Cynthia Maung, Myanmar Eng

NOMINATED • Pages 16– 40

CYNTHIA MAUNG Khaing Tha Zin, 11 years old, has had fever for so many days that she’s lost count. At home in her village in Burma, her father lifts her up onto his back, wraps her in a blanket and begins the long trek to Doctor Cynthia Maung’s clinic in the neighbouring country of Thailand.

18 years ago, Cynthia Maung fled Burma by the same path. she fought for democracy, but had to flee from the military government that has been in power in Burma since 1962.

Khaing being carried by her father.

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN PHOTOS : : TOR A MÅRTENS

WHY Is CYNTHIA MAUNG BEING NOMINATED? Doctor Cynthia Maung is being nominated for the WCPRC 2007 for her near 20­year struggle on behalf of hundreds of thousands of children who live as refugees in and outside Burma. Cynthia has been running the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand since 1989. Over 200,000 refugees and immigrants from Burma receive free healthcare here. Most of these are children. The clinic also trains medics who return to their villages in Burma or to refugee camps in Thailand to work. The clinic sends hundreds of “backpack medics” to Burma. They carry medicine, train children in health and hygiene and treat 150,000 internally displaced people, many of them children. Cynthia’s clinic gives birth certificates to the many children who lack these, runs two schools and 16

school hostels, and regularly visits 50 other refugee schools to give the children vitamins, vaccinations and teach them about health and hygiene. Cynthia’s clinic also runs children’s homes, teaches about the environ­ ment and HIV and AIDS, and gives food to malnourished children.

india

bangladesh

Burma

china

(Myanmar) Rangoon

indian ocean

vietnam laos

Mae Sot

thailand Bangkok

cambodia

K

haing can’t stay awake, even though she’s bumping along uncomfortably on her father’s back. Once when she wakes up, his shoulder is red with blood from her nose.

When they have crossed the border and arrived at the Mae Tao Clinic, Khaing gets cramp. The fever makes her muscles tense up on their own. She has malaria, one of the most common illnesses to affect children in the bor-

der area. It all starts with a little mosquito bite and, without medicine and treatment, it can end in death.

In the mountainous areas of Burma there are no hospitals or doctors. That’s why Doctor Cynthia Maung’s clinic on the Thai side of the border is absolutely vital for Khaing – and for more than a hundred thousand other children. One of the medics lifts Khaing under the arms, sits her on a low plastic stool and washes her with cold

Helping ALL children Cynthia Maung and her Mae Tao Clinic helps all children from Burma, whether they are refugees in Thailand, refugees in their own country, Burma (called internally displaced people) or are in Thailand because their parents are looking for work. water. The sudden cold almost makes it hard to breathe, but it’s refreshing at the same time.

After the medical examination Khaing falls asleep on a bench in the waiting

room with her head on her father’s lap. He is holding three small plastic bags containing medicine and vitamins. Khaing needs to take these every day for a week.

Soon they’re on the way

BURMA | THAILAND The Moei River on the border

Hi friend! Have you had breakfast?

In Burma, food is an important part of the day – so important that friends greet each other by saying: “Hi friend! Have you had breakfast?”

Say K’Blar Moo, 12 years old, is greeting Ei Mon Son, 13 years old, who replies: “Of course, I had fish curry, what about you?”

Say K’Blar Moo (on the left) is wearing the traditional dress of the Ka Chin people and Ei Mon Son is wearing typical Pa Laung clothing.

17

➼

Burma or Myanmar?

In 1989, the military government in power in Burma changed the country’s name to Myanmar. The capital city was also renamed, from Rangoon to Yangon. Many more cities and places were also given new names. But Cynthia Maung, and all the others who fight for freedom, still say Burma.

The military rule by force Burma is ruled by a military group, known as a military junta.

Many people were killed when they took power, and Burma became a military dictatorship. The junta uses threats and violence to govern the country. Anyone who has a different opinion to the junta risks being put in prison or killed.

Doctor Cynthia Maung and many others in exile fight for freedom and democracy, where everyone is allowed to say what they think and vote for whoever they want to govern the country. In a democracy, no-one is allowed to be threatened, tortured or put in prison for their opinions.

One country – a hundred people groups Burma has over 50 million inhabitants. Officially they belong to eight different ethnic groups – Burmese, Shan, Mon, Karen, Kayin, Chin, Kachin and Rakhaing. But in reality, around 135 different peoples live in Burma. The ruling military junta belongs to the largest group, the Burmese. The junta not only persecutes all those who fight for democracy, but also all those who belong to other ethnic groups.

18

All the children who go to Doctor Cynthia’s school look up to Cynthia Maung for her fight for their rights. Here they are wearing the traditional dress of different ethnic groups in Burma.

home to their village in Burma. Khaing can’t wait to finally get back to school.

Cynthia’s escape Cynthia Maung also walked the long road through Karen State in Burma to escape over the border to Thailand.

This was after the huge demonstrations for democracy in 1988. Cynthia had taken to the streets along with tens of

thousands of others to demand freedom, democratic elections and respect for human rights.

The army that governs Burma responded by closing all the schools. They stopped deliveries of food and shot at the demonstrators. At night, many of those who fought for freedom disappeared without a trace.

Cynthia decided to flee.

Hi friend! Have you had lunch?

A Ket, 13 years old (on the left) who comes from the Po Karen ethnic group, greets his friend Mg Hla Win Kying, 16, who is wearing the traditional dress of the Ka Chin people.

1

Dr Cynthia was 29 when she fled from Burma with her medicine bag and started the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand.

Cynthia Maung started the Mae Tao Clinic in 1989 in this old barn. Now the clinic has grown to become a little village, but the barn is still there as a reminder of the past and is used as housing for the staff.

On her last night in Burma, she slept with a group of villagers and students. At four o’clock in the morning, they slipped out of the village.

“We were terribly afraid.

But we wanted to continue

the fight for freedom and to help other people, and it was impossible to do that in Burma,” she explains.

They walked at night-time to avoid being discovered by the military. Cynthia – a

doctor – carried a bag on her back with some medicine, a stethoscope, some medical books and a change of clothing. During the daytime they hid and tried to sleep.

Barn transformed When she got to Thailand, Cynthia immediately started to help other refugees who were suffering from malaria, infections, broken legs and lung inflammations. She boiled her instruments in a rice cooker to sterilise them.

Cynthia started to receive patients in an old barn. She thought that she’d soon be able to return to a free Burma. But today, nearly 20 years later, the situation in Burma is no better. During that time the Mae Tao Clinic, as Doctor Cynthia’s clinic is now called, has grown and new buildings surround the old barn.

“In Burma, the healthcare system doesn’t work.

Children and adults suffer

7

4

2

3

5

6 19

➼

Threats to the rights of the child The most common illnesses for the children in Burma are malaria, diarrhoea and respiratory infections. Each day, many children receive treatment at the Mae Tao clinic. But there are even more grave dangers that threaten children from Burma, says Cynthia: • Children are kidnapped and forced into child labour or prostitution.

• Children are forced to work for the army, as porters or child soldiers.

• Children who are born “do not exist”. Since they are not registered at birth, it becomes difficult for them to go to school, get healthcare or move around the country later in life.

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN PHOTOS : : TOR A MÅRTENS

➼

and don’t receive any help.

That’s why we’re always trying to make the clinic bigger and better. When freedom comes to Burma and we can return, we’ll know from our experiences here how to organise healthcare services and treatment,” says Cynthia.

The Mae Tao Clinic treats hundreds of patients every day. The clinic also trains medics and healthcare workers who then return to their villages in Burma or to refugee camps in Thailand to work. Hundreds of backpack medics are also sent to Burma from the clinic. They take medicine with them, train people in the villages and offer medical treatment.

Children are the key Cynthia’s goal is to see Burma become a better country to live in. The most important part of that work is children, and they are a constant presence in

8 20

Cynthia’s life.

She gives breakfast to her own six children, four of whom are adopted, and other children who live in her home temporarily. When the children have gone to school – which is run by Cynthia’s clinic – she starts work at the clinic.

“We must give the children a chance to make a difference. They are the key to Burma’s future. Respecting the rights of the child, democracy and cooperation between different ethnic groups – all of this is difficult. We must train people to live in freedom,” she says.

Cynthia started the clinic to help children and adults, refugees and immigrants from Burma. But some medicine and a bandage isn’t enough to make people healthy, she says – they need education, safety and love. 

Celebrating Environment Day Once a year on the 5th of June, the children at Dr Cynthia’s clinic and schools celebrate Environment Day. But Moon Shine, 15, thinks about the environment all year round.

“On Environment Day we planted a tree and cleaned up the whole schoolyard, getting rid of weeds and brushwood. Then we celebrated with fried noodles and coffee. I wish we had a garden with flowers – that would make the school look much prettier.”

“In Burma nobody takes our rubbish and waste

away. And there’s no good system for sewage either.

Dirty puddles of water are perfect for mosquitoes.

And mosquitoes spread malaria, dengue fever and other life-threatening diseases. Children in Burma and in the refugee camps often fall ill. Of course I want to live in beautiful natural surroundings, but most of all I want to have a clean, healthy environment that people can live in safely.”

Kidnapped slave loves mother’s

ghost story Dwey Myo Aung, 12, has hardly any memories of his mother. That’s why he likes the ghost story she told him when he was little, before he was kidnapped…

W

hen Dwey Myo Aun was eight, he was kidnapped by a man on the street near his home in Burma. He was taken in a lorry to the border town of Mae Sot in Thailand, where Dr Cynthia’s clinic is. He was forced to gather rubbish on the streets. Every evening he got one meal from his ‘owner’. He was a rubbishcollecting slave.

Dwey Myo Aung worked on the streets every day for three years, until one day when he was saved by a taxi driver. He had driven past Dwey Myo Aung on his motorcycle taxi so many times, and realised that something was wrong. He drove Dwey Myo Aung to an organisation called SAW

that helps children and works with Dr Cynthia.

Dwey Myo Aung does not remember where he is from and SAW has not managed to find his parents. That’s why he is now living with the organisation and going to a SAW school. But he remembers his mum’s ghost story and loves telling it: “I’m really scared of ghosts. My mum once pointed to a big tree, right outside my home town, where she had seen a ghost-spirit, called a nat.

Sometimes at dusk the tree-spirit began to whisper and then scream: Oooo! If a chicken or duck from the garden happened to wander

Three friends – three religions Every morning, the children at Dr Cynthia’s school start their day by praying for two minutes. Christians, Buddhists and Muslims attend the school, and all are allowed to pray in their own way.

“When we’re playing and having fun we never think about what religion our friend practices. We are all friends,” says May Zin Soe. “Of course we have discussions and tease each other playfully, but all religions have the same basic principles,” says Myo Myint Aungo

Myo Myint Aungo, 16 Religion: Buddhist.

Important days: Going to the monastery to meditate and lighting candles beside the statue of Buddha every Friday, which is the day when I was born. At every full moon I take food to the monks.

Important things: Prayer beads, a bracelet that is meant to protect from problems and spirits.

Important event: When I was nine I was a monk for two weeks. I lived with the monks and learned about Buddhism.

Way of praying: I meditate, close my eyes and control my heart and my thoughts.

into the shadow of the tree just then, it would disappear!

All that was left was a pile of feathers.

One evening at dusk my mum walked past the tree, and suddenly she saw the ghost. It had a white, transparent face, pointy teeth and a horn on its forehead. The ghost-spirit didn’t have any legs. Instead it floated above the ground with a white snake-like tail twisting behind it. Mum went cold inside. She began to run, but whatever way she ran she was met by the ghost and its evil

Si Blu, 15

May Zin Soe, 12

Religion: Christian.

Important days: Going to church every Sunday and taking communion.

Christmas Day is the most important day of the year. We celebrate at church with bread, rice and curry.

Important things: The Bible translated to Karen and the hymnbook.

Important event: When I was baptised.

Way of praying: I clasp my hands, close my eyes and pray.

laughter. Eventually she fell down to the ground, exhausted. The ghost was right above her, but with a last effort she began to read one of the Buddha’s mantras. And the ghost disappeared! Shaking and with big, round eyes, mum crept back to the house.

Every week since then she has left a little bit of rice or maybe a flower beside the tree, so that the ghost-spirit will be kind.”

Religion: Muslim.

Important days: Every Friday all the boys go to the mosque. I wish the girls were allowed to go to, but we stay at home and pray. The end of Ramadan is the most important time of year.

Important things: The Koran and my headscarf.

Way of praying: I pray by going down on my knees on my prayer mat, fi ve times a day.

Health sweeties!

To That Zin Oo, 10, it´s party time when Dr Cynthia’s health team arrive at his school.

“We get vitamin A tablets. I think they’re just like sweets, and I love sweets!

But vitamin A is also good for the eyes and the brain.

If you could buy them at the market, where they sell normal sweets, I’d buy vitamins instead. Each week

I get five baht pocket money from my mum. My best friend, Thein Ko Ko, doesn’t get any money, so we share it. We love orange sweeties!

21

Why are Htoo k’Paw and the other children fleeing?

Htoo k’Paw, 13

Htoo k’Paw curls up in the kitchen, under the window, with his brother.

Through the bamboo wall they see soldiers with rifles, looking for young boys to take with them.

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN PHOTOS : : TOR A MÅRTENS

H

too k’Paw is only a small, thin eightyear-old, so the soldiers won’t take him. But if the soldiers see his brother they’ll force him to carry heavy loads through dangerous conflict zones.

The brothers are very scared. They hold each other tightly until their mum comes into the kitchen and says: “The soldiers have gone now. We were lucky, but you have get away from here.”

The very next day they leave. Their mum has

22

packed two bundles of clothes and food. She cries and tells Htoo k’Paw to listen to his brother and to be good. Htoo k’Paw would rather have a hug, but his mum turns away.

They walk for two days along a narrow jungle path.

When they get to the border river, they wade across it with their bundles balanced on their heads. Finally they get a lift to the Mae Tao Clinic. There they meet Dr Cynthia.

“Come and stay with me for a few days,” she says.

For three days, Htoo k’Paw plays with the children at Dr Cynthia’s place.

Then it becomes clear that he is going to be able to live in one of Cynthia’s children’s homes, in a refugee camp south of the city. Htoo k’Paw is delighted, but also very nervous. His brother stays at the clinic to work, and Htoo k’Paw is alone for the first time.

Misses mum Htoo k’Paw has now been living in the refugee camp

Lives: In Dr Cynthia’s children’s home.

Misses: My brothers in Burma and my brother who works at the Mae Tao Clinic.

Likes: Playing football, swimming, playing in the jungle.

Dream: To be a basketball player.

for five years. Sometimes at night, when he’s lying in bed, he thinks about his mum in Burma.

“Then I get really sad, but I never tell anyone,” he says.

But he usually sneaks over to see his friend. They lie in the dark and whisper about the next football match and about going to their special place in the jungle outside the camp. Then things feel better. 

w

Hide the girls!

Nobleh Too, 16, and her four sisters fled from the soldiers who were always closing their school.

“My mum ran the school in our village. Every time soldiers came to the area the school got shut down. All the girls had to hide. We were terribly afraid that what happened to the girls in the next village would happen

to us. There the soldiers destroyed the school and raped the girls.”

“We were the richest family in the village, so we could bribe the soldiers with food and money. Mum didn’t want to leave the village, but she realised that we girls couldn’t be safe or go to school if we stayed.”

Heart stopped Mu Soe, 14, and her family are not refugees. They are migrants from Burma, who have come to Thailand to find work. Since Mu Soe came to Thailand she’s found friends and a new school – and a heart that just keeps beating!

“Ever since I was born I’ve had a heart defect. When I lived in Burma I couldn’t play and I felt really alone. My parents couldn’t afford to take me on the long journey to hospital.”

“When I was eight we moved to Thailand and I’m really happy here! Four times a year I visit Dr Cynthia’s clinic for treatment. I get medicine which makes my heart beat the way it should. I’m well enough to go to school and play, and I’ve made loads of friends.”

Then he’s promised that I’ll be able to come home.”

“If we don’t have democracy in Burma by the time I’m grown up, I’m going to be­­

When children and adults flee through the mountains to Thailand, they come across lots of tasty fruit. It’s a good way of getting extra energy for the journey.

Kyat Maout Thee

Ya Ngay Thee Banana

Wanted to stay and fight Ka Nay De, 16, lives at Dr Cynthia’s school in Mae Sot. His father was often arrested in Rangoon, Burma’s capital.

“My dad’s a member of the NLD, the party that fights for democracy in Burma. He’s been arrested many times.

Mum is a member of the women’s organisation and I’m in the NLD youth wing.

I didn’t want to come here.

I wanted to stay in Burma and fight for democracy.

But dad said I should go to school here and learn lots.

Fruit for the road

come a politician like Aung San Suu Kyi. But if we have democracy I want to become a computing teacher.”

Durian

Pineapple

The Hero Aung San Suu Kyi is Ka Nay De’s hero. She’s the leader of the NLD, the National League for Democracy. Her party won Burma’s only democratic election, which was held in 1990. But she never got to lead the country. Instead she was put under house arrest by the military junta. House arrest is like being in jail, but in your own home. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

23

Po Chit loves school …

Burmese soldiers shot at Po Chit’s family with rifles when they fled across the border river from Burma to Thailand seven years ago.

But tonight it’s the Thai police that have the family scared…

J

Po Chit, 14

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN photos : TOR A MÅRTENS

Idol: Tun Tun, the Burmese rapper.

Wants to be: An engineer, so I can build cars.

Hobbies: Kickball, badminton, cycling, fishing and boules.

Misses: Favourite tree with liana vines in the village where I grew up.

Loves: My friends in school.

Hates: Drugs.

Po Chit’s favourite sweets.

24

ust before closing time, the police came to the factory where Po Chit’s big sister works. All the workers from Burma were arrested. They’re not allowed to work in Thai­ land, and now Po Chit’s sister is being held in custody.

Back at home, Po Chit’s dinner is already cold, but he doesn’t want to eat it.

Not until his sister comes home. He has to wait late into the night before she does. The owner of the factory has paid a fee to the police and promised to get work permits for all of his workers.

Po Chit’s mother cries tears of relief, but she knows that the police could come back.

Escape to Thailand The journey from Po Chit’s village in Burma to Mae Sot in Thailand starts when he is seven years old. But at the time he doesn’t know that.

His mum has packed sleeping mats, clothes and food.

“We’re going to the monastery in the mountains,” she says.

They stay there for three days. Po Chit eats sweets that have been donated to the monks. But after that they don’t return home, continuing instead by bus to the Burmese border town of Myawaddy. They carry their bundles down towards the river.

“It’s unusually quiet on the streets,” says his mother’s friend, who has prom-

ised to guide them across the border river.

Suddenly they hear rifle shots. Burmese soldiers are firing. People stream through the narrow streets.

Po Chit’s mother takes their bundles of possessions in one hand and Po Chit’s sister in the other. The guide carries Po Chit. Then they run, straight into the river!

Po Chit screams. He sees his sister disappear under the water, but his mum has a hold of her wrist and pulls her back up to the surface, again and again.

The firing continues as they crawl out of the river on the other side. They creep up the river bank and into a bamboo grove. They lie there, pressed to the ground, completely still. When they get up, Po Chit’s mum is limping and bleeding. She has injured her foot.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says, “now we’re going to see your dad. We’re in Thailand!”

Welcome to school Po Chit doesn’t remember his father, who has been working in Mae Sot since Po Chit was a baby. He is a construction worker and the whole family is going to live in a little room which his Thai boss owns.

Po Chit’s mum really wants him to start school.

But how? None of them speak Thai. What’s more, they have neither the right

papers nor the money to pay school fees. Instead, Po Chit has to go with his mum to the bean processing plant.

From early in the morning, he sits with a small knife and makes small cuts in yellow beans. It’s easy to cut yourself and he often has cuts on his fingers that never seem to heal.

… and fishing One day Po Chit’s friend Thein asks him: “Don’t you want to come to school with me?”

“Yes, I’d love to. But what if the teachers get angry with me?” answers Po Chit.

That night, Po Chit decides.

In the morning he says goodbye to his mum without telling her where he’s going. Then he goes with

Thein to Dr Cynthia’s school.

“Of course you can start school here, but you must bring your parents here first,” says the teacher, laughing.

Po Chit is delighted. That night, when he tells his parents, they laugh too. They

hug him and tell him that it really was clever of him to figure out a way to be able to go to school.

Scared of the police Now Po Chit is in the seventh grade. He’s the first one in his family who has learned to read and write.

The family has moved to a

In the afternoons, Po Chit, his brother and their friends usually play in the rice fields and swim in the stream. On the way home they pick vegetables for dinner.

Po Chit’s favourite place is under the neighbour’s house, with a giant teddy bear.

Po Chit loves bamboo hats from Burma.

25

Po Chit borrows his classmate Khun Lay Lay’s fishing crossbow to catch fish in the stream.

little house that has electricity. But it’s hard for Po Chit’s parents and sister to find jobs. Since they don’t have residence permits for Thailand, the police could arrest them at any time.

“I’m scared of the police. I often miss our home village in Burma, but we can’t go back there. There’s no work and we have nowhere to live.

But our life here is also hard.

We never have enough money,” says Po Chit.

“When I’m at school it’s easier to forget all our worries. I love science. I want to build cars or maybe become a teacher and teach other children from Burma.” 

Po Chit’s family in their new house with electricity and a TV.

26

Lesson with giggles Exciting, surprising and very giggly – that’s how it was when San Thaw Dar, 14, did a course about the body and your future family.

“It was a bit embarrassing. And exciting. But the nurses from the Mae Tao Clinic were really good at explaining, and we got to hear lots of things we had never heard before.

I went on the course along with two girls from my class, and we really tried to be serious and listen. But it was impossible! We had such fits of the giggles that we could hardly breathe!”

“We also learned about how to protect ourselves against diseases like HIV and AIDS. And that two children is the perfect number in a family, because then the parents can afford to send the children to school. But I’m never going to get married. In Burma and in the refugee camp I’ve seen lots of adults fighting and being nasty to each other, so that has scared me off. I’m going to concentrate on school, and when I’m finished I want to become a teacher and work in a nursery.”

Po Chit’s fish curry Po Chit and his friends like fishing in the stream that flows past their houses. They use fishing rods or fishing crossbows. Po Chit’s family loves it when he has caught fish and makes his special fish curry.

1. Light the fire in the kitchen.

2. Clean the fish.

3. Crush garlic in a mortar, mix with chopped onion and red chilli.

4. Heat up bean oil in a pan, then add the onion mix, curry spices, sweet spice mix, ginger and salt.

5. Put the fish and vegetables into the pan.

6. Finish off with green curry spices.

7. Enjoy!

Fewer children in school Fifteen years ago, almost all children in Burma – 98 per cent – started school.

Now only 84 per cent of children start school. By the time the children get to fifth grade, almost half of the pupils have stopped going to school. It is often children from minority groups living in the country­ side and the mountains that can’t or aren’t allowed to go to school.

Over the river There are four different ways to get across the border river between Burma and Thailand. To walk over the bridge, you need approved papers from both Burma and Thailand. Going by boat costs 50 baht (US$1.30) Crossing in a giant rubber ring costs four baht – about 10 US cents. You can also swim across with your clothes and belongings on your head.

The river guide Khat Htun Aung, 17, has a giant rubber ring. He uses it to take children and adults over the river between Burma and Thailand.

That’s the cheapest way to get over the border while keeping your feet dry. Six times a day, he lies down across the ring and paddles across using his hands.

“In the rainy season, the water is high and currents are dangerous,” he says.

Khat earns 80 baht, just over $2, every day. He gives half of that to the man who owns the rubber ring. He uses the rest to buy food and anything else he needs.

27

The children who have fled Burma love getting dressed up. There are many people groups in Burma and each one has its own traditional dress.

The different groups in Burma are isolated from each other. The roads are poor and it is difficult to get past the military roadblocks.

But in exile, outside Burma, all the people groups can meet and all the children are proud to be able to show off their unique traditional clothes.

Burma’s w

CHIN Cho Mar Oo, 14, and Khun San Win, 15.

The tie is part of the Chin boys’ traditional dress.

BURMA Than Dar Myint, 13, and Pyit Pyo Aung, 15.

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN PHOTOS : : TOR A MÅRTENS

KA CHIN Say K’Bla Moo, 12, and Mg Hla Win Kying, 16.

The Burmese traditional dress is the only one which has special shoes.

The Burmese shawl is made of crochet lace and worn with a fine brooch.

MON Htoo Htoo Eh, 12, and Saw Si Blut, 14.

The Jewel People The Ka Chin group are said to be rich in diamonds, silver and jade.

That’s why the silver sword is a natural part of their traditional dress.

Legwarmers The Ka Chin girls have cool legwarmers.

KA YAH Yon Htight Ei, 14, and Khun Wai Hein, 15.

Ka Yah people are sometimes called “Kareni” or Red Karen people.

Ka Yah girls wear a red mantle.

28

SKAW KAREN Spring Song, 12, and Kauns Htet Ko Ko, 12.

PO KAREN Htet Htet, 12, and A Ket, 13.

The Karen people like plaits, tassels and embroidery.

s wardrobe Bamboo dance!

RA KHAING Oh Moo, 14, and Lar Eh Gay, 13.

Ra Khaing is one of the groups where the boys wear a lungi, and kind of wrap skirt.

The girls’ wrap skirt is called a sarong.

To dance the bamboo dance you need eight dancers, twelve bamboo drummers and twelve bamboo poles. The drummers hit the bamboo poles together, creating a rhythm and a pattern of squares on the ground, where the dancers jump. But if they don’t take care they get their feet caught! Watch the bamboo dance at www.childrensworld.org.

SHAN Cho Mar Win, 13, and Yan Naing Soe, 14.

The Shan girls’ headgear has two small wings.

DA WER Ei Mon Son, 13, and Pyit Pyo Win, 13.

PO-O Hling Hling Moe, 13, and Po Chit, 14.

The Po-O turban is made from a towel.

PA LAUNG Than Than Oo, 13, and S’Eh Thau, 14.

LA HU Moe Zar, 14, and ’Sin Lin, 14.

The Pa Laung girls have the most brightly-coloured clothing with lots of jewellery and beads.

The La Hu dress uses lots of silver jewellery and brightly coloured tassels.

29

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN phOTOs : TOR A MÅRTENS

Htoo Htoo exists!

Finally – a birth certificate!

Htoo Htoo and his mum are delighted that he can start school now. “I wish that all parents made sure their children got an ID card,” says Htoo Htoo.

The children who wait in the queue with their parents for a birth certificate are usually only a week old.

But today, Htoo Htoo, 9, is also getting a birth certi­ ficate, which shows that he actually exists.

H

too Htoo watches with a serious face as the doctor fills in the form. The doctor describes a visible blood vessel in his face, his eye colour and other details of his appearance.

Then Htoo Htoo has to make foot and hand prints.

When everything is finished,

he gets a newly laminated ID card.

“Now I can start at a Thai school! When I grow up I’m going to be a doctor and help children and animals.”

Both his parents fled Burma when the government soldiers attacked their village. Htoo Htoo was born

in a refugee camp in Thai­ land. Like many other children from Burma, he never got a birth certificate when he was born.

Children who are not registered are often called “the children who don’t exist”.

Without a birth certificate, they can’t start school, apply for citizenship, get a passport or demand their rights.

That’s why Dr Cynthia has started to issue birth certificates. This is mostly for the children born at her clinic, but every Saturday the registration desk is open to all children. 

A day in the life of the Mae Tao Clinic Noi Yi Win, 12, and her family have come all the way from Burma to the Mae Tao Clinic. She is healthy, but her brother Bo Bo, 3, has a heart defect, and her sister Moi San Dar, 8, has malaria.

06.30 Noi Yi Win wakes up when the sun rises.

At the clinic the family sleep under a mosquito net, but at home they don’t have one. Mosquito bites at night carry the highest risk of malaria, and without a mosquito net the children catch malaria again and again.

06.30

30

10.15

10.15 Noi Yi Win is reponsible for washing the family’s clothes and collecting food.

She has more or less the same chores when the family is at home. She doesn’t go to school. Instead she looks after her younger siblings while their parents work making charcoal.

“I wish I could read. Mum is trying to teach me. There’s

Cynthia Maung with a tiny baby and its new birth certificate.

Fingerprints and footprints show that Htoo Htoo really exists...

no school in my village and I don’t want to leave my family,” says Noi Yi Win. 13.45 The doctor examines Bo Bo. Soon he’s going to Thailand’s second biggest city, Chiang Mai, for an operation. It costs several hundred dollars and Dr Cynthia’s clinic is arranging a hospital bed and paying for the operation. That’s lucky, because Noi Yi Win’s mum only has one dollar with her.

13.45

Jewellery for her eyes Last year Kin San Win, 14, always had to sit in the front row in the classroom. Even then she could hardly read what the teacher wrote on the board.

“Now I see everything really clearly, wherever I sit!” says Kin San Win. Although she can see much better with the glasses

she got at the Mae Tao Clinic, she doesn’t like to wear them in her free time.

“They’re too big and stick out behind my ears, but they were the only ones they had.

I’d love a pair of glasses with a beautiful fine gold frame.

That would be like having a piece of jewellery.”

Comic against malaria The Mae Tao Clinic has printed comics which the children read in the wait­ ing room. They are all about how to avoid malar­ ia and other common ill­ nesses.

15.10

15.10 Noi Yi Win has been tired the last few days. The doctor sends her to have tests done to see if she too has malaria. She gets pricked in the finger, but luckily enough the test shows that she doesn’t have malaria.

18.50 If her brother and sister feel up to it, Noi Yi Win will take them to the clinic playground.

18.50

Big and strong thanks to vitamins Many of the children who visit the Mae Tao Clinic get small bags with vitamin A, vitamin B and iron tablets.

The children need these vitamins to grow and become strong.

Superhero in plaster!

One day when Maung Han Sein, 12, is playing with his little nephew, he gets the idea of balancing on the railing around the open room in their house. The baby laughs and Maung Han Sein imagines he’s a superhero who can climb walls.

But suddenly he loses his balance and falls straight down onto the ground.

His arm is broken!

At the Mae Tao Clinic, the doctors insert two metal pieces into his elbow so that it heals in the right way. For two months, Maung Han Sein has to go to the clinic to have his bandage changed. “Now it’s not sore any more, but I have to be careful when playing. Sometimes I forget all about my arm and just play,” says Maung Han Sein.

31

Myo Myit Aungo loves playing football and is a talented forward.

Myo Myit Aungo

guards the school Every evening, Myo Myit Aungo takes his slingshot and torch and patrols around the CDC school. No thief, stray dog or snake gets past him.

D

uring the day, Myo Myit Aungo is in sixth grade at Dr Cynthia’s school, the CDC School.

Then, when the other pupils disappear off on the school bus, the school becomes home to him and 25 other boys. His task is to guard the school.

“Sometimes it’s scary. I’ve come across thieves a few times, trying to take the furniture from the schoolyard.

Each time I shout and shoot stones at the thief to make sure nothing is stolen.”

Two years have passed since he asked the rector for permission to move in to the

school. His parents had threatened to send him to Bangkok to work.

“I was so afraid that he would say no and that I wouldn’t be allowed to go to school. But he said yes!”

The CDC team has won lots

of tournaments against the other migrant schools in the border area.

Can’t be called a school Dr Cynthia started the CDC School because lots of children from Burma didn’t have a school they could go to.

But since it is in Thailand and isn’t part of the Thai education system, it cannot be called a school. Instead it is called a ‘Child Development Center’. Around 500 pupils attend the CDC School, and about 200 pupils go to the newly-built high school, the ‘Student Learning Center’.

The 1­2­3­4 game At lunchtime the CDC schoolyard is chaotic. Many of the pupils live far away from each other, and can only play together in their lunch breaks.

One popular game is the 1-2-3-4 game. Normal elastic bands are joined together to form a long elastic string.

Two people act as posts and 32

The high-jumper. Yamon Soe, 12, is one of the best in the school at the 1-2-3-4 game.

start by holding the string round their calves, then their knees, thighs, stomachs, chests, necks, ears and above their heads. The six “jumpers” have to clear the highest level they can.

At www.childrensworld.org you can learn more of the CDC students’ games: The three house game, the stone game and chin khat or kickball.

Kick the bamboo ball!

Chin Khat or kickball is very popular among the boys at Dr Cynthia’s school. Hay Tha, 12, usually plays during break times.

“But I have to be careful not to get my clothes dirty.

Then my parents get angry,” he says.

The ball for kickball is made of bamboo and is hard and hollow. The idea is to keep it in the air as long as possible using your feet, knees and head.

There are as many languages as there are ethnic groups in Burma. In Dr Cynthia’s school, many of the children speak Karen, but not all of them. The pupils at the school speak over 20 different languages. The common language in Burma is Burmese, so that is the language everyone uses during lessons.

You can learn to count to ten in Karen and Burmese at www.childrensworld.org.

Speak Karen and Burmese

Hi

Yes

No

Thank you

Goodbye

What’s your name?

How old are you?

Mum

Dad

Brother

Sister

Karen Ought may we lee yar May Ta may ba Tar balu Tar tar Na mee dee lae?

Na tha oh sar lee lae?

Moe moe Pa pa Kyaw kyaw Naw naw

Burmese Mingalabar Hope kaet Ma pee they boo Ce zu beh Tar tar Na mae bae loe kaw lae?

Ah that bae laut she bee lae?

May may Pay pay Ko ko Ma ma

Htay was a domestic slave The most dangerous thing for a child is not to be able to go to school, believes Dr Cynthia, because then they can easily fall victim to kidnapping, trafficking and dangerous child labour.” Htay Htay Khaing, 16, knows what can happen.

W

hen Htay Htay Khaing was 11, her mother sold her to a man in Rangoon, the capital of Burma. She slept on a rug in the kitchen and was forced to clean, cook, wash clothes and do errands. She was often hungry, because all she got to eat was the leftovers from the family dinner.

At first she asked to be

The sabae flower

allowed to go home.

“If you run away from here I will kill both of your parents,” the man said.

After that, Htay Htay Khaing never dared to speak about her family or ask to go home again.

After a few years, the man was forced to escape to Thailand, and he took Htay Htay Khaing with him.

Htay Htay Khaing loves to put hair clips and flowers in her hair. She was never allowed to do that when she was forced to work as a domestic slave.

English is computer language Lewis, 12, loves playing computer games. He plays every day, and he has become so good at it that the older boys in the school love to watch him play.

“But I can’t type Burmese characters on the computer, so English is our computer language. If I send an e-mail to a friend I always write in English, although we speak in Karen when we meet.”

When they arrived, he shaved all her hair off.

“Don’t even try to escape – now everyone can see you’re a domestic slave,” he said.

Htay Htay Khaing cried, but her shaved head became the thing that saved her. A woman from the organisation SAW, which Dr Cynthia supports, saw her and threatened to report the man to the police.

Since then, Htay Htay Khaing has been able to go to school, and her hair is growing long again.

“I want to have hair down to my waist, with ornaments in it,” she says.

Now she lives with other children who have also been rescued.

33

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN phOTOs : TOR A MÅRTENS

Which language do you speak?

Say k’Blar Moo is a mini b Say k’Blar Moo rubs the sleep from her eyes.

It is only four o’clock in the morning, but it’s important that they get going. The backpacks are packed. Now she’s going to the clinic in the jungle!

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN phOTOs : TOR A MÅRTENS

T

he backpack medics’ car picks up Say k’Blar Moo and her sister, brother and mum to drive them to the border river. Say k’Blar Moo is only twelve years old and isn’t a real backpack medic. Yet. But she plans to become one,

when she has finished school and university and knows all about how to heal diseases.

Right now she pretends to be a mini backpack medic. Just like the backpack medics, she boards a long boat at a secret place, to slip over the border from Thailand to Burma. On the other side, they begin the hike to the jungle clinic where her father works. They have to walk carefully. The guide knows a safe route, with no landmines. Say k’Blar Moo creeps along after him, stepping in his footprints.

Dangerous job It’s already the middle of the day and they take a break to eat lunch. Say k’Blar Moo longs to see her father. He is one of Dr Cynthia Maung’s backpack medics, and is

Animals that Say k’Blar Moo has come across in the jungle hospital: Squirrel Monkey Snake Elephant Tiger!

Jungle wardrobe Say k’Blar Moo doesn’t have special jungle clothes. It’s important that she and her family look exactly like normal villagers; otherwise it would be difficult for them to hide if they met soldiers.

34

When Say k’Blar Moo slips over the border to visit her dad in a temporary clinic in the jungle, she takes two changes of clothing, a torch and some potato and onion.

She always takes mosquito nets and blankets for the patients too.

“When I grow up I’m going to carry medicines too, just like the backpack medics,” she says.

responsible for all the backpack medic teams. When he’s out in the jungle, things are quiet at home. The only noise to be heard in the evenings is Say k’Blar Moo playing her piano.

When her dad is home, there are always lots of visitors. Although Say k’Blar

Moo has to help with cooking, cleaning and washing up for all the guests, she is happy. Her dad has an office in the basement where the backpack medics hold meetings. In the evenings she lies on her bed and listens.

“The situation is worse than ever…” she hears from the cellar.

Say k’Blar Moo knows that it is very dangerous to be a backpack medic. The

ni backpack medic Romel carries medicine along with two students who are going to be backpack medics. Many of the children who have grown up in Mae Sot want to become backpack medics, but Dr Cynthia says they must finish school first.

military would catch, torture and imprison her father and the others if they got the chance. They have already been shot at many times and have had to run for their lives. Despite all this, she dreams of becoming one of them.

“One day, I too will help children in Burma,” she promises herself in a whisper. “I’m going to give them food, health and hope.”

Ready for action!

Say k’Blar Moo loves visiting her father in the jungle clinic. Every time the school is on holiday, the family pack their backpacks. They take a few items of clothing for themselves, along with blankets and mosquito nets for the patients. Say k’Blar Moo is more than happy to carry them. She’s proud of being able to help.

The sun is setting over the

mountain tops when they finally reach the clinic in the jungle. Outside the simple bamboo building, Say k’Blar Moo gets a huge hug from her dad. Then she and her brother and sister start to tease each other and giggle.

Now they can finally relax.

In the evening she lies on a sleeping mat and listens to the noises of the jungle.

Splashing water, small lizards laughing, birds clicking their beaks.

She can’t wait until the morning. That’s when she’s going to watch the backpack medics treating patients, packing medicines and training villagers from all over the mountainside. Her father thinks that she is just playing, swimming and messing around. But mini backpack medic Say k’Blar Moo is ready for action! 

What is a back­ pack medic?

A backpack medic is a healthcare worker who helps people who have had to flee within Burma. There are no roads, hospitals or medicines. That’s why the backpack medics carry large, heavy backpacks full of medicine and equipment.

They slip across the border and hide from the army.

They hike through the jungle and look for villages where the people need help and medical care.

What is an IDP? IDP stands for “internally dis­ placed person”. That’s what internal refugees are called – people who have had to flee within the borders of their own country. There are around 150,000 internal refu­ gees in the border area between Burma and Thai­ land. Cynthia’s backpack medics are their only chance of receiving help and medical care.

Say k’Blar Moo, 12

When her dad is at home and Say k’Blar Moo is meant to be sleeping, she hears her father through the floor, discussing their dangerous missions with the other backpack medics.

Say k’Blar Moo likes playing piano, drawing and playing badminton.

Likes: Having my own room.

Scared of: My dad – a backpack medic – being caught by the military.

Hobby: Playing piano, drawing and playing badminton.

Wants to be: A doctor.

Dream: To work as a backpack medic and help children in Burma.

35

A hospital in a back The backpack medics have to take everything they need in a backpack.

Each team is made up of five backpack medics. But they can’t carry everything on their own, so in every village they are met by volunteers who want to help carry things. The mobile hospital can be carried in...

...a backpack

In the children’s department of the backpack you will find... … a plastic bag … a basket

clamp for newborn babies’ umbilical cords plastic gloves cotton wool

… or a lungi iron tablets

mucus extractor

“The children save the village” R

omel was there when Cynthia called the very first meeting for backpack medics. Since then, he has slipped over the border to Burma many times to help children and villagers deep in the jungle.

36

“We help people who are ill, but perhaps the most important work we do is in the schools. We teach children the importance of things like clean water, good toilets and mosquito nets.

And we give out vitamins,”

says Romel.

“We teach the children, and then they teach their parents. In this way, the children are the saviours of the whole village.”

Besides medicine and information, the backpack

medics also bring playful activities. In every village where they set up a temporary clinic, they also organise football matches, volleyball tournaments, dances and plays.

ckpack measuring tape

Backpack medics saved Pwe Hser vitamins A and B

posters for schools

“When I lived with my aunt in Burma I got malaria.

It felt as though my head was going to explode.

Everything was spinning – the house, the walls, the floor and the ceiling. One second I thought I was going to burn up, the next second I thought I was going to freeze to death.

I lay on the bamboo floor we didn’t have sleeping mats or a mosquito net.

I hardly noticed when the backpack medics turned up at the door. They used to visit our village about twice a year, but this was the first time I really needed them. They took blood tests and listened to my heart, and then I got some medicine.

A week or so later, I went to the backpack medics’ jungle clinic with my aunt. I was to get more medicine.

When we arrived, one of the backpack medics said that I should go to Thailand so that I could go to school.

I was angry at first when my

aunt wanted to send me away, but here in the refugee camp I get to go to school for the first time! I like learning new things and being with my friends much more than wearing myself out on the rice fields.”

Pwe Hser, 15 Lives: In Umpium refugee camp in Thailand.

Misses: My three brothers in Burma.

Loves: Going to school.

Hates: Soldiers.

Dream: To return to Burma and work as a translator.

37

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN phOTO : TOR A MÅRTENS

tor

fever thermometer

Pan Thint sar in bamboo jungle ambulance When Pan Thint sar was nine, she was finally on her way back to her home village in Burma. she could see the roofs of the houses, the play­ ground and the cows grazing. But suddenly the path on which she was walking blew up. she had stepped on a landmine.

P

an Thint Sar’s little home village is situated on a mountainside in Burma. The houses have bamboo walls and roofs made from large leaves. She

Pan Thint Sar, 14 Loves: Brothers Pi Oo, 11 and Bo Bo, 8.

Hates: When people tease others or talk behind their backs.

Misses: Mum, who works in Bangkok.

Looks up to: Dr Cynthia.

Likes: Weaving.

Would like: A new, less bulky artifi cial leg.

remembers how she used to play shop, selling sand curry and stone fish. Sometimes she would go out to the rice fields with her parents to gather small shrimps for dinner.

One day when Pan Thint Sar was five, her mother said, “You have to go to Bangkok in Thailand and work. Your aunt needs a nanny.”

Pan Thint Sar didn’t want to go, but she knew that almost all the children from the village went to Thailand to work. Although most of them were older than she was when they went.

In Bangkok, Pan Thint Sar took care of her little cousin, from early in the morning until they both fell asleep at night. Sometimes they played at being a family. She cuddled her cousin and pretended that it was her own

mum who was holding her.

One day, after four years, Pan Thint Sar’s mother came to get her. Finally, she was going to visit her home village!

The journey home It is a long journey. First travelling by train, car and boat to Burma, and then a long hike through the jungle. When they see the village, they have been walking all day. Pan Thint Sar can’t wait any longer. She wants to get there now! She starts to run along the path, past her mother.

Then it happens. A landmine explodes when Pan Thint Sar steps on it. She hears a deafening noise and then everything goes dark. It feels as though she is lying under red water, and she hears voices far away. The villagers lift her up and car-

Tana­ka!

The children from Burma use tana­ka to cool their faces when the weather is warm and to protect their skin from the sun. And because it looks good! Pan Thint sar rubs a bit of tana­ka wood against a round grindstone. The powder which is created is then mixed with water to make a cream. Which style do you like?

38

The jungle ambulance There are neither roads nor cars in the jungle. That’s why the villagers carried Pan Thint Sar in a hammock when she lost her leg to a landmine. This is how all people who are too ill to walk are carried through the jungle.

from the trunk. Pan Thint Sar lies in the hammock and they carry her all the way back to Thailand. She sees the sky and treetops floating past above her.

Can’t be saved Doctor Cynthia receives Pan Thint Sar at the Mae Tao Clinic. She cuts off the broken, burnt skin on her foot.

But the corrosive contents of the landmine have damaged her whole leg. Cynthia ties a strap tightly around Pan Thint Sar’s thigh and says,

“You must go to the Thai hospital, where they can operate on you. I’ll come with you.”

But her leg can’t be saved.

When Pan Thint Sar wakes up she sees that she only has a little bit of her thigh left.

She can’t stop crying all day.

“I’ll never be a normal child again. Mum, why did you bring me back to Burma?” she shouts.

Cynthia sits with her all night.

“I understand that you are sad. But don’t say that to

your mother – it’s not her fault,” says Cynthia.

Pan Thint Sar is in the Thai hospital for two months. But one morning, her mother carries her out to a taxi bus and says, “To the Mae Tao Clinic”.

When they get there, it is Cynthia who changes her bandage.

One day, Pan Thint Sar’s mum says she is going to Thailand to work.

 TEXT: JOHANNA HALLIN PHOTOS : TOR A MÅRTENS

ry her to the village by a different route. No-one dares to walk on the path.

They stay in the village for one night. Pan Thint Sar’s foot is badly damaged and won’t stop bleeding. One of the monks in the village gives her new blood – a blood transfusion. He knows what to do because he has done a healthcare training course at Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic.

The next day, the villagers chop down a bamboo tree and hang a green hammock

39

When Pa Oo eats the last mouthful of her ice cream, she sees four hearts on the ice cream stick. That means that she has won another ice cream!

Good night!

Pan Thint Sar and her best friend Pa Oo, 13, take the short walk to their younger brothers’ school to buy chewing gum in their lunch break.

“But you have to stay. You can get an education here.”

Pan Thint Sar becomes sad, scared and angry. She is still angry when her mother boards the bus to Bangkok.

That was the last time she saw her mother.

Clever in school Pan Thint Sar sleeps in a dormitory with 23 other girls. Every day she takes the school bus to school, where her two brothers stay in a dormitory for boys.

Pan Thint Sar is ten when she goes to school for the first time. She is shy, and it is confusing to learn to read, write and count. But Pan Thint Sar does homework for one hour every morning and two hours every

Pan Thint Sar’s favourite chewing gum.

evening. Soon she catches up with her schoolmates.

After the first year, the teachers put up a list with the names of all the pupils.

Pan Thint Sar wants to see where she is on the list.

“What? Did I only get one point? But I’ve fought so hard,” she says to her best friend Pa Oo. “No, silly,” says Pa Oo, “you’re number one. You’re the best in the class!”

department have lost a leg or a foot.

When the artificial leg is finished, Pan Thint Sar has to learn to walk with it. It is painful and difficult, but soon she can leave her crutches at home when she goes to school.

Pan Thint Sar has been able to skip several grades.

Now she’s in seventh grade at Cynthia’s newly-built high school. She has her third prosthetic leg and

Gets her artificial leg One year later, Pan Thint Sar gets her first artificial leg. She tries it out at the Mae Tao Clinic. The technicians who make a plaster cast of her stump are very clever. Almost all the people who work in the prosthetics

Every Saturday, Pan Thint Sar brings our her weaving stool.

She loves weaving the way it’s done in her home village in Karen State in Burma.

Pan Thint Sar has woven a Burmese schoolbag and a shawl.

40

“Nar Ler Gay,” says Pan Thint Sar in Karen language. She lives with 23 other girls in the dormitory above Dr Cynthia’s nursery.

hopes to be able to get one made of light plastic one day. She always takes her wooden leg off as soon as she gets home.

“I still miss my mum, but I’m glad that I live here.

Here I can go to school and I don’t have to work. My dream is to go to university and become a doctor like Dr Cynthia! 

Forced to be child soldiers Burma’s government claims that they no longer allow children to become soldiers in Burma. But the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch says that between 35 and 45 percent of Burma’s army is made up of soldiers under the age of 18. This means that up to 70,000 children have been forced into becoming soldiers. Human Rights Watch says that the resistance groups also use around 7,000 child soldiers.