First Thoughts in Mae Sot

So, I have been in Mae Sot, the small town along the Burma border, since June 11th. It was a long few days of travel by plane, taxi and bus but I made it here in one piece and with all of my luggage. To say the least, Mae Sot is the most interesting place I have ever been. The population is mostly made up of Burmese migrants and refugees, along with a large foreign expat population from all parts of the world. It is so fun just to run into people and exchange stories, as everyone is so interesting. Even my office is quite diverse. I work with a woman from Norway, two men from Australia and New Zealand, and three Burmese refugees, all of which are from various ethnic tribes. There is a cool dynamic between all of the aid workers too. Every week there are soccer games and ultimate frizz-bee matches, along with a Tuesday night trivia game at the local bar. Because of the unique blend between the foreign workers and the heavy Burmese population, Mae Sot is kind of disconnected or isolated from the rest of Thailand. It's kind of a weird feeling sometimes.

The local community is incredible here too. Most of them are Burmese migrants so they understand that the NGO workers are here for a good purpose. This way, everyone is so friendly and welcoming. I have never been approached by a beggar, nor have I perceived any negative impressions or attitudes from the local population. This could also be because Mae Sot is heavily Buddhist, as there are about three beautiful monasteries right in town.

As for work: I am working for the Human Rights Documentation Unit (HRDU) of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB). The NCGUB is basically the former government of Burma that won the 1990 elections. However, the NCGUB had to go into exile when the Burmese military junta would not honor the election results. What the HRDU does is annually document the human rights situation occurring in Burma and then submit a yearbook to the international community so that the international institutions can hopefully use their leverage to apply external pressure on the junta. Such institutions include the United Nations and the International Labor Organization etc. Therefore, every year the HRDU produces the Burma Human Rights Yearbook. Here is an example of the 2006 edition, which is about 900 pages, so don't feel pressured to read its entirety: http://www.ncgub.net/BHRY/2006/. In addition to the yearbook, the HRDU will also carryout other specific reports. We did the Bullets in the Alms Bowl report, which documented the events of the Monk Protest last September (http://www.ncgub.net/mediagallery/media.php?s=200803100000223). So, currently I am gathering information on the 2008 yearbook and then in about a week I will start drafting chapters in it and writing individual incidents that have already occurred. Furthermore, as we get into the summer we are also starting a major project on the rights of children in Burma and on the roles of child soldiers. This is supposed to be a pretty intense project because we are collaborating with a lot of other local organizations to right this report. Moreover, there has never been a major publication analyzing children in Burma. Hopefully, it will produce some results because the Burma military is notorious for recruiting child soldiers and for exploiting child labor.

It will be interesting to see how these projects develop over the course of the summer and how my perceptions of the town and Burma issues evolve too. At the moment, I am still taking it all in. Anyways, I just thought I would post an update of my first impressions here in Mae Sot. Hope all is well and I will try to post again in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers