Outside the refugee camps, many Karen people are living in very poor and dilapidated villages. They live way below the poverty line and are in constant fear of being deported. They are not given official refugee status. So they stay in Thailand illegally, forced to earn money in one of the many sweatshops located in the Thai-Burma area. In these sweatshops, they are unscrupulously exploited; most workers have to work up to 16 hours a day, six and a half days a week, without any labor rights or social security. They earn 1 to 1,5 Euros a day which is about ¼ of the minimum wage in Thailand.

Usually, 200 to 500 people are living in such a village. Hardly anybody cares for them, there are no sanitary facilities, no medical care and hardly any schools. One generation has grown up already without any formal education - only to fall prey to exploitation in factories and the sex trade.

They are shy. And poor

These people are malnourished and forced to live in humiliating conditions. Diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS and leprosy are taking their toll. There is widespread alcohol and drug abuse - especially abuse of the dangerous, but cheap drug Ya Ba. In addition to these problems, the people are constantly subject to the arbitrary intervention of the authorities and live in constant fear of being arrested and deported.

HELP WITHOUT FRONTIERS supports the villagers to found and run schools for their children.

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