The wood and leaf-thatch sanctuary in the middle of a sugar field almost appears to be a safehouse.
But that is where Sanjay, 23, his choice of surname, and eight others have been hiding out since fleeing recruitment across the border in war-torn Myanmar.
They are now captives in Mae Sot, on Thailand’s northern border. A bunch of ducks, chickens, and many goats live in their primitive home.
Back apartment, I used to worry every day that they would recruit me for the military, Sanjay recalls. No one will come to harm me, yet though we have very little food below- simply rice and vegetables. I feel completely these in Thailand. “
A small, wet valley, no more than a torrent in the dry season, is all that separates Myanmar from Thailand.
Tens of thousands have eluded the area since the military coup of 2021, searching for health in Mae Sot, a frontier town in Thailand. Young people who have escaped the national conscription that has been implemented by Myanmar’s military leaders since February are the most recent arrivals. It applies to all men between the ages of 18 and 35. The legislation has caused a generation of young men to flee because the majority of the younger generation is fervently opposed to military rule.
Mae Sot has over the centuries become a troubled shelter for Burmese refugees fleeing. It resembles Casablanca in the well-known namesake film or Cold War Berlin in the exterior. It is a city full of emigrants, planning trend, waiting for asylum offers, generally wary of spies and informers, and living in a position of almost constant stress.
” I used to get a poor boy,” Sanjay says. ” I did whatever I liked. I always listened to my family. I was never interested in politics. “
His life, and thoughts, changed after the revolt when his daddy was jailed by the military, for helping the weight. But he did n’t consider leaving his house until his call-up papers arrived.
I had no intention of defending them against another Burmese citizens. “
When a coalition of rebels overran their foundations, lots of its soldiers were forced to give up. To the east of Myawaddy, reinforcements sent to try to recapture the city have been ambushed and buried in wooded hills.
The army is sorely lacking in volunteers due to a series of similar military defeats in recent months, including those in Rakhine State and Shan and Kachin States to the northeast. Thousands of soldiers have been killed, wounded, captured or have deserted.
Sanjay opposed being one of them. Therefore, his family assisted him in escaping and took him on the lengthy and risky bus journey to the border.
He was able to enter Thailand with his Myanmar ID cards, which included a two-week visa.
He has an uncle who is already supporting him in Mae Sot, but that has now passed.
But, when he travels into Mae Sot, he is forced to lay low in the fields, which puts him at risk of incarceration and deportation. But he has no worries.
Mae Sot is today a warren of safehouses, full streets accommodating mostly illegal immigrants. Some are well-established hostels, funded by international aid agencies. Some are improvised; In the main market, there are clear shophouses that are insulated with wood and plastic tarpaulins to create just the right amount of room for a family to sleep in.
In one of the better safehouses, is a family of five that had just arrived a week ago, carrying some clothing, a couple blankets, and nothing else, except their five year-old father’s favorite toy car.
When his military call-up documents arrived, the home made the decision to leave their house close to Yangon. The community is now 19 years old.
His parents said,” I could never take for my child to have to fight against other young gentlemen.”
They described a 15-day long, gruesome journey from Yangon through the Karen State rocks and then crossing the river at evening into Thailand. All of their benefits were consumed by the money and fees they were required to pay.
That night, the parents, a former railroad employer, had just been out trying to get a career. Mae Sot’s wages are frequently harrowingly lower, but he was able to find something.
For those who have fled Myanmar, the city serves as both a prison and a place of rest.
Thailand does not provide established shelter to those fleeing the conflict in Myanmar because it does not sign the UN Convention and Protocol on Refugees. Most of the defendants have few or no paperwork.
The Thai government mainly accepts the influx because Mae Sot is now almost totally Burmese and people have been crossing the border for decades. However, they are not permitted to travel outside it without paperwork. Wealth is a continuous problem; Although the police charge 300 baht ( £7,$ 9 ) per month for a card that is meant to stop people from being detained at checkpoints, many Burmese are still detained and forced to pay much higher fees for their release.
There are a lot of mental health issues, according to Nay Chi Win, the co-founder of Joy House, an impressive group center established last year to assist migrants in managing their stress and depression.
” We hear about a lot of death situations, or folks talking about death. They feel unnecessary. Again in Myanmar they might be an expert or a physician, but here they are asynchronous. They may continue their education. They don’t support their families. Often they stop caring about their existence, using drugs or alcohol. “
Sanjay has chosen to fight back across the border by following the example of many other young people. At least, he said, he did feel important. However, not all will tolerate the cruelties of battle. Four months of intensive training by the seasoned combatants of the Karen National Union are required to be accepted into one of the voluntary Women’s Defense Force units. Many do not produce the quality.
The helicopter squads are made up of a number of young men with technical backgrounds who are assisting in the construction, adaptation, and piloting of the drones, which are extremely important in the battle, dropping tiny explosives with pinpoint accuracy to destroy the morale of the soldiers.
” I miss my foot,” said the 27-year-old past PDF warrior, speaking in a Mae Sot back streets.
He was a former IT engineer who joined the opposition after the revolution but accidentally hit a landmine.
It was the right course of action, they said. “
His suggestion to review braves who want to play in the conflict is to consider their skills:” Being on a hit squad and fighting is not the most crucial factor. We need complex folks for our helicopter squads, and we need people to move abroad and do fund-raising. “
Thailand, Thailand, has acknowledged that the military regime in Myanmar may be crumbling and that it must prepare itself to deal with tens of thousands more coming over the boundary. It has for years claimed it can handle any overflow from the issue over the frontier as a localized matter between the militaries of the two countries.
Mae Sot has a more visible Thai military presence as a result of the fighting in Myawaddy.
They can be seen performing sentry duty along the river, gazing over the casinos and connoisseurs that have recently ravaged this region of Myanmar, the now insurgent-controlled border posts, and a few defeated Burmese soldiers who stayed for a few days on the opposite bank.
However, those who have just arrived in Mae Sot are still jubilating over the reminders of Myanmar’s conflict.
The father-of-three worries about education for his boys. Most of the Burmese language schools in Mae Sot charge fees, and undocumented Burmese cannot attend Thai schools. He and his wife want their son, who is now a doctor, to be able to study online.
But, he says, they are glad they left Myanmar.
” I have slept better than I have ever had since the coup,” I said last week. “
More on the civil war in Myanmar
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23 November 2023
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27 August 2023
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19 April 2023
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