When I was thinking about writing an article on the Kayan (Padaung Long-neck) people, I recalled a proverb which goes "there will be done nothing if you are sitting". Therefore, I decided to go to Kayan villages located in Mae Hongsong district to implement my ideas.
Their villages are not far from Mae Hongsong. It's about half an hour away if you take a car or a motorcycle. My friend and I agreed to go there on a motorbike. I chose to ride behind my friend because I wanted to see the beautiful green forests and mountain ranges.
When we reached Kayan village, bamboo huts, the country side and Kayan's traditional music welcomed us.
It matched with the village's name 'Kayan Tharyar village'. The village is neither big nor small. Their traditional dresses were very nice to see. However, I personally felt that I would feel trapped if I had to live there for a long time like other Kayan villagers because the village is surrounded by mountains.
They cannot go outside the village, especially the women who wear copper rings on their necks.
By maintaining their tradition, they always wear and carry about five kilograms on their bodies. Their daily work is enriched with their traditional music for foreign tourists. Like Kayan Tharyar village, there are three Kayan villages located near Mae Hongsong.
Kayan people are like other Burmese refugees who have fled from military offensives. They have been living on the Thai border for about 20 years because they had faced human rights violations and forced labour. The difference with other refugees is they have a distinct traditional culture and the things they wear. Therefore, local authorities and businessmen pick them out from the refugee camps and let them live near the Thai villages for tourism business.
Now there are about 600 people. Their situation is not much different from 10 years ago. I haven't seen any improvement.
When I asked a Kyan man about why Kayan people have decreased in this village, he said that "some people moved to Ywar Thit (new village) where Thai authorities ordered them to live and some people moved to live in the refugee camp 1."
On September 12, 2007, Thai authorities in Mae Hongsong district and township officials had many meetings and discussions for combining three villages into one village.
Finally, it was decided that things would be left to the wishes of the Kayan families. They were divided into two groups, some willing to move and some not willing to move. Some of them didn't want to move to a new place because the location of the current village is easily accessible to foreign tourists. Some of them would like to move to new place because they expected opportunities from Thai local authorities.
Some people moved back to the old village because they didn't get any opportunities from local authorities. "They had said that if we moved to the new place, they would construct a new car road; they would issue Thai identity cards and they would provide rations. However, they never came to see us again when we moved to the new place. I moved back to the old place two months ago," said a Kayan woman who lived in the new village for eight months.
They earned some income from foreign tourists. A Kayan person earns 1,500 Baht per month; but, some village headmen, who control some villages, do give money to them.
Kayan people earn extra income by selling handicrafts, bags, saris, dolls, among other things. From the extra income; they have to pay teachers who teach their children. Therefore, they face economic hardship.
Kayan women are not allowed to go outside the village along with their husbands. They have no permission to work outside. Therefore, they don't want to live in the village neither do they want to go to the refugee camp. Thai authorities have also banned them from applying for third country resettlement programmes. Therefore they would like to move to Chiang Mai area where they can earn more money. Last July, some Kayan families left silently for Chiang Mai.
Even though they have been living on Thai soil for many years, they do not have Thai citizenship but they only have Thai ethnic identity cards. Although Thai immigration department issues ID cards every year, it costs a lot of money. While they know that they are eligible to have Thai ID, nobody comes to issue the ID cards.
These Kayan families have UNHCR certificates but they don't get any ration. Some people say that the UNHCR certificates are not useful right now but when the foreign tourists do not visit, they can easily go to refugee camps.
Some people say that they will go back to the refugee camp because they are not allowed to work outside the camp, they are banned from applying for resettlement programmes, they haven't had any provision and they cannot have Thai citizenship. They want that they must be recognized as refugees and they would like to have opportunities to apply for resettlement programmes like other refugees.
Some people say that if Thai authorities request them to take off the copper rings in exchange for re-entering the refugee camp, they will take off the copper rings.
I sympathized with them after I heard of their difficulties and the uncertainty they face.
When I came back from the Kayan village, I thought that their life is like 'a rabbit in a sheep farm'. I realised that they were uncomfortable and facing hardships. Again and again I prayed that they escape from this hardship as I went back home.
