This gallery is a showcase for a couple of things. One is a simple documentary of a recent trip to the Thai/Burma border area. The images are more for documentary than for art. Exif data is on each shot, but my focus was on recording the places and people rather than trying to create some artistic photograph. The focus of our trip was to gather first hand information on the Karen refugee situation. Because of the clear political implications of posting information of this kind on the internet, I will not include any names of people or locations of where the images were shot. Most shots were done in places where it really does not matter and there are no political sensitivities at all. But just for continuity I will mention only places that have no issues attached to them at all, like Bangkok or Kanchanaburi.

The situation of the Karen people and other ethnic minorities from Burma (Myanmar, but I will refer to it as Burma here) is very complex. From the time of Burma's independence after WW2 there has been escalating tensions between the government and the minority groups of that country. The current civil war between Burma's government and the minority groups like the Karen has been going on for nearly 60 years. It is the world's longest running civil war and the one most people know nothing about.

Many people are familiar with Aung San Suu Kyi and her fight for the freedom from oppression in Burma. But very few people are aware of the suffering of the ethnic minorities there. Most, if not all of the ethnic minorities in Burma have existed there as long as there is recorded history. But the current attitude of the regime in Rangoon is one that has brought about untold human suffering in those minority groups.

My interest is primarily in the Karen people. Included here are many images of Karen people in various circumstances, some better, some worse. Not all images are Karen people and some are just nice tourist kind of pictures. For more information on the Karen people and their situation here is some suggested reading and websites to check out.

Read: "A Land Without Evil" By Benedict Rogers. Also "Burma: The Curse of Independence" By Shelby Tucker

Websites - http://www.karenpeople.org
http://www.karen.org
http://tbbc.org
All Images are copyrighted 2001-2014