Excerpt:
“…Hidden out of sight of the road and the authorities on both sides of the river, hundreds of displaced Karen villagers have set up small shelters on the Thai side of the border in dried-out channels cut by the floods of the wet season. The shelters are scattered and basic _ small built-up wooden platforms, torn coloured picnic mats spread under trees or split bamboo poles to form ground covering, roofed by dried leaves, faded strips of material or blue plastic sheeting…
Villagers flee violence, hide in the forest
The Back Pack Health Worker Team is an independent, non-profit organisation that has been delivering primary health care for over 13 years to people in conflict zones and rural areas deep inside Burma _ where access to health care is otherwise unavailable.
The organisation’s secretary, Mahn Mahn, explained that villagers close to the border fled their homes after the Burmese army moved into the area to wage waragainst factions of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
”There are at least 14 new battle sites and 21 hiding sites along both sides of the border and we have seven emergency Back Pack teams working with local community organisations to help 10,575 displaced people,” said Mahn Mahn, adding that 80 Back Pack teams of three to five medics offer medical services to 187,000 internally displaced people in eastern Burma . . . to read the full story in the Bangkok Post, please go to http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/health/225065/when-the-people-are-enemies-of-the-state