‘I Want the International Community to Open Their Eyes… We Cannot Return Burma as There Is No Real Peace’: Ei Thu Hta IDP Camp Leadership

[of rice] for each person. From 2011-2017, they gave only 12Kg for those aged over 5 and 6Kg for aged under 5. In 2016, TBC [The Border Consortium] informed us that they are going to stop giving us rations.

Saw Kler Kaw (secretary): Currently, TBC has stopped providing us food. For the future, we still need the rations. There are more than 300 households and more than 2000 camp residents. Now the leaders and the residents are worried that we will run out of food soon. We cannot work and earn money for food as we live in the camp. There is not enough time. We have no more food left. We have already shared the food we got for 3 months to each of the camp residents. The food will maybe last for us until November. TBC stopped giving food aid in September, but they had extra food leftover [which they distributed] and it can still last until November. The camp residents are worried about their future. They can’t decide whether to stay or leave because neither of the choices is good.

There are still landmines and fighting. The [Burma] Army is still around our village. If we return home, something bad would happen to us for sure. We have already experienced it once. So, we don’t see the ceasefire as beneficial for us.

Saw Soe Khu (education committee leader): I live in the camp and I am a camp resident. After we heard about the rations stopping, I saw all the camp residents feeling depressed and hopeless. They are a lot more worried for their family living than before. They had talks within their family, they were discussing whether they should leave or still stay here, and how they will continue with their living. When I meet the camp residents or my friends, they only talk about these issues. They are worried about if they will still have food and from where, and what will happen if they do not get food anymore.

 

Peace process ‘not real’ and ‘not beneficial’

Saw Kai Doe: I am not happy with the peace process. We must build peace. It is a good thing to do. But we must build peace, which we recognize as true. Right now, we can’t accept the peace process that they are doing, because it is not true and it is making things worse. We love peace, but it should be real peace. Because of the ceasefire process, the food rations were stopped. And they want us to return home. For us, we still do not feel safe to go back to our country. We are afraid.

Those who cooperate with the government are those who think only of their own benefit. Those decisions they have made are not right. We, Brigade 5 and the rest of the Brigades are the ones who love real peace. We do not ever make snap decisions. We do not do things carelessly. We think carefully before we make a decision. We can accept things, but we do not accept them too easily. For them [people working with the Government], they accept everything that benefits them. All leaders from the seven [KNU] Brigades have to be united. They should cooperate and work together. But now, all the leaders have different perspectives and different opinions on ruling and the peace process. And they do not trust each other.

Saw Kler Kaw: What it is good [about the ceasefire process] is for those top people who have power. They get advantages from this process in many ways. But if you have a look at what good has come of it for the civilians like us who live in this country, you’ll see there is nothing at all. It even causes us more worry. Because although they did a ceasefire they still cannot guarantee it is safe to return home and to make a living there in our villages.

Another reason why it is beneficial for the military and the Government is because, as we can see, they were able to set up more military camps during the peace process. Before this, they would have some difficulties to increase the military. Now they build schools and provide health programs in the villages for the purpose of extending their territory. The military is stronger than before, so we got more scared of them to go back. In my opinion, the Burma government and military should be doing better than this. Because what they are doing is not the truth. They say we do not love peace, [that] we always want to fight. In fact, of course we love to build peace.

Saw Soe Khu: The peace process has become an opportunity for leaders and the Burma military. They have been able to set up more military camps. So, those villages close to the military camps have to be afraid. They rebuilt and set up more military camps almost everywhere. You can see their camps when you travel on the [Salween] river by boat. Now you can see in some villages, they allow business men to come and build companies and dams, which cause problems to the villagers’ lives in many ways and which make it even more difficult to making a living: people can’t grow food because they took over the lands and it has created health problems as well. I think if they hadn’t done the ceasefire process, it would not be as easy for them to come and take over the lands.

Even though they set up schools in the Karen villages, they do not allow to teach the Karen literature and language at school because they want the Karen culture to disappear. Most of the villagers view positively the Burma Government helping with schools and hospitals, but they do not see what is the real purpose behind. They [Government] have built good school buildings but the system of teaching is not good. They do not provide good education for Karen people because they do not want us to be educated. In my opinion, I would agree to a ceasefire, which brings real peace. What is happening right now however, I prefer not to do it. Because they are not doing a ceasefire that brings real peace.

What they [KNU leaders] should be doing is they should always observe the situation and find out the problem their people are facing, the difficulties and the needs of their people and help them. And they should let the local people know what they are doing. Now, local people feel like they are not included within the ceasefire process. This is my opinion.

The leaders of Brigade 5 did not cooperate with the Government because some of their [Government’s] projects were harmful to the local people. They could not allow the Government to do such things to local people. Some of the Brigades allow the Government to do such things because they also benefit from it. Building peace is a good thing to do, but if it harms our people we should protect them. So, the news spread that Brigade 5 does not want peace, does not agree with the ceasefire. In fact, we are just protecting ourselves and our people from their [Government’s] dishonesty. Some people from Brigade 7 and 6 came and saw our place surrounded by trees, and they felt regret as they had lost the trees on their lands due to the company projects. For us, we can still feel the natural environment around us because our leaders did not easily let other people win them over.

 

Funding cuts ‘Government’s plan’

Saw Kai Doe: When the donors believed that the Government is doing the peace process and that the situation in Burma has become stable, they started to leave us and started to work with Government in Burma. When there are no more donors to give support to TBC, then TBC cannot give us the ration. The donors go into the country and support the people in the country [Government controlled areas].

Saw Klar Kaw: The reason why there is a ration cut is that the donors learned that our leader, the KNU, is doing the peace process and ceasefire with the Burma Government. So, they believe that the Burma Government has really established a ceasefire and that Burma is becoming safe and peaceful. Therefore, [they think] the people in the camp should return home. The reason they gave us is that the Government is working on the ceasefire and peace process, so we could return home now. Our government should look after us, so they decided to stop giving out rations.

Saw Soe Khu: In my point of view, … the Burma Government wants to take control over us and wants to make our [Karen] ethnic group disappear. For this, the Burma Government and the military take advantages of the ceasefire process. They [Government] announced that they have signed the ceasefire to make the donors believe it and make the camp residents return home. The Government’s plan is to persuade the donors to stop giving us funds.

 

Forced to flee – and pushed to return

Saw Kai Doe (past): In 2006, my friends from [KNU] Brigade 2 told me about Ei Thu Hta camp. In 2007, I came to here. I came here because of the war that caused us to flee. We also faced some diseases and illnesses and we could not stay in our village anymore. I came here with all my family members. When we arrived in the camp, we could live and survive well enough. We faced some difficulties on the way because there were some [Burmese] military soldiers and camps, so we had to travel at night.

Saw Kai Doe (present): We have made up our minds that we will not return home yet. We will face more difficulties if we go back. They are not doing a true peace process. So, we want to stay here and make a living here. Our villagers should have peace, freedom and the right to have jobs, to work to earn for a living. If there is no freedom, we cannot go back yet. The peace and freedom are the most important. As for me, I want to go back to my village, but I cannot go back yet because I would face many problems and difficulties if I went back and lived in my village. We do not have freedom to work to earn for our living. I really want to go back if possible. But, as long as the Burmese military remains nearby our villages, we should not go back. We want to see the real peace in the country so that we can go back. We don’t want to flee from them again.

The real peace we want is (1) we should have Karen leaders who control Karen lands (2) We, Karen people should get freedom regarding education, health, and other rights. Our current situation in the camp is so bad when we do not get food anymore. We can only return to our country when there is real peace for us. For now, we will continue staying in the camp.

Saw Klar Kaw (past): I came here in 2009. I came here because in 2007/2008, the Burmese soldiers came to our places and set up their camps. I came from a village called Noh Yo Hta. The people from other villages close to my village came to stay in my village, because the soldiers came to their villages. So, there were more people living in my village. It caused a shortage of food and there were diseases. The situation in the village became bad and the villagers could not live in the village anymore. Also, the [Burma Army] soldiers came into the village at night and caused some problems — they threatened the villagers. The villagers didn’t feel safe anymore. So, the village chief told us to leave the village. We had to sleep on our way for one night. It was in 2009. I came with all my family members.

Saw Kler Kaw (present): People started to return since 2010 and 11,12,13,14 every year until now. We don’t know exactly how many of them. Over 30 households have returned after [they announced] the rations [will be] stopped. They go back and live with their relatives. They do not have their own house. They go back because the rations stopped. They made their own decision to go back. They are also not sure about their living even though they go back. They just hope to find some jobs and survive. They are not happy about going back actually. They have no choice because the rations stopped. We haven’t heard anything from them after they went back. So, we don’t know whether they are alright.

For us, we are still too worried to start living in Burma. We do not have our relatives in Burma and we do not have our lands to make a living there. On the other hand, we are still worried about the situation in Burma even though the Government says it abides by the ceasefire.

We can see that there is still civil war in the country. And we can hear the landmines exploding every year on the way we came. We do not believe that it is safe for us to return home. If we stay here, there is no more food, but if we go back to our country we can’t guarantee that there will be food or jobs for us. Some of the camp residents think Burma is becoming safe as the Government has signed the ceasefire and there is no more war [in Karen State]. But we still are worried as we have experienced war. Right now, we cannot return home and we are still afraid.

Saw Soe Khu (past): I have been in the camp since the beginning of the camp [in 2006]. I have had to flee from the war since I was a child until now. I came from a village called Soe Htar. I was born there and I had to flee from war since I was born. As my village is close to the river between the Thailand-Burma border, when the Burmese soldiers came we fled to Thailand. We stayed there for a short time and we went back to our village when the soldiers left. The last time the soldiers came, I was a grade 1 student. It was in 1987/88. The Burmese soldiers came to our village and we could not live there anymore. Even now, there are Burmese military camps in Soe Htar Village. So, we moved to another place and again the soldiers came. Then we had to move from place to place and we arrived in the camp finally. I was a child, so I followed my parents to the camp.

Saw Soe Khu (present): The main reason is because we cannot live in our village and earn for a living as long as the Burmese military lives in our place. We are still afraid of them. We will go back and see the situation first to make sure it is safe, and we will have a plan to return after that. We also need to prepare starting a new life. We have so many things to prepare.

The real peace I want will be when there are no more wars in the country. This will happen when all the Burmese military move back to their places and leave our homelands. I would believe it as a real peace when this happens. Another thing is I would believe it real peace when I can go back safely to my homeland where I was born and when I am able to make a living there. Of course, a real peace also means it is safe for me to live in my homeland and when I have freedom. Moreover, I must also have the rights that a citizen should have. In the present situation, I am sure I cannot get these rights.

 

Deteriorating conditions: Impact on education

Saw Soe Khu: We closed the [two] high schools from the time we stopped getting food. Some of the teachers who taught at high school started worrying about their family living. If the teachers would keep teaching, their family would face difficulty living without food. As you know, the salary for the teachers is also not so much. So, to fulfil the needs of their family, they left the schools to find better ways to earn a living. It was not easy to find new teachers when they left. So, we could not run high schools anymore for this 2017-2018 academic year. But we can still keep the middle schools running. KED [Karen Education Department], the organization that supports education and the teachers, is still helping. KED supports us very well with the school support and materials. Our problem is we cannot find teachers to teach, not that KED has stopped supporting us. But KED can only provide the teachers with a small salary while the camp had been providing them with food.

Saw Kai Doe: The teachers left due to the ration cut. The teachers left for other places to earn a living. Some students also left the schools because of this situation. So, we had to stop running high schools. Because we stopped running high schools, the children from the camp have to go to school in other places, and this costs them money as they have to pay for boat fares to cross the river. They also have to pay for school fees. Now, we can see some students stopped going to school after they finished middle school. Because there is no high school for them. They just stay home or work daily to earn money. We are worried for the youth’s education.

 

Deteriorating conditions: Impact on health

Saw Soe Khu: Health worker presence is also reducing due to the camp situation. We still get support for the medicine, once every 6 months. But, the medicine is not enough. KDHW [Karen Department of Health and Welfare] is the organization that provides us with the medicine.

Saw Klar Kaw: There were many programs [in the past] for health such as malaria program, consoling and training program, and vaccination program that came to our camp. Due to the ration cuts, these programs have now stopped. Now there are still health programs for children and pregnant women. But the medicine is not enough for all the kinds of diseases and sicknesses in our large population. Most programs have stopped already. Nutrition and vaccination programs also have not come to the camp for a long time. They have stopped coming. These are the problems concerning health. KDHW still provides medicine once every 6 months as usual, but I think the amount of the medicine they provide has been reduced.

Saw Kai Doe: The problem is there is not enough medicine. We need many types of medicine for different sicknesses. When the patients ask for medicine, we just tell them the name of the medicine and the shops where they can buy it.

We are facing a water shortage too. We do not get enough water due to the farming and the problem with [maintaining] the pipelines. In the summer, we go and carry water from the river. We shower and drink from the same river. We put virus killer in the water and we drink it. So, it causes us to worry for our health too. We want the clean water that will not harm our health. As we are facing with water shortage, we have no choice but to use the water from the river. Sometimes, the groups of cows or buffalos come play in the river. So, the water becomes dirty and we drink that water. Some people are digging wells. If we can get support for the pipes, I think we can get access to clean water from the source. We boil it, but we, all the resident need clean water. The schools and the hospitals also need clean water.

All three, however, strongly emphasize that none of their other concerns can be compared to having no food left in the camp.

 

In search of solutions: Limited agriculture

Saw Klar Kaw: We have no more food left.

Some camp residents work outside, in Thai villages, during the harvest season. They work by helping Thai people harvest, farm, and cut grass. Only a few people can do these jobs to earn money. Some people go and sell snacks in other villages and get some profit from that.

As we are IDPs, there is a rule that we are not allowed to do farming. However, after we were informed that the ration was going to stop, we decided to become more independent. So, we started to do more farming to get food. Even if we do more farming, it will still not be enough for all of us. The soil of the lands is not so good, the plants cannot grow well. So, we do not get much food from planting. Some people grow crops on the mountains and raise animals such as fish, chicken, and ducks. They got permission from the KNU and the local people. They are close to them so they could negotiate to do farming. However, they are allowed to do just small farming. They grow rice, vegetables, and make sticky rice. They cannot grow a lot as they have small lands. They grow a little bit for each of them. So, it is not enough for all. Their crops are not plentiful or big, so it would not be enough to rely on for a long time. They would want to expand their agriculture, but they do not have land large enough for that. There are also two Burmese military camps [about a 2 hour walk away].

Saw Soe Khu: We do not have a lot of land because we are not local people. We came and stay on other people’s land. In order to do agriculture here, we need permission from the land owners. The local people who own the lands live in the villages nearby our camp. They have small households and small populations in each village, like 10 households. We have a large population, so all of us cannot do agriculture on the small land. That would not be enough for everyone. So, this is why we have a problem with land. Even though we are the same ethnic, Karen, we still have to respect other people’s lands and policies.

The KNU and the local people who have been living here for a long time maintain the lands and sustain the forests. They have maintained these lands for so long. They do not let anyone to cut down the trees. We have to work together to maintain the forests and love the forest. The leaders also should give awareness about cutting down the trees or killing and hunting wild animals, to the camp residents.  They should teach the camp residents how to maintain sustainably the forests, environment and clean water, so they can stay useful for us for a long time. We can also plant trees.

 

In search of solutions: Ei Thu Hta IDP Supporting Committee

Saw Kai Doe: It [Ei Thu Hta IDP Supporting Committee] was formed on 25^th of July 2017. The members of the committee are [Karen] leaders. Those who are able to find ways to get funding are the Karen organizations. When they find ways to get funds, they contact us. They are between the Ei Thu Hta Camp Committee and the Supporting Committee. Some residents are worried and preparing themselves to be ready for the upcoming difficulties. There are some residents who are not sure whether they will leave or stay. Anyway, we, the camp committee, have to speak with organizations that come to our camp and collect information for the purpose of getting help. After the TBC stopped giving the food, the leaders of the camp met up and decided to set up a group to speak up and find ways for the camp residents to get food for the future. After we set up the [supporting] committee, some of the camp residents felt much better and stronger. But, they cannot be so happy yet because they don’t know when they will really receive food again.

Saw Soe Khu: We will wait for what the supporting committee is planning for us. We believe that they will not let us down or starve because they are our ethnic leaders. They are from Karen organizations and they work for the Karen people. We already known that the rations will be gone by November. But we, on our own cannot do anything about that. Even if we go back to our country we will starve the same as when we are here. That is why the supporting committee was formed. They encourage us and make us to be strong in this situation. They told us that they will find ways for us. So we depend on their help. They will somehow find us donors to get food and provide us with help. We believe that.

Saw Klar Kaw: Many [Karen] organizations have come to our camp to collect information about our situation — they said they would go and report our situation to the international community.  We don’t know if they can help us. But they took information about the situation and the difficulties we have in the camp. They said they would go back and report this. But, until now we have not heard anything from them yet.

 

Messages to the International community and the Burma Government

Saw Kai Doe: Our current situation is that we can neither go back nor stay. We will have to face problems and difficulties if we return. We are facing with food shortage when we are in the camp. So, I want them to know our situation in the camp. I want the international community to carefully observe the real situation in [Burma] before they tell us to return.

Saw Kler Kaw: Our camp is facing food shortages. I want the international community to open their eyes and see us and come help us while we need their help. We the local people in Ei Thu Hta need your helping hands. We cannot return Burma as there is no real peace.

Saw Soe Khu: We, Karen people, do not want to cause problems and fighting. We want peace, love, and unity. In the past, we, Karen lived peacefully on our lands. We did farming for our living. But, then the Burmese military came and destroyed our homes, took over our lands and fought us. That’s why we had to flee to other places and became refugees [and IDPs]. So, I want to tell the current Government to please rethink what you are doing. We, all human beings, should have equal rights. They should stop fighting and please build more peace and love with us. I want the international community to know that if the Burmese military stopped fighting and built real peace, we could be united with them. Please help Burma to get real peace.

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EI THU HTA FEATURE ARTICLE ON ASIA TIMES BY BURMA LINK’S LEENA ZIEGER AND CLARISSE TISTCHENKO

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