We work with a community of Shan refugees uprooted from Burma and struggling to thrive with dignity in northwestern Thailand. Many of those we have interviewed speak about getting caught in the crossfire of violent conflict back in Burma: The Burmese military junta forced boys and men to carry heavy weapons for them without food or pay, and they ordered some entire villages to flee before mass burnings. Meanwhile, Shan rebel soldiers (fighting the Burmese military junta) sometimes stopped by their villages at night demanding “taxes” and food. To flee starvation, severe repression, and war, many of the families in our community walked for 4 or 5 days through the jungle, carrying young children on their backs, to begin their new lives.

Some background on why half a million persons of Shan ethnicity have fled Burma, and what conditions are like for many of them in Thailand.