Mae La. 40,000+ refugees. Like a village. A VERY crowded village. No malaria today, at least not in the inpatient clinic. So I wandered around. Being discreet with my camera, as much as possible. Helps to have a mini-spy camera...
Found a group of kids who saw my camera, intrigued, they all came over. They had to pose. Of course they all got shy when I actually took the picture. But they loved being able to see themselves on the tiny screen afterwards. One day I will get round to buying a Polaroid camera, so I can actually GIVE them the pics (Or maybe carry a printer?).
Then I watched some kids play. They were playing a game with 'guns' made of sticks and rubber bands. A sort of guns/soldiers sort of thing: Ducking round the corners, hiding back, taking cover. The kid in the pic was my favourite (well, apart from the one who didn't have any gun, and just hung out by the clinic. He's in another pic. Biggest smile you’ve ever seen. I think we’re friends now.) THIS little guy, 5 years old maybe? Had feet like wind. The camp is on a steep hillside. The ground is uneven. Watching him run under the houses, taking cover behind a post, dashing behind a wall, negotiating the hilly bits, running barefoot, was more incredible than I have seen in most films. Oh, he was just a cute little kid to be sure (flashing the ever so charming smile), and me, being a kid magnet, couldn’t stop watching them (and they me). I watched them for ages, thinking "Kids! Having a blast!' Kid stuff yeah? Ah, no. Suddenly I felt strange. This was kind of creepy. I was watching a 'training session.' He was just *too good.* I no longer felt like I was watching innocent play. They were different. These weren't your typical suburban kids playing cops and robbers, Cowboys and Indians. That quickly became apparent. He had the look of a jungle fighter, his stance, his moves, running in a way I can't describe that made it so clear, this kid wasn't going to be a just a "soldier", but a true guerilla, a real jungle fighter with the KNLA*, and a high level one at that. If he lives that long....
Where does this 5 year old kid learn this? Yeah, every kid in the world plays with guns. But these aren't kids w/TV and movies. They don’t learn it from Hollywood. Given that half of their fathers are KNLA soldiers, it shouldn't be surprising.
Had drinks last night with my friend's brother, a KNLA general. "Dry Season Fighting on the border" continues as usual. Yeah, I'm safe, we don't even hear the shelling in Mae Sot. And Mae La is safe, after all, it was established because Shoklo was shelled, and security is high.** But it's taken so calmly – as when someone called to say they couldn't make an arranged meeting because "The fighting. I will have to transport some people to help. Will be there tomorrow instead." Calm and peaceful here.
It *is*. But I am reminded daily, that such is only on the surface. It's calm and peaceful for some of us, not for many others. Shelling and gunfire continues daily in the countryside. Far away from us in Mae Sot, but ever so close to others. And it will continue on, until that 5 year old is old enough to join in the fight. It's been going on for 50 years.It's not going to stop now.
*KNLA = Karen National Liberation Army
** That's not entirely true. As the camp houses high level KNU/KNLA people, Mae La has been the focus of occassional attacks. I noticed on the driver's board at SMRU later, in March, a note next to Mae La saying "Call before going for conditions." And it's not referring to weather....
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