The Best of Us

On the border between Thailand and Myanmar, in the mountains covered with dense jungle, there are many villages that are almost unreachable.

On the border between Thailand and Myanmar, in the mountains covered with dense jungle, there are many villages that are almost unreachable. Often there are no communication routes, you have to walk in the forest and climb along untrodden paths. More often the roads are there but they are passable only with an off-road vehicle. These small villages are mostly made of wooden huts, occasionally some brick building appears, built by the Thai government to host a school. As in this case, in the village of Doi Vave in the mountains near Chiang Rai. The population is mixed, consisting of Thais, Karean tribes who populate the mountains and kids, a lot of kids. Many children who come from Myanmar and don't speak a word of Thai. This is because they are refugees, refugees or orphans who have fled their country or been sent by families, through the jungle, away from Myanmar. They flee the villages out of fear, because children are often kidnapped and used to work and never return. Even very small girls are placed at the service of the kidnappers to satisfy sexual needs or to clean, cook and transport things. Males are normally trained in the use of weapons. Families are afraid and, while taking enormous risks, they send the children, even very small ones, to the Thai border and entrust them to the border police. The orphans instead, perhaps survived a raid in a village, set off hoping for a better future. Not everyone makes it, but those who come here have safe haven. The local population accepts them willingly and the Thai government, with the help of some foundations or simple private individuals, builds small schools, run by the local border police. Good people who take care of the kids. This is the story of INSEE Arsa Border Patrol Police Education Center school, with nearly 150 children and few teachers. Obviously it is not easy to get here and the teachers are often young women from the village who put themselves at the service of the children to teach the basics of Thai language and some math. The path for the children will not be easy or short, they are undocumented and many of them do not even know the exact age. The border police, at the end of the course of study, will give each child a kind of certificate that will allow him to stay and study in Thailand until high school. Then some of them will be able to return to Myanmar and request an official identification document from their government. Often to then go back to Thailand to work, since at that point they will have grown up and have learned the Thai language perfectly.