This story makes the whole "Mary, Joseph & Baby Jesus had no where to sleep" Christmas story pale into relative insignificance. And yes, it is the week before Christmas.
You see, in Thailand along the Burmese border near Mae Sot & Tak, in the last 4-5 days THOUSANDS of displaced people have been pushed across the border by an aggressive Burmese military. Numbers vary depending on who you talk to - Thai government says around 2,000 people, but some aid workers estimate the number to be closer to 5,000 plus.
Are we talking political harassment? No. We are talking severe military action against whole villages. Why those villages? They have members within them who the Burmese military claim were present at pro-democracy rallies and protests - gatherings the military junta deems illegal.
Punish just the so-called offenders? Nope. Just burn, shell and shoot. And when the people are gone, burn the crops, poison the soil and poison the wells so they can't easily return. It has been ongoing now for more than 70 years since the Burmese military seized power and started what is now the longest official civil war in recorded history.
"...a former student of mine confirmed yesterday that her whole village has been displaced."
Local humanitarian groups and concerned citizens are collecting goods, as we have been doing for months, and attempting to feed and clothe people. It's the monsoonal cool season here in the mountains of Northern Thailand, which means overnight temperatures can drop well into the low single digits - 3-5C with a damp cold is seriously dangerous when you're malnourished and sleeping rough.
Most of the refugees and displaced people are women and children and old people. The occassional younger man who has been very politically active crosses to this side, but generally not. The younger men mostly stay to protest and to fight.
And so we are again collecting used clothes, bedding, plastic sheeting, food stuffs etc.
Meanwhile half the world (at least) is focused on 2 maybe-real-people several thousand years ago who may (or may not) have had the misfortune (?) to have had to give birth in a warm, dry stable. I sometimes wonder how the Christian missionaries who infest the border regions here explain this whole distortion.
Feeling very much frustrated that this important story never sees the light of day, and feeling a tiny bit better for immortalizing it into relative permanence on the Hive blockchain.
And moi? Off to collect yet more used clothes from well meaning & generous friends and do what I can. In the years to come, as some of these displaced people remain here in Thailand with few, if any, employment prospects, my Thai business WILL be able to offer some of them work through our Organic Frontiers Eco Center project. It matters.
Pondering...
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