refugee camp L

Mae La refugee camp (population of 50 000) is the largest of the Burmese refugee camps in Thailand recently celebrated its 25 year anniversary. With the first influx of refugees in 1984 there existed around 30 camps with populations between 200 to 6 000. When the Burmese military attacked many of these between 1995 and 1997, they were forced to merge for consolidation and security reasons. This has resulted in rapid urbanization of the former village structures. The most extreme example of this is at Mae La, where these 50 000 live on a plot of 4 km2, complete with hospitals, schools, churches and temples.

Keeping this camp in temporary state is a spatial paradox. The Royal Thai Government does not allow permanent structures here either, and as a result there is a chronic shortage of bamboo, the only 'temporary' material that inhabitants may build with. The natural material cycles are ignored and the distribution is dominated by funding possibilities, resulting in low quality building constructions.

The camp is like a city run by volunteers in the sense that basic services of health care,  food and non food items are formalized and subsidiary services are done on an ad hoc basis. The government of the camp (ethnic Karen leaders) have a 'more equal' status in the camp (with perks like electricity and cars).

Important public space in the camp is again the football field, the open space (squares), the street and the shared agricultural land. These spaces offer inhabitants activities to distract them from the hopelessness of many of their situations; with pending resettlement, integration and repatriation as potential futures...

Many refugees take matters into their own hands and work as illegal migrant workers in the Thai black market economy, despite the efforts of NGOs to stimulate local traditional economies such as weaving.

Due to the impossibility of formal predetermined planning, the water and sanitation infrastructures are developed after the houses are already in place. The NGO currently in charge of sanitation has only recently begun installing closed concrete rings latrines (2yrs) and concrete water chlorination tanks (1yr). The main problem this NGO faces in implementation are the illegal connections on the water network as well as informal new wells being dug that do not ensure safety of the water. A main problem they will face in the future is the processing of the sludge from the latrines that are starting to fill up. The Royal Thai Government does not allow new space for a sewage treatment plant outside current camp grounds. Due to the high population density of the camp NGOs are hesitant to install innovative autarkic systems in which sludge and black water could be recycled within the household for risk of disease outbreaks.

On my visit I spoke at length with a young family whose hopes and aspirations were quite representative for the younger generation. The husband worked for an IT company in the nearby city of Mae Sot. They had a small baby who was in need of professional health care. Because the husband was not legally working in Thailand he was not insured. They had moved to the camp three years ago with hope of registering there in order to get resettled to the United States, where the baby could receive proper treatment. They had bought their bamboo house from previous inhabitants that were getting resettled for 75 000 Baht (1 500 Euro). They received bamboo and thatch from the Thai Burmese Border Consortium but the with the recent recession and donor issues, these rations were decreasing, and no family could survive without extra income. They also sent their extra income to their elderly family members that had remained in Burma. In general they were not unhappy to be living there. There were issues of health with the cold winter climate in this mountainous region. They had good relations with all their neighbors and had even joined together to lay a path of sandbags to connect them to the main road. All their friends had already resettled to the USA and they believed that they could have a better life for their child there.