Maung Na Revisited

It’s been nine years since I did that two month stint at the Shan health clinic in Maung Na, on the border with Myanmar almost directly north of Chiang Mai. Fror those of you who didn’t know me then or have forgotten the story, I came to Thailand with the intention of “doing something good”, and hooked up with a little NGO called the Burma Relief Center. Pippa Curwen, the woman running that operation but I couldn’t find this time, sent me up to this village to work with Shan people who had come across the border about a kilometer away. Many people came across from Myanmar to escape the persecution, flee the army if they were thought to be involved with the resistence, were actually part of the resistence, or were driven across with amphetamines and expected to turn that over to Thais on the other side whereupon they would probably be transported to Bangkok or some other city to be put into brothels. Obviously, many therefore got trapped between the border and the border patrols and forbidden to go further. Hence, it was basically a refugee village.
To make a long story short, that clinic was also a Shan resistance medic training center. I trained medics and ran the clinic for the Shan who did not qualify to get help at the Thai government clinic in town after the real doctor disapeared shortly after I got there. He got a kidney stone, took off and was never seen around there again. I did that for about two months before it got hot politically. The Shan resistance leadership thought I might be unreliable, tore down the clinic, took the supplies and meds, and headed into the forest. Even though the experience lasted only two months, it was one of the the most interesting experiences I’ve ever had.
At the time, Maung Na was hardly developed. There was a gravity water system to a few places which didn’t work during the monsoon or after the dry period was well in progress. There was little electricity. By far, most of the buildings were bamboo and thatch. There was pavement on the main road through town, but not before or after you got there. There was one phone that wasn’t at the police station. It was surrounded by forest. The clinic was rudimentary, and with me in charge you can imagine the lack of quality care those people had. Malaria was a big killer. Dengue was common, and I had no good way to tell the difference. Plus, they had everything else anybody anywhere might have.
Myung and I rented a jeep and took a one day trip up there. It was unbelieveably different. One thing that wasn’t different was that finding someone who spoke English was nearly impossible. We found a school teacher who spoke a little. She directed us to a house where a young man spoke a little better. That man told us there was a new clinic between the Shan village and the nearby Lahu village, and that that was now the one clinic for all. We didn’t pick his brains totally, but it does seem that the Shan are now getting care at an official clinic. There is an eversomuch higher standard of living there now. It doesn’t seem like a refugee village at all. There are many sound buildings and the people just don’t look like refugees any more.
There are eateries, after a fashion, a couple of decent shops and a market. The road is paved all the way to town and for a few kilometers beyond. There is electricity all over the place. People have cars and motorbikes. The forest has been largely cut down or burned, presumably for agriculture. The dirt lanes are gone and I had a terrible time finding my way around on the roads and through the modern development.
I’m sure there is a long story. Some day I may try to go back and find it all out. This time it was all we could do to find one person to help us as much as he did. For sure, the people of Maung Na are in a lot better shape than they used to be. I may not have learned a lot, but it’s good to know that much has definitely happened.