Karen Refugee Camp Short Story

Reminder to self and notice to the world

It was a typical morning when I woke up with extreme fuzziness. I left my bed and headed to the bathroom to wash away the sleepiness left in my brain. I turned the faucet and let the water keep flowing as I brush my teeth slowly. I spit out the fresh strong minty bitter flavor of toothpaste in disgust and looked at my own spit. There was blood. I thought to myself “What did I do wrong to bleed so early in the morning?”. Right. Where did it go wrong? I looked at myself in the mirror as I slapped cold water across my cheeks to remind myself how privileged I am right now, compared to what I have seen in life before.
Taking a walk back down my memory lanes, I remembered how I grew up in a Karen refugee camp that resides in Thailand. I was only eleven years old. My dad and I left Burma …show more content…
The camp could fit millions of refugees, non-refugees and other people who are going in and out of the camp for business purpose. The camp was heavily fenced with wires and guarded by Thai police. It almost seemed like a prison because none of the refugees could leave the place. The place itself was surrounded by mountains. Inside the fence, you can see all tiny houses built out of natural materials like thick hollowed bamboos and roofed with crunchy thatched forest leaves. There were some houses built on top of the mountain and some were right by the highway road parallel to the fence. Looking from afar, it had a very dry and humble atmosphere to it. The camp had no means of public transportation. You can only see people walking places to places on feet. Sometimes, you can hear laughter from half naked children with soiled clothes playing around in barefeet. These images were forged onto my memory and I still hold a secret about something that nobody will find out unless I let this out of my