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CONTINUING FEAR AND HUNGER
 
         Update on the Current Situation in Karenni
 
   An Independent Report By the Karen Human Rights Group
                May 25, 1999  /  KHRG #99-05
 
** PART 1 OF 2; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTING FOR PART 2 OF THIS REPORT **
 
A fuller version of this report, including an Interview Index and the texts
of the interviews themselves, is available on the KHRG website
(<http://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive>http://metalab.
unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive)
 
Note:  Some details omitted or replaced by 'XXXX' for Internet 
distribution.
 
Since mid-1996 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) 
military junta, now renamed as the State Peace & Development Council 
(SPDC), has forcibly relocated and destroyed over 200 villages covering 
at least half the geographic area of Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern 
Burma.  At least 20,000-30,000 people have been displaced, forced to 
move into military-controlled camps where many of them have been 
starving and dying of disease, or to flee into hiding in the forest where 
they face similar suffering as well as the possibility of being shot on sight 
by SLORC/SPDC patrols.  Some have escaped to Thailand but the vast 
majority are still struggling to survive in the relocation sites or in hiding 
in the forests near their destroyed villages.  There is no sign that their 
situation will improve anytime soon, as the SPDC continues its campaign 
aiming at the complete military control of Karenni State and the 
obliteration of all possibilities of resistance.
 
Immediately following the largest of wave of forced relocations in 
June/July 1996, about 3,000 people made their way to existing Karenni 
refugee camps in Thailand.  After the following few months of the rainy 
season another 1,300 arrived.  Since then there was only been a slow 
trickle of refugees coming into the camps, 1-3 families at a time.  In 
January 1998 some larger groups, consisting of 60 or 70 people, reached 
the camps.  Groups of this size came again in March of the same year.  
However, since January 1999 over 1,500 refugees have arrived in the 
Karenni refugee camps in Thailand.  The overwhelming reason for this 
sudden, large migration seems to be a shortage of food as a result of the 
unpredictable weather and inability to work farms out of fear of being shot 
or enslaved by the Burmese Army.  This report is based on interviews 
conducted by KHRG in March 1999 with some of these new arrivals.  
KHRG would also like to thank the Karenni National Progressive Party 
for their co-operation and help.  This report provides an update on the 
current situation in Karenni, which has been previously described in 
"Forced Relocation in Karenni" (KHRG #96-24, 15/7/96), "Update on 
Karenni Forced Relocations" (KHRG #97-01, 5/3/97) and "A Struggle 
Just to Survive" (KHRG #98-06, 12/6/98).
 
Throughout the interviews the villagers speak of having to do Loh Ah 
Pay.  This is term the Army uses throughout Burma when rounding up 
people for forced labour.  Loh Ah Pay translates as 'voluntary labour', 
however, when the Army is rounding people up there is nothing voluntary 
about the work they must do.  If they don't go for this 'voluntary labour' 
they are either required to pay money, beaten or jailed.
 
This report consists of a summary of the current situation supported by 
quotes from interviews, followed by the full text of the interviews.  All 
names of those interviewed have been changed and some details omitted 
where necessary to protect people.  False names are shown in quotes; all 
other names are real.  At the end of the report is a list of villages that
had 
been relocated as of 1997 and the relocation sites at that time.  The 
numbers which appear beside village names in the report correspond to 
the numbered dots on the map at the end of the report.
 

                           Abbreviations
 
SPDC State Peace & Development Council, military junta ruling Burma
SLORC State Law & Order Restoration Council, former name of the 
        SPDC until Nov. 1997
KNPP Karenni National Progressive Party, Karenni resistance force 
        fighting SPDC
KNPLF Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front, Karenni 
        resistance group which made a ceasefire deal with SLORC in 1994
KNLP Kayan New Land Party, Karenni resistance group which has a 
        ceasefire with SPDC 
KNDP Karenni National Democratic Party, political wing of the KNDA
KNDA Karenni National Democratic Army, armed group formed in 
        1996, reportedly by SLORC, which acts as a SLORC/SPDC 
        militia and proxy army
IB Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers 
        fighting strength
LIB Light Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 
        soldiers fighting strength
LID Light Infantry Division (SLORC/SPDC); one Division consists 
        of 10 LIB battalions
loh ah pay  Forced labour; literally it means traditional voluntary labour, 
        but not under SPDC
Kyat Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat at official rate, 350+ Kyat  at 
        current market rate
 

                  Summary of the Current Situation
 

"We couldn't build houses, we had to stay on the ground.  We cut leaves 
to lay down as a floor to sleep on and made a roof with some tarpaulin.  
It didn't rain but it was very cold.  We could only light a very small fire 
to warm ourselves because we were afraid that the fire would show the 
soldiers where we were.  The fire could only be the burning embers.  I 
had 4 children who were not well so they cried sometimes.  Any time the 
soldiers who were chasing us headed in our direction, I suffered in my 
heart a great deal because my children didn't know to be afraid.  Back 
when we were living in our hill village we had to run too, but the 
children only learned to be afraid of battle, they never learned to be 
afraid while we're fleeing. As parents we worried about them a lot.  We 
were always worried about the next time we would have to run.  
Sometimes I couldn't eat because of the anxiety.  When it was time to 
eat, I could only eat one or two mouthfuls of rice and then I didn't feel 
like eating anymore.  There were many troubles and a lot of suffering.  
When we first left to come to the refugee camp, the SPDC army tried to 
chase us and a battle occurred.  I heard the sounds of the weapons and 
was too afraid to run anywhere.  I hid in many different places in the 
area and the children were very noisy because they didn't understand 
the army troops would come to kill us.  We had to worry about them so it 
was difficult for me to eat and sleep.  We could see the houses burning 
in the old village, xxxx.  Where we were hiding was very close to where 
the SPDC soldiers were." - "Lu Mya" (F, 30), talking about running from 
SPDC patrols in the jungle around Shadaw (Interview 5).
 

Between April and July 1996, relocation orders were issued by the 
SLORC (renamed the SPDC in November 1997) to at least 182 villages in 
Karenni (Kayah) State.  The orders demand that the villagers move to 
military-controlled sites within 3-7 days.  The main reason for the 
gathering of the villagers into these relocation sites was to bring the 
civilian population under tight military control and to prevent the villagers 
from being able to provide any support to the Karenni National 
Progressive Party (KNPP).  The other resistance groups in Karenni, the 
Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), the Kayan New 
Land Party (KNLP) and the Shan Nationalities People's Liberation 
Organisation (SNPLO) have already made ceasefire agreements with the 
SLORC.  The KNPP, a notably larger and older resistance force than the 
others, made a ceasefire agreement with the SLORC in March 1995.  
However, the SLORC used the premise of the ceasefire to move its troops 
into offensive positions and then broke the ceasefire in June 1995 by 
launching an offensive against the KNPP.  By the end of March 1996 the 
SLORC had taken all of the main KNPP bases near the Thai border.  The 
KNPP reorganised and sent guerrilla columns throughout Karenni to 
disrupt SLORC forces, and the SLORC responded by commencing the 
mass forced relocations.  Fighting has been ongoing ever since, despite the 
false SLORC/SPDC claim that the KNPP surrendered in 1995 and that 
there has been no fighting in Karenni since then.  Currently the bulk of the 
fighting is located in the southeastern part of the state.
 
The villages affected by the forced relocations account for well over half 
of the geographic area of the State and are home to at least 20,000-30,000 
people.  The villagers were given no more than a week to move to sites 
specified by the army.  The written orders issued to the villages stated that 
after that week the villagers in those areas would be considered as enemy 
troops and would be shot on sight if spotted in their villages by 
SLORC/SPDC patrols.  Upon receiving the relocation orders many of the 
villagers fled into hiding in the jungle and some even made their way 
north to Shan State to find refuge.  The rest of the villagers had no choice 
but to go to the specified relocation sites.  Those who went to the 
relocation sites were unable to take anything more than their children and 
what they could carry on their backs during the often long walk through 
the jungle and hills to the sites.  Some of the sick and elderly had no 
choice but to remain in the villages because they were not physically able 
to make the journey to the relocation sites or flee into the jungle.  The 
SLORC troops, acting as they had promised, started sweeping the area 
with patrols shortly after the time for relocation had elapsed.  They 
systematically moved through the villages, taking anything of value that 
had been left behind and then burning what was left. Villagers coming 
from the areas around Shadaw and Mawchi relocation sites say that all of 
the villages have been destroyed in those areas and nothing is left.  The 
villagers caught remaining in the areas are either forced to the relocation 
sites or shot on sight.
 

"...They gave letters [to the villages] which said, 'If you are still not 
living in Shadaw by this date, we will regard you as our enemies when 
we come to clear the land.'  They really came!  They captured people in 
our village and then killed them.  They captured 5 people, all male, on 
the fields in an old village and killed 4 of them after 1 person ran and 
escaped.  The names of those killed were Ah Tun, Ker Reh, Moo Reh 
and Moo.  As for the Shan person, N---, who owned the field, he ran 
away and escaped before they could kill him..." - "Klaw Reh" (M, 45), 
speaking of when he was ordered to relocate to Shadaw (Interview 1).  
 

Although living in the jungle was fraught with problems associated with 
the danger of the patrols and finding food to eat, some people still tried to 
remain there, but many gave in to the order and moved to the relocation 
sites.  The relocation sites were scattered throughout the state at Shadaw, 
Ywathit, Mawchi, Pah Saung, Baw La Keh, Kay Lia, Mar Kraw She, Tee 
Po Kloh and Nwa La Bo.  As more villages were relocated, more sites 
such as Daw Dta Hay were created.  All were under complete control of 
the Army, usually located adjacent to new or existing Army bases.
 
Upon arriving at the relocation sites, the villagers were provided very
little 
in the way of food or land and nothing in the way of materials for 
constructing their new homes.  In several of the sites, including Shadaw 
and Mawchi, villagers report that they were given some rice during the 
first 3 months, though it was much less than what they required, and after 
that nothing else.  Shortly after arriving, the small amounts of rice the 
villagers had brought or been given were exhausted so they had to sell 
their belongings to get money to buy food at inflated prices from the 
Army-controlled shops.  The current situation is a result of people not 
being provided food for months or years, and given little opportunity to 
grow their own food.  
 

"...They gave us land to build a house on and I was able to build a house 
as big as this one [approximately 15 square meters].  At first, they also 
gave us some rice, one bowl of rice for each person for one month.  
There were 9 people in my family but they gave us 1.5 big tins [per 
month; about 24 kg / 53 lb] of rice.  They gave us rice for 3 months, as 
they did everyone, and then they never gave us any again." - "Doh Reh" 
(M, 53), speaking about what the villagers were provided when they first 
arrived at Shadaw relocation site (Interview 4).
 
"They gave us 2 bowls [about 4 kg / 8.8 lb] of rice per person per month 
for the first 3 months.  They only gave us rice, nothing else.  However, 
later, they didn't give us any so we had no food to eat.  At that time, it 
was only my mother, myself and my elder sister...When we finished the 
rice they gave us, we sold what we had to buy more food to eat.  
However, now we have nothing.  We couldn't do anything so we didn't 
want to stay there any longer.  We came here because we needed to get 
out of there." - "Say Mya" (F, 21), speaking about what the villagers were 
given when they first arrived at Nwa La Bo relocation site (Interview 7).
 

The only immediately available option to slowly starving to death in the 
relocation sites is to flee to the jungle where life can be even more 
difficult.  The perimeters of the relocation sites are largely left unguarded 
and the fences that the villagers are often forced to build are primarily 
around the army camps and not the actual relocation sites.  The troops are 
lax in securing the camp perimeters mainly because they realise that the 
villagers have no choice but to go and forage for food outside the camps.  
This opportunity is often used by the villagers to flee the relocation site 
and go into hiding in the jungle, usually near their old villages.  
 
This has been ongoing since the relocation sites were first established.  
Many villagers have reported that large numbers of people have already 
left the relocation sites in search of food and that the current populations 
of the relocation sites are much less than what they were originally.  
Shadaw relocation site reportedly had approximately 600-800 households 
in it after the bulk of the forced relocations, Nwa La Bo initially had 80-
100 households and Daw Dta Hay had approximately 120 households.  
The testimonies of villagers who have escaped and managed to find their 
way to the Thai border are saying that there are far fewer families in those 
sites now and many who are remaining are starving and need to find 
another alternative.  
 
However, the only alternative is to flee into the jungle and jungle life 
offers up many new problems.  Not only is food still a difficulty, but also 
the same problems of health care and education are greatly exacerbated 
while hiding in the jungle.  Army patrols sweeping out on "clean up" 
missions must be watched for at the cost of lives.  If the villagers are 
found in the jungle they are often killed immediately or abused first and 
then killed.  This often results in the villagers living in small groups of
1-4

families to be less detectable.  
 
A KNPP officer has informed KHRG that the military patrols that once 
swept regularly through the Mawchi area killing anything and anyone they 
saw have now been reduced to approximately one patrol every three 
months.  This reduction in the number of patrols may indicate that even 
the SPDC soldiers are aware that the people remaining in the jungle can 
only be few and hardly pose any threat.  According to the same KNPP 
source, these "mopping up" patrols are still going out on a weekly basis in 
the Shadaw area.  When patrols come near the villagers must quickly 
move to a new hiding place, so the villagers have to move a few times a 
month or even a few times a day depending on the number of patrols.  
Often when two groups of villagers see each other moving in the jungle 
they mistake each other for SPDC troops and flee in fear.   Even when 
they meet and talk, they sometimes do not dare share the location of their 
hiding places for fear that SPDC troops may capture and interrogate them.  
These factors make it difficult for villagers to get together or pool their 
resources, such as food and knowledge of escape routes, in any way.
 

"We couldn't work fields because they would come and shoot us dead 
when they saw us working on fields.  The 4 dead people I told you about 
before were killed when they saw them working in the fields.  You see!  
[His wife added:] If they don't see you while you are working on the 
farm they uproot all the paddy or burn it all.  Sometimes they collect 
paddy that has been harvested and burn it all." - "Klaw Reh" (M, 45) 
and his wife, describing the difficulty of farming for those hiding in the 
forest (Interview 1).
 
"...If the Burmese saw our footprints, they followed us so we had to hide 
in the bushes.  They always followed our footprints to kill us.  We never 
built houses and only prepared our beds to sleep.  We could only stay a 
few nights in each place because when the Burmese came near we had 
to run to another place.  We had to move from place to place so often 
that we can't count how many shelters we built each year.  If the 
Burmese saw our place we had to quickly move to another place." - 
"Maw Reh" (M, ~80), talking about the fear of SPDC patrols in the jungle 
around Shadaw (Interview 2).
 
"Sometimes, while we were moving from one hiding place to another, 
we came upon each other and ran away in fear.  We were afraid of each 
other because [each of us thought] the other was the Burmese [troops].  
When we meet each other we can't ask each other where we live because 
we are afraid and have to hide ourselves.  Even though we occasionally 
met other villagers while we were looking for food, we don't know each 
other's hiding places." - "Klaw Reh" (M, 45), describing the fear of the 
Army in the jungle around Shadaw and how that results in the villagers 
fearing one another (Interview 1).
 

Those in the jungle can produce little or no food because of the SPDC 
patrols and must rely mainly on what they can forage in the forest, and for 
those still in the relocation sites the situation is little better.  In the 
relocation sites, those who have been allowed to grow food must either do 
it outside of the site, which requires them getting a pass, or grow things 
such as corn in small gardens next to their houses, which is the case in 
Shadaw relocation site.  Villagers can pay the Army to obtain a plot of 
land to farm near the relocation site, though often part of their crop is 
taken by the Army.  Those who have arrived as refugees in Thailand have 
reported that the Army is taking half of the rice produced by villagers.  
 

"If there are four people in the family, we made a floor for four people 
to sleep on and made a roof with tarpaulin.  People who had no 
tarpaulin, they made their roof with leaves.  The situation wasn't good 
so we couldn't have large hillside fields and instead had to make small 
fields and hide our paddy after the harvest. ... There is no village 
anymore; all villages were burned along with all the rice and paddy in 
the villages.  I was hiding in the jungle for 3 years.  We had to find food 
in the forest most of the time.  Even those who lived with them in the 
relocation site had to find food like us.  They [villagers from Shadaw] 
came looking for vegetables and then went back to either sell them so 
they could buy rice or exchange them for rice.  They were also looking 
for Wa U [elephant foot yam] to eat as we were." - "Klaw Reh" (M, 45), 
speaking of when he was ordered to relocate to Shadaw (Interview 1).
 
"The first year that we were in Daw Dta Hay, we hired ourselves out to 
work on other peoples' fields and bought rice to eat with the money we 
earned...[Recently] we couldn't work to produce food.  Even though the 
rains were less, if we didn't have to do forced labour we could have 
worked and produced enough food for us to live.  We also had to give 
them 50 Kyats per week to work on their farms [plots of land allocated 
by the Army] where we could stay with our families.  If the Burmese 
needed us while we were farming, they told the village headman and he 
told us we had to come back.  The money for the farm was already paid 
and we didn't get it back." - "Mi Su" (F), talking about the food shortage 
in Daw Dta Hay (Interview 6).
 
"There were many problems but we had to come.  There were people 
near farms along the way [to the border with Thailand], some of whom 
have no rice or food.  The farmers also complain that they don't have 
enough rice because the army takes half the paddy from their farms." - 
"Nyi Reh" (M,28), talking about the Army taking paddy from the farmers 
who have farms on the route to Thailand (Interview 9).
 

Even holding one of the passes which the villagers are required by the 
Army to have before leaving the camp doesn't guarantee safety, 
particularly farther than a few miles from the camps.  Villagers who have 
fled Shadaw site say that they were told that if they went more than 3 or 5 
miles from the site they would be killed.
 
Another source of food for the villagers in the relocation sites was rice 
they had managed to hide in the jungle before their villages were 
destroyed.  However, leaving the relocation site to retrieve the hidden rice 
was a dangerous proposition and could only result in small amounts of rice 
being brought back each time.  By now all of that rice has either been used 
up by the villagers themselves, found and destroyed by the Army or taken 
by villagers hiding in the jungle who can't find food elsewhere.  The food 
shortage problems have been exacerbated in 1998-99 by widespread crop 
failures that are affecting not only the majority of Burma but other 
Southeast Asian nations as well.  The erratic climate during this period has 
resulted in alternating droughts and floods, causing much lower yields in 
most of the region.
 

"Their rule for us was that we couldn't go farther than 5 miles from 
Shadaw relocation site.  If we went further, they would shoot us." - "Lu 
Mya" (F, 30), who fled Shadaw relocation site (Interview 5).
 
"In Nwa La Bo you can't do any work to get food.  The only way to get 
food is to sell all your belongings, such as the silver coins our parents 
gave us, and buy food.  Finally, all our belongings were gone...They 
didn't allow us to go to our old villages.  They cleared a place nearby 
using a bulldozer but the soil there was no good so we had to go very far 
away to cut a farm in the hills...If we did go out, we had to get a pass 
from them which cost 10 Kyats... They only allowed us 2 or 3 days so we 
didn't have enough time to work the farm.  We didn't get any rice from 
the farm because there was no rain." - "Baw Reh" (M, 27+), describing 
how the villagers in Nwa La Bo relocation site had to get food.  The silver 
coins he mentions are likely colonial pre-war rupees which are held as 
family heirlooms in the area (Interview 8)
 
"We planted corn beside our house and [my husband] took that with 
him to eat.  We ate corn when we had no rice.  There was no paddy yield 
[the latest crop - 1998] because the weather was hot and there was no 
rain.  We planted quite a bit of corn but it wasn't enough because the 
Burmese came and ate it too." - "Eh Reh" (F, 35+), talking about growing 
small amounts of food in Shadaw relocation site and the Army taking 
some of it (Interview 10).
 
"...Some villagers who went to live in Shadaw still had rice in their old 
villages but people who were living in the jungle and didn't go to 
Shadaw took that rice because they had nothing to eat.  Also, the 
Burmese burned any rice they found in the old villages.  The Burmese 
killed the villagers' buffaloes and cattle that had been left behind in the 
old villages.  Before we went to Shadaw we hid some rice in the jungle 
and later returned to get it to eat, but we finished all that.  It was hard
to 
keep on living." - "Doh Reh" (M, 53), describing the food shortage in 
Shadaw area (Interview 4).
 

In and around the area of Shadaw relocation site the villagers have been 
digging up a tuber called Wa U, elephant foot yam, which has become a 
main food source for those in the relocation sites and those living in the 
forest areas around Shadaw.  Unfortunately, if this tuber is not cleaned and 
treated properly to remove the small amount of toxins found inside, the 
villagers get very ill.  The Wa U has to be cleaned and sliced, then soaked 
in water for a minimum of 3 days.  The shortage of usable water that 
plagues the whole area often results in the Wa U not being properly treated 
and thus causes illness.  After drying the Wa U slices in the sun they can 
be boiled on their own or boiled together with rice.  Wa U doesn't appear 
to give the villagers much in the way of nutrition or energy, but it helps to 
fill their empty stomachs and hold off hunger so they eat it even though 
they know it can be dangerous.
 

"Some days we had enough rice to eat while other days we didn't.  We 
dug up elephant foot yam from the jungle and washed them in order to 
get rid of toxins.  It is not safe to eat them without washing them.  It 
would make you sick if you didn't wash the toxins out.  In some places 
there was too little water to clean them well so we got sick.  When there 
was plenty of water no one got sick.  When I got sick from eating it, I 
had no strength.  I wanted to collapse everywhere I went.  I wanted to 
vomit and go to the toilet.  If I had some sour fruit to eat it would make 
me better.  Most of the places we lived there was very little water." - 
"Maw Reh" (M, ~80), talking about Wa U, the tuber which the villagers in 
and around Shadaw are digging up to eat (Interview 2).
 
"When we had money we could buy rice from the Burmese shop but 
when we didn't have enough money we had to boil rice to make rice 
soup and eat other things, like tubers.  If there were no tubers there, 
many people would die of hunger.  Tubers have become the main food 
for people living there." - "Kay Reh" (M, 50+), speaking of the Wa U 
tuber as the chief source of food from people in and around Shadaw 
(Interview 11).
 

Fortunately, the negative effects of the tuber do not seem to be fatal, but 
fatalities are occurring in the relocation sites for reasons just as basic
and 
easily avoidable.  Deaths from basic dehydration due to diarrhoea and 
vomiting are commonplace.  In the area in and around the southwestern 
relocation site of Mawchi, it would seem that the majority of the people 
are dying from this, which would normally be easily treatable.  Most of 
these deaths are among those hiding in the forests around Mawchi, but 
many have also died in the relocation site itself.  According to both 
villagers and KNPP sources, this in combination with malaria, dysentery 
and infection from a host of parasites that can normally be found in the 
jungle have already killed more than half of the people who were living in 
the jungle in the Mawchi area.  Villagers from the Mawchi area and most 
other areas say that before they fled there was always at least one member 
of their family who was sick, and that family members and friends have 
already died of minor diseases.  The villagers in the jungle fear going very 
far from their hiding places because they may be killed if seen, so they 
resort to burying the dead in and around their small settlements, and this 
can lead to even further spread of disease.  The villagers in the Mawchi 
area have virtually no access to medical supplies and the journey to flee 
the area is too long for those in poor health.   
 

"The people who were hiding in the forest suffered from diarrhoea and 
vomiting.  Almost every one of them died.  The villagers couldn't bury 
the dead in places far away so they buried them beside their shelters.  As 
for our village, the Burmese are encamped and living there so people 
ran to hide in the jungle and then they got diarrhoea.  They had no 
medicine so almost all of them died.  Only a few people are left, some 
live in xxxx and some are still hiding in the xxxx forest." - "Paw Paw" 
(F, 27), describing the health conditions of people in and around Mawchi 
(Interview 13).
 
"My children died of diarrhoea while I was in the jungle.  One died 
when he was four months old, I hadn't named him yet.  The other one 
died when he was 3 years old, his name was Htoo Nay Moo.  The two 
children I have now were born in the jungle." - "Nga Reh" (M, 30), 
talking about two of his children who died from diarrhoea (Interview 15).
 

Hospital facilities are virtually unheard of in the relocation sites.  One 
exception to this rule is in Shadaw, where the hospital is understaffed and 
the medicine is very expensive if available at all.  Refugees who have 
come from Shadaw are reporting that the doctors who are meant to be 
working in the hospital in the relocation site are only coming once every 2 
or 3 months and spending the rest of their time in Loikaw, presumably 
because they find life more comfortable there.  The doctors are reportedly 
posted to care for the people in Shadaw, but they hardly ever appear in the 
relocation site.  This is consistent with reports from other areas of Burma 
such as Shan and Karen States, where recently graduated doctors are 
posted to remote places but choose to stay in nearby towns instead.  
Diarrhoea, malaria, dysentery and the other common illnesses previously 
mentioned can all be found in Shadaw relocation site, and chicken pox has 
also caused problems and death for the villagers living just outside the 
relocation site.  Those interviewed have noted that the few nurses that are 
at the hospital aren't capable of dealing with anything other than minor 
problems.  If a serious problem has to be treated, the person who is ill 
must pay to be taken to Loikaw for treatment or simply stay and suffer. 
 

"When one of us was ill, sometimes the hospital in Shadaw didn't have 
enough medicine so we had to buy medicine in other places like Shadaw 
town or Loikaw.  The doctor had to give us a piece of paper with the 
name of the medicine we needed to take or inject.  If we didn't have the 
paper we couldn't get the medicine.  To get to Loikaw we have to walk 
for 4 hours to the bus stop at Bpon Chaung beside the Pon River.  From 
there we can take the bus to Loikaw.  In the first year there was a full 
time doctor in Shadaw, but later we didn't know where they went to live 
and now there's only a medic left there.  The hospital in Shadaw is a 
township hospital but they don't have all the medicines." - "Doh Reh" 
(M, 53), describing the lack of medical facilities in Shadaw relocation site 
(Interview 4).
 
"Many children got the chicken pox.  We had no medicine so they 
suffered from that for 2 weeks.  They are better now.  A woman's eldest 
child, a son, died of chicken pox in the jungle and now she has only one 
child.  She has no husband." - "Lu Mya" (F, 30), talking about chicken 
pox infecting and in at least one case killing the children around Shadaw 
(Interview 5).
 
"There is a hospital but the doctors only come from Rangoon once every 
2 or 3 months.  The doctor's duty is to be in Shadaw but when they come 
they live in Loikaw.  They come and show their faces [in Shadaw] once 
every 2 or 3 months and then return [to Rangoon] after they finish their 
2 year responsibility.  Then another doctor comes.  There are nurses in 
the hospital.  If an emergency patient comes, they are ordered to go to 
the hospital in Loikaw.  The patient must hire people to carry them to 
Loikaw because there is no bus, car or motorbike in Shadaw.  If you 
can't give people money to carry you they won't carry you." - "Ni Reh" 
(M, 47), describing the poor service at the hospital in Shadaw relocation 
site (Interview 3).
 

   - [END OF PART 1; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTING FOR PART 2 OF 2] -