48 HOURS REFUGEES

Since the parliamentary elections of November 2009, clashes between the Burmese army and ethnic minority rebels have caused several waves of refugees in Mae Sot and its surroundings. For Thai officials as well as for those in charge of private schools, the question is raised of how to accomodate all of these new children. For these 150 or so Karen refugees that had just arrived in Thailand, their stay will not last more than 48 hours. Greeted by local authorities in a Buddhist monastery, a census is taken and food supplies are quickly distributed. After having spent 2 nights in waiting, generals from the Thai army arrive and ask the village chief to take his family and return to the other side of the border river. Trucks that are usually used for the transport of merchandise are immediately dispatched to escort these people to the border and to a very uncertain future.