September 2007-- Nuan, a BRP neediest cases sponsored child, has one family member in her life—Ying, her older sister. Now 25 or 26 years old (she is unsure), Ying is originally from Gut Kiaw, a town outside of Roi Rem, a city in Shan State in Burma.

She lived 6 to 7 kilometers outside of the city center, where her neighbors were mostly Shan/Tai Yai people like her. Some people in her town were South Asians from Burma’s Arakan state. In her neighborhood, there were around 100 households, almost all of which she considered middle-class. They worked as rice and garlic farmers.

Although there were rarely Burmese soldiers in her immediate neighborhood, they were often in the surrounding areas. Ying says that there were many military junta training camps nearby, and that they often took villagers, especially those with indigenous “hilltribe” backgrounds, as forced laborers in the camp. Further, soldiers in the city center demanded 30% of all profits from crops sold in the market there. Although these were called “taxes,” they were known to line the pockets of local soldiers. Ying had also heard that soldiers routinely raped women in villages closer to the border, such as those surrounding a town called Hua Muang.

When she was 15, Ying’s mother passed away, and her father left the family and moved to another province. During the interview, Ying says that she had heard that Thailand had a benevolent King, that people lived in peace, and that they did not fear the ravages of civil war, as those in Burma did.

So Ying, at 15 or 16 years old, decided to give Thailand a try. She packed three outfits, dry food, and rice, and joined nine others from her village on a trek to Thailand. They first walked to Lankur, a border city on the Burmese side. This took one day. They then walked for 6 days through the jungle. At some point during their journey, Ying ran into Thai soldiers, who did not ask her for an ID. At the time, Thai soldiers were a lot less strict about Burmese refugees coming into the country. In fact, they even gave her rice to help her along the way.

Eventually, Ying’s group stumbled upon a village of Lisu (indigenous hilltribe) people in Thailand. She was not sure whether she really was in Thailand, however, because the Lisu people did not look Thai to

her, and because they spoke Shan. There, Ying and her fellow migrants worked for 5 to 6 days for money. Each earned around 500 baht (approximately $12). Before working for the Lisu (who are themselves considered a poor ethnic group within Thailand), Ying only had 500 Burmese jaht, or approximately 70 cents, with her.

Eventually, Ying found work at a restaurant in Maehongson Province and worked there long enough to garner an annual, renewable working permit. Less than a year later, she met Yo, another Shan migrant who had been living in Thailand for quite a while. They married and moved to his boss’s garden.

Ying states that life in Thailand is harder than what she had anticipated. Back in her Burmese village, she had heard of people moving to Thailand, where work was plentiful. When these came back to visit, “they looked like rich

people, and could buy bicycles or materials for a new house.” She notes that these people never told the villagers what kinds of jobs they held in Thailand, nor that so many worked as indentured servants there. Nevertheless, she notes that life is a bit more secure in Thailand. She does not feel as fearful of Thai soldiers or immigrant officials as she does of the military junta, and the prices of basic goods are not as volatile. If they are lucky, Ying states, her two-year-old son will not experience the vulnerability or fear she did growing up.