development : the family

The development of the village, then town, then city that develops around the factory, then factories, can be predicted by looking at the behavior of a single family that may be characteristic for the population.

grandfather

Than was born inside Burma. He fled the fighting in his village 25 years ago. He was one of the camp elders in the medium sized refugee camp where he used to live with his family.

grandmother

Nu was born inside Burma. She fled the fighting in her ethnic state 25 years ago. She has been living inside a refugee camp with her husband doing traditional weaving that she learned in her village. 

father

Win fled from Burma as a young man after fighting with the resistance army. He lived in the refugee camp with his parents for a while but found work in local farming, then construction work in Bangkok and later the fishing industries in Thailand's main harbor area. He had been arrested and deported to Burma several times and was tired of paying off the police officials and suffering their abuse.

mother

Mya moved to Thailand with her husband as a young woman, and worked in local garment factories and domestic settings in Bangkok. She moved back to the refugee camp in order to be put on the UNHCR list to be resettled to a third country.

son

Maung was born in the refugee camp where he lived with his grandparents. They were worried that he was getting too carried away with the Burmese ethnic rebel groups operating out the the camp and had enough hope for his intelligence to enroll him in one of the local NGO run migrant children schools. He lived in the dormitory there for three years and was preparing to take his English Language exam.

daughter

Htwe was also born in the refugee camp and grew up in its surroundings. She became very active in the local NGOs and the health educational programs they have for training nurses. She loves to study and hopes to one day receive a scholarship to do a degree at a university. She wants to use this knowledge to open up her own free clinic for the Burmese refugee community.