I recently spent a weekend in Mae Sot, Tak Province, Thailand. I was there briefly last year around the time of my short visit to Myanmar, but this was quite a different visit. Dr. Mac invited me to join a small group on this preliminary visit to Mae Sot, where he hopes to establish long-term physician services.
Mae Sot is a small town in northern Thailand, right next to the Burmese/Myanmar border. Thousands of Burmese refugees in Mae Sot attempt to earn a living and protect their families from the extremely dangerous "black zone" inside the Burmese border.
I visited many different places around Mae Sot, including Dr. Cynthia’s internationally-recognized Mae Tao Clinic. This clinic is… unimaginable. It's a gravel lot dotted with both modern and dilapidated buildings. Handwritten signs indicate "Surgical Theater" and "Blood Collection." People walk for days to the clinic for malarial treatment, amputations, and injuries sustained during Burmese military raids. One American doctor who volunteers at Mae Tao one month each year commented that he does fortunately have access to anesthesia for amputations, though then he lacks pain medicine to give patients dealing with freshly amputated limbs. Mae Tao is an inspirational example of how dedicated caretakers, particularly Dr. Cynthia, can stretch limited resources to help save so many lives. Yet the disparity between this facility and funded, proper hospitals was pitiful. It broke my heart.
I spent most of my weekend at Love and Care, a school for migrant Karen and Shan hill tribe students. These 15-23 year olds are working to complete high school, take the GED or prepare college scholarship applications. The Burmese educational system ends at Grade 10 and falls far below international standards. So these young adults cross into Thailand to continue studying. They go directly to Love & Care school and remain there 24/7 for fear of being harassed by Thai police around town. Luckily local border control normally ignores the school. Love & Care uses whatever volunteer teachers it can find, most of whom are only able to stay for a month or two because obviously there's no pay.
There are 104 students at Love and Care struggling on a food budget that provides 2 meals a day for 60 people. Everyone shares; most are borderline malnourished. Their "meals" are served at 9am and 6pm and generally include rice, broth and fish paste. When available and affordable, a few vegetables are divided among 104 rice bowls.
We bought tons of vegetables, fruit, beans, fish, etc. to address, at least temporarily, the students’ severe anemia and other nutritional deficiencies. Obviously that food only lasted a few days. The doctors are planning to send a supply of multivitamins and iron tablets this week. We also bought seeds and talked about how to best expand their small garden to supplement their diets. I suggested giving each "team" responsibility for one crop to give them a sense of ownership and competition to take good care of the plants, which worked to excite the students. They, of all people, understand the value of growing food so that they actually have some to eat.
The first day I was there, there was no water for the students. A non-profit group had recently installed a new water filtration system, which promptly broke and no one knew how to fix it. This is one more example of the problem I keep learning about as I research water/sanitation issues in developing communities. The global water problem is not caused by a lack of technology or physical resources to provide clean water. It's a matter of getting the supplies to the right people, maintaining them, and actually getting the target community to know how/why to use these things. There's a chronic issue with dropping off supplies without ever teaching someone in the community (such as Love & Care) how to operate and troubleshoot a new system. When I arrived, the school had called a service tech, who then took two days to get there. Awful.
While there, I befriended and connected with the students as much as possible, learning their history and especially talking to the college and scholarship applicants about their future plans. They have so many questions. They're so eager to learn. We even traded dance moves – traditional Karen dances for bachata and salsa lessons, which they tell me via email that they’re still practicing.
This was one of many experiences that makes me question spending my Thai time with my university's well-off students when I could have been helping others who need and appreciate the assistance so much more. But alas, that's a lesson learned. I have my whole future ahead of me to redirect whatever help I am able to give.
As requested, I'll return to Love & Care in March to teach an intensive prep course for the TOEFL and GED exams. I have to schedule a time between the end of my semester and when I return to the U.S. It's very possible that I'll return to Mae Sot after grad school. There's so much need there, and such genuine motivation and appreciation. I feel lucky to have had this opportunity to meet the students, and I hope to help them however I can.
Ribbon-cutting on the new water filter system at Love & Care: http://vimeo.com/9291398
Dr. Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic: http://maetaoclinic.org/
