Standing Strong: Kyaw’s Story
A Community in Crisis
It’s the end of the school day in Mae La, Thailand’s largest shelter for displaced people, and tempers are flaring. A young man, feeling insulted by another classmate, is fuming while the rest of the class heads out for the day. He’s clenching his fists in anger, preparing himself to confront the classmate who embarrassed him.
But before he can act, Kyaw, a fellow student and junior leader in the local youth club, sits down next to him. Kyaw’s noticed the young man’s upset, and he starts talking to him. At first the angry young man resists, but soon he’s listening as Kyaw talks about the need to make good decisions and to solve his problems peacefully.
When the young man expresses his shame and frustration, Kyaw lends a sympathetic ear, and before long, the young man has forgotten about fighting. Kyaw escorts him out of the school, keeping the conversation up, and by the time they reach the young man’s home, both of them are laughing and cheerful. Kyaw knows what it’s like to feel the same overwhelming emotions as the young man, and it’s the personal growth he experienced in a Right To Play leadership club that’s turned him into a peacemaker and mediator for fellow youth who need help.
Mae La is home to more than 50,000 Karen refugees who have fled government persecution in Myanmar, part of a larger diaspora of more than a million Karen who are living in Thailand as refugees. Most are unable to return home due to ongoing threats and violence along the Myanmar-Thai border. Conditions are hard – most refugees are impoverished, and few are allowed to leave the camp for work. The result is a community strained to the limit as it tries to hold onto its identity and pass it on to a new generation. Alcohol abuse, domestic violence, brawling, crime, and other antisocial expressions are common. People distrust the police, which makes the role of community mediators like Kyaw crucial.
Struggling to Grow
Kyaw’s no stranger to any of this. He’s lived in Mae La since he was just two years old, after he fled Myanmar with his parents. Growing up in this unstable environment affected his mental and emotional health and challenged his ability to hope for something better. As a boy, he was prone to fits of anger. He would smash things and hit people, imitating the ways the adults around him acted when they were mad. As he grew, the anger turned inwards at himself, and led him to self-harm. Everything in his life seemed to be falling apart or a dead end.