My last day in the camps.
I am proud of what I started in the camps, and I really think it will do some good for the refugees. The fact that I am getting some gratification out of this is secondary – most importantly, they are gaining something valuable. The re-building of their community.
At lunch today, with Cate and a few other IRC staff, we talked about the cultures of the two camps. In camp 5, they have established a real sense of community and self-sustainability, perhaps that is because they are so far away and most of the NGO’s don’t spend much if any time there and even the Camp Committee and governing body is located in Camp 1 and hardly ever visit Camp 5. I think because of this, they have had to rely on themselves, build their own community in order to survive. Camp 1, however, is quite different. The NGOs are ever present, giving and helping, that it has created a culture of reliance on the part of the refugees. They have not had to figure out how to do things for themselves because everyone is so eager to do it for them. As a result, you end up with a dependent culture that is very far from becoming self-sustainable. It really is a fascinating study of the world – it’s like a microcosm, right there in Mae Hong Son.