side opposite Myawaddy) are working non stop, loading trucks from the International Organization for Migration carrying Burmese people away from the border. They are loaded with beds going to hospitals, schools, emergency shelters and even military complexes trying to help these people. Thai police have been stressed to the max trying to restore order and control the influx of refugees and supply trucks. There's been news traveling by word of mouth mostly, and a heads up has been given that the DKBA are warning the Burmese civilians to get out, preparing for an intense counter-attack against the military government. The refugees were also provided temporary shelter by the Thai military. The Thai Red Cross, UNHCR, international non‐governmental agencies and local community‐based organizations were providing emergency food, water, sanitation, shelters and health care. As of 9 November, Thai military authorities began organizing the refugees in groups and preparing for their return to Burma despite the war zone that's still active there...

ETHNIC RESISTANCE GROUPS UNITING FOR A FIGHT...The DKBA are one of the strongest resistance groups in Burma and their guerrilla warfare tactics are known to be particularly nasty. They also have massive support from Buddhists and Karen alike throughout the country, so their areas of control are readily growing these days. There's talk now that militias all along the borders are inspired and seeking alliances in an attempt to overthrow the Burmese military control. A lot of the ethnic minority militias (like the DKBA) had cease-fire agreements with the Burmese government, which expired September of this year. Where I am now, in Sangklaburi, the Mon people are rumored to be gearing up for a fight: they've been stockpiling weapons, training and recruiting soldiers, preparing for the time when the government will surely turn its attention to them again.

WHERE I AM NOW...Just outside of our town is 3 Pagodas Pass, a known high level war zone in Burma. Fighting broke out on the Burmese side on the 9th of November, and since then the DKBA influence has gained control. From the 3 Pagodas land mark you can clearly hear gunfire and explosions in the jungle. In just one night 10,000 refugees came across our border and overwhelmed the handful of refugee camps available in this area. Some of them walked for miles to get here, and fear they will only be turned back.There have been victims of shootings, raids, landmines and all sorts of tragedies coming in search of aid. Today, the 14th November was a particularly bad day on the Burmese side, since fresh waves of fighting broke out and after a few days of calm it seems the violence is escalating again.

Please tell people about what's going on here....people need to know since little to no information ever gets out of Burma.

I will do my best to continue updating...

Are you in this area too? If there are any more news or stories to share, please post them here.

Burmese Elections Just Days Away

November is officially upon us. The nights here in Chiang Mai are starting to get cool, the rain has stopped and Thais everywhere are gearing up for the 'Loy Kratong Festival of Lights' about to take place in a couple weeks. This is a magical time of year. Festivities will be held in all the local temples, paper lanterns will be released into the night air for good luck, and 'kratong' banana leaf boats will be artfully decorated with flowers and incense and released into the currents of the Ping River as a gesture of making merit and giving thanks to the river goddess for giving life and prosperity this year.

Across the border, it's a whole other story right now. November 7th is the expected date for the first elections in 20 years by the Burmese military government. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest until the elections are over, and no one's really sure what's going to happen once the election gets under way.
My friends working on the border right now in Mae Sot and Sangklaburi are worried: tensions are running high, violence is expected, and there's talk of minority groups gearing up and banding together for war again.

I myself will be heading to the border again soon, staying with a Burmese orphanage just days after the elections take place, and I'm a little bit nervous about what waits for me there these next few months.

Watch More Videos about the Burmese Military Gov't, Nov.2010

"Burma's 2010 election to be held this November is political theater designed to legitimize the military regime that has violently held power in Burma since 1962. 'This is NOT Democracy' examines the true reasons and historical context for the current election and why the regime's so-called "Roadmap to Democracy" is only a smoke screen to mask the regime's continued human rights abuses and refusal to relinquish leadership of the country to the people's chosen representatives." (17 min. Produced by Burma Partnership and Kestrel Media)

This Is NOT Democracy Part 1, youtube.video

This is NOT Democracy, Part 2

Burmese Refugee Relief Work, Thailand 2010

Posted: Aug.2010, Written: Jan.2010






Well, I have officially survived the high school group. 3 weeks traveling with 22 people, all between the ages of 15-17 years old has me more exhausted than I've ever felt before!

The group was great, a great group of kids who really made me laugh every day. They were naughty and constantly asking a million questions (never waiting for the answer!) but they were inspired by everything they saw and did during their time in Thailand. I'm not a teacher, but I know that I touched the lives of each of these kids in some small way or another...so many of them started to cry as we hugged goodbyes at the airport yesterday, and better yet so many of them swore they were going to come back to volunteer again when they turn 21. Some of them really learned something new about themselves.

The kids were incredibly naive and sheltered, so they were challenged every day and pushed way beyond their comfort zones. In three weeks I could see personalities change, and personal growth from these kids which was amazing since university students rarely go through such a quick transformation. I'm proud of our accomplishments together, and looking forward to spending with with high school groups again...despite the sleepless nights and manic running around 24 hours/day!

Our time together at the orphanage was amazing, nearly 100 meters of fence construction was done in 3 days, we painted the home from head to toe (which is a feat for a 4 story building), we started construction of a new volunteer house, we did two days of gardening planting vegetables and banana trees (not as easy as it sounds!), and we did several sessions of English teaching (maths, vocab, arts)...but the real impact was with the relief work.

Feeling inspired after our New Year's meditation ceremony, I asked Didi to let our group get involved in relief work within the local community. We set out the next 3 days building roofs (grass thatched roofs) for a blind lone grandmother, and delivering rice, clothes and medical care to the Burmese refugee camps. I took small groups of 6 at time in the back of a truck to the Thai/Burmese border. We then set off with our Baan Unrak volunteer nursing staff and headed straight into the jungle. To say villages doesn't quite cut it...we were in camps. Small families and spaces cramped together, in the middle of nowhere. A lot of the babies were born to women younger than the high school kids in my group, and a lot of them having been born in the jungle were seriously malnourished and physically deformed. One young boy, 15 years old got caught in a forest fire...all of his skin from head to toe had melted off only a few days ago, so I got in to help re apply ointment and gauze...

I also watched a man die. He had been lying down for 6 months and his stools were pitch black...internal bleeding. He couldn't move, eat, sleep, or pee. For 6 months in this condition, because as a political refugee from Burma he has no rights, no access to anything! When I was there with the nurse, he took one breath and closed his eyes...then he stopped moving. The nurse said she would come back again tomorrow with a car if she can find one and try to get him to a hospital...but we both knew it was too late.

I can't explain too much more...there was a lot more that I saw and did, but it's still processing I think. Leaving Baan Unrak this time was the hardest time yet, and I still haven't come to terms yet with leaving Thailand in general....Australia is sounding worse and worse every day, and I feel like I'm trying to dig my heels in as hard as I can. How can I go to Australia and leave all this? I'm finally doing something with my life, something meaningful and I've finally found something worth fighting for--the preservation of life.

Volunteer at "House of Joy" orphanage, Sangklaburi, Thailand 2009

Posted: Aug.2010, Written: May.2009

PART 1:

I've been in a remote/isolated town called Sangklaburi (straight west from Bangkok, on the Burmese border.) I'm doing volunteer work with my 13 kids, working at a home called Baan Unrak (translates to 'House of Joy.')

We're doing some intense manual labor, building bamboo fences, building cages for the animal sanctuary (geese are nasty buggers!), planting trees and grass, and vegetables since Baan Unrak is almost completely self-sustainable and is able to provide 80% of its own home-grown food.

Baan Unrak is an orphanage home to nearly 150 kids ranging from babies in the nursery to young adults 20-21 years old. They are predominantly ethnic minorities coming from Burma, having escaped persecution and war with the military junta. Most of these kids have been given up by their mothers who no longer feel they can run and keep their babies alive. These mothers flee the border and go to Bangkok in the hopes of dodging Thai immigration and finding work...sadly these women most likely end up in the human trafficking trade and become prostitutes working in the red light district.

A lot of the children are also 'unwanted babies'--babies with obvious birth defects and disabilities who were left at the doorsteps of Baan Unrak. Probably the mothers were too poor to be able to get the medical care their babies need, and hoped Baan Unrak could provide a better life.

The man who was helping us build a perimeter fence today is a Karen villager (ethnic minority highly persecuted in Burma.) He lost his entire family in Burma, since military soldiers got drunk and angry at his people and torched his village to the ground. His wife and daughters were raped and killed, and his baby boys became child soldiers against their will. He managed to escape and yet despite his broken heart and will, still found the hope to live. Now he's a project manager at the home, and he personally helps each new Burmese refugee that makes their way to the home (with or without children.)

The project is not just focused on the children, it welcomes with open arms adults---women who become surrogate mothers to the 'unwanted babies', women who use their handicraft skills and can weave fabrics to be sold in the cities, men who can farm and do construction work and who can become role models for the young boys.

This place truly is a place of love and care, and despite the horrific stories I learn on a daily basis, the children smile and the men and women laugh and tease each other. It's incredible.

PART 2:

Today I finally got a day off, woohoo! After 10 days of manual labor and intensive veggie farming, gardening and planting, and building bamboo fences, and building cages for animal sanctuaries with super-aggressive geese, and painting houses and murals for the baby nurseries...I'm pooped.

I had the whole day planned today, sipping my coffee, reading a newspaper, reading my book under the fan to keep the heat and flies away, and more importantly catching up in about 5 days of work online....as I was strutting to the internet cafe this morning, power was cut in the entire village (again, this usually happens once a day for a few hours.) Only difference is that today, we lost power for nearly 12 hours! 12 hours with no fans, made for miserable heat! The entire village sat their bums out on the concrete road to cool off, just like the stray dogs do on a daily basis.

Thailand, never ceases to amaze me.

Baan Unrak, the orphanage home I'm working with right now is truly a house of love. More and more, every day I realize how lucky we are to have basic things in life like love. The more suffering and pain I come across from those in need, the more determined I am to make something meaningful of my life.

Our project is a community development project, so we're involved in a lot of different projects. What I'm not doing Mom, is teaching though. The children here don't speak Thai, or Burmese...they speak the languages of over a dozen minority dialects...so specialized speech therapists from the government work here to teach them Thai, so that one day these refugees will be able to pass the Thai exam to gain citizenship and enroll in the free public school system.

I was working in the nursery yesterday, helping my students paint murals around the babies' cribs. We painted an underwater theme, with bright colors, hoping to increase morale for the babies and their surrogate mothers. These babies, all only a few months old were abandoned at the orphanage with HIV/AIDS. Their mothers, trying to cross safely into Thailand were sucked into the human trafficking industry, where as prostitues they contracted HIV/AIDS. Unable to provide for their babies (since only Thai citizens have access to the government provided free health care), they left them here hoping their children can have a chance at happiness.

I'm constantly being blown away by this place. Sangklaburi itself is magical; a sleepy town tucked in between mountains where the waterfalls form rivers, and the rivers merge into lakes in every direction...you feel almost like you're on an island. I've taken on a new admirer. He's 7 years old (we guess). His father, a Karen villager was a horrible abuser--he even branded his son's wrist with a hot iron to punish him. His mother smuggled him out, and is hiding with him at the home. He's the new guy, and he never went to school so he can't communicate with the other children yet, so he's terribly shy. For some reason, he's drawn to me.

He comes to visit me every working day, and runs down the steps to jump into my arms every time he sees me coming. He craves physical contact, always holding hands and hugging my legs every chance he gets. I've grown quite attached myself, and I know already that saying goodbye to him will be a hard blow. I'll miss his love so much, and I hate knowing that I won't be able to communicate my goodbyes to him...I don't know what I'm going to do. I think it's safe to say, that after living in an orphanage with over 150 children, I'm no longer afraid of little people :)

I already know that this season will be a huge time for me to grow as a person. My adventures as a project leader, leading community development and conservation projects are going to be priceless lesons learned about my life, and my place in this world.