This essay tells the story of an outsider looking in on the daily lives of Burmese refugees. These refugees risked their lives to cross from Burma to Thailand to live in Mae Lah and Tham Hin UN refugee camps (run by the International Organization of Migration). I have met adolescents who crossed the jungles alone; families who fled while their village was burning; and wives still waiting for their husbands. The camps are getting more crowded and there are fewer and fewer areas of refuge for the Burmese.

The process for the United States to accept refugees includes registration with the Thai government and the UN, interviews, background checks, medical check-ups, a cultural orientation, and fingerprinting. Once registered, the process takes over six months. It is filled with waiting: delays to clear registration, interviews, processing. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security outsources much of the process to nongovernmental institutions. In South East Asia, the International Rescue Committee guides refugees seeking U.S. resettlement through the process and prepares their cases for DHS. Those accepted for US resettlement enter the U. S., are paired with a non-governmental resettlement agency, called a voluntary agency (VOLAG).

Not all refugees are accepted to enter the United States. Especially with the emergence of the Patriot Act, the laws have become much stricter and exclude more people from seeking refuge in the United States. Others are waiting in the camps to return home. Some are too tired to move their lives and start again.

The refugees are living on multiple edges, including: the physical and social edge of Thailand, the political edge of Burma, the edge of acceptance to the United States, the edge of natural disasters.

Rachel Steinberg
September, 2008

Biography

Rachel Steinberg is an undergraduate student at the Woodrow Wilson School. Her interest in development stemmed from a summer in rural Thailand, teaming with villagers to build infrastructure and teach English, while living in a bamboo hut.