Stateless

Meet N. N has become a good friend of mine. On the days I am not in the community and N is not working I tutor her in English and occasionally go for walks through the markets for a fun chat and some Thai practice. She is 16 and brilliantly smart, but like the rest of the Shan kids is not getting a very good education here and is learning English from a non-English speaking teacher. As she is eager to learn I try to fill in a bit of the gap and practice English with her. N is an orphan who was born in Myanmar/Burma. She came here when she was five with her sister.

She currently has no birth registration and due to this is unable to get the appropriate identification to even ask the local district office if she can travel past the check point. There are many checkpoints throughout Thailand. They are run by the military and one of their purposes is to check for Burmese people traveling so called "illegally." This includes N and even includes the many children who were born in Thailand, but have Shan parents from Burma. Even though N has a card that permits her to be here for 10 years at a time her lack of birth registration inhibits her from traveling past these checkpoints or even being able to ask for permission to do so. This includes not being able to go to University if she wishes to do so in the next couple years as all of the Universities are outside of this province.

Gaining proper permission and identification for the kids is a long and unlikely process and has already proved many dead ends after 6 weeks of emails and phone calls, but the only thing I can do is to remain as positive and hopeful as possible that the people I have easily grown to love will one day have the rights that you and I do. The people in this community are not the only ones facing these issues. Thousands of Burmese people all over Thailand face these issues on a daily basis.

It is such a privelege to get to share smiles and laughs with N and the other children everyday. It is such a privelege to play soccer and make friendship bracelets with the kids, be handed by one of the kids a two week old puppy that just opened its eyes, and to laugh with the older girls as they say the word "sexy" as it sounds the same in English and Thai and they find it really funny. I am thankful for every moment as every moment is a sign of hope and love in the world.

Love, Peace, and Popsicles,
NAILS (or to some of you, Michelle)

PS On a lighter note...all of the cats in town have bent tails that look like they have been run over 5 times...I recently found out that it is a deformity they all share. Also their are many Thai hippies with dreads in town that make dreamcatchers and Native American head dresses. :)