Thailand


Baptists Visit Myanmar Refugee Camp


The Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department organized a fi ve-day mission trip into Northern Thailand, which included a visit to the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, from June 25-29. The delegation, which included BWA


President John Upton, met with several Karen organizations that are based in Mae Sot, a town in western Thailand that shares


 The BWA delegation traveled to the


offi ces of the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) where the KRC updated the BWA team on its work in the seven refugee camps on the Thai border with Myanmar. The committee issues a monthly report and newsletter on activities within the camps, including reports on camp populations, new arrivals, and the work of NGOs. It also


team met several women who coordinate and facilitate a range of educational, social welfare, and health projects, and visited a KWO income generating store. A meeting was also held with Naw


Zipporah Sein, general secretary of the Karen National Union, a major Karen political organization.


Heavy monsoon rain occurred during


a border with Myanmar. The Karen are one of eight major ethnic groups in Myanmar. They are mainly from the mountainous eastern region and central delta area of the Southeast Asian country. Karen people, a signifi cant number


of whom are Baptists, have had a history of struggle for self determination and democracy in Myanmar. Repressive government actions have led tens of thousands of Karen and other ethnic groups, such as the Chin and Kachin, to becoming refugees in other countries such as Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and China. There are seven refugee camps on the border with Thailand alone housing just over 138,000 refugees. Mae La is the largest with 47,000 persons. Thousands more are unable to cross the borders and have become internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Myanmar.


offers training, education and resettlement opportunities for refugees. BWA team members, which included


director of the BWA Women’s Department, Patsy Davis, visited the offi ces of the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO), also in Mae Sot. The KWO formed in 1949 and now has a membership of more than 49,000 women. The organization is involved in education and training, community care and relief, income generation, networking, and documentation and information. It has branches in all seven refugee camps in Thailand. Two notable publications of the KWO are State of Terror, released in 2007, and Walking Amongst Sharp Knives, published in 2010. Both reports provide exhaustive data on the abuses experienced and the effects of these abuses on Karen women and children by Myanmar government forces. The BWA


Clockwise from left: BWA Women’s Dept. delegation having a meal at the Mae La refugee camp; BWA Women’s Dept. President Raquel Contreras displays a T shirt at the KWO offi ce in Mae Sot; Saw Simon orients the team at the Mae La camp; meeting with the Karen National Union; a refugee leads a choir during worship at Mae La; group picture at the KWO offi ces; group that gathered at a dinner and fellowship with Lahu and Karen Baptist churches in Chiang Mai.


6 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

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