US First Lady Tours Refugee Camp on Thai-Burma Border | Voice of America - English
For U.S. first lady Laura Bush, the plight of the Burmese people is both a cause and a calling.  Throughout her husband's presidency she has spoken out on their behalf, urging the world to take a strong stand against Burma's military regime. And while Mr. Bush was conducting business of state Thursday in Bangkok, she boarded a military cargo plane for the Thai-Burmese border.  VOA White House correspondent Paula Wolfson traveled with her.
We approached the Mae La refugeecamp in a soft but steady rain. Heavy clouds partially obscured thetop of the mountains behind the camp. Beyond those mountains, liesBurma. The first lady was greeted at Mae La by teenage refugeesperforming a traditional Burmese dance,  a dance from a country mosthave never seen. Almost all of the 16,000 students at the campwere born there and so were some of their parents. They live in limboin Mae La, the largest of nine refugee camps on the Thai-Burmeseborder. Official reports put the population at the camp atanywhere from 38,000 to 40,000. Unofficial tallies put the total muchhigher. "You know, it is a tragedy,"  said the first lady."These are people who would much rather be in their own homes, who lovetheir country and want to be with their families in their own country." Thereare so many children in Mae La, that there are 26 schools. They arebuilt simply with earthen floors and waist-high walls of bamboo. At an English class, Mrs. Bush looked on as teenage boys wrote their thoughts on a chalkboard. "Mylife in refugee [as a refugee] is better than Burma, but I don't have[any] opportunity to go outside of my camp," one wrote. MahnHtun Htun is one of the refugees who sits on the governing council. Hesays everyone yearns for home, but there is no way they can returnwhile the military runs Burma. He urged Mrs. Bush to help those whowant to leave the camps and resettle elsewhere. "Our dream is,we want to go home," said Mahn Htun Htun. "But if there is no peace anddemocracy in Burma, it makes it impossible to go home." Peoplewho work with the refugees at Mae La often refer to them as "stoic." There is no electricity here and no running water. But there is abelief that it is possible to build a better life. Mrs. Bushspent time at the camp with refugees at various stages of theresettlement process. Some are taking lessons to prepare themselvesfor living in a different culture. Others are packing their belongingsand saying their good-byes. "I know that a lot of these familieswould rather go home but because of the situation in Burma they can't,and because many of them have been here so long they have given up hopeon being able to go home and have decided to move on to the UnitedStates or other countries," said the first lady. Mae La camp hasbeen in existence since 1984, when it began as a small settlement ofethnic Karen Burmese escaping violence in their homeland. About 45 minutes away is another border institution borne of the need to help Burmese refugees and migrants- the Mae Tao clinic. Mrs.Bush toured the medical facility before leaving the border region andleft crates of donated supplies, including thousands of mosquito bednets to help prevent malaria - a serious health hazard in the region.