Cry from Maeya Th

[shwenanda@xxxxxxxxx]

Dear.....

As residents of Maeya Tha refugee camp,we are humbly requesting that you help
safeguard ours lives.
We have lived here for three years,and,despite false allegetions against us,
have always lived in harmony with the Thai citizens of the area and have never
been the cause of harm to the people or environment around us. We are
greateful
that we have been allowet to settle here and are disappointed that we are now
being told to leave.
We feel that we are being made scapegoats for problems on the border, such as
the illegal cutting of teak and the smuggling of drugs.We urge the authorities
to desist from blaming us and to seek out the real culprids.
We are poor and humble people, but understand the need to care for the natural
environment.We do not want to move to a new area with will require us to clear
more land and cut more bamboo in order to build our shelters.
We also ask that we be given legal status as refugee in acctortance with the
UN convention. We request that the gonvernment of Thailand help to protect our
Human Rights.
We are frightened of moving to the new camp,at Mae Ramoo,with has in the past
been attacked by troops allied to the Burmese government. While the at
Maeya Tha
is close to the border, it is protected by the Salween river, and never been 
threatened by military attacks.
The new camp also lacks bamboo which we need in order to build houses. We are 
afraid for our health if we have insufficent shelter, especially at this time
when nights are very cold. Another concern is the interruption of our
children's
education. Here we have built schools and organized classes. These will not
be 
easy to quickly replace.
We humbly ask that you allow us to remain in this place, which circunstances
have caused us to make our home. We hope to be able to return to our homeland
in the future, and in the meantime, we must ask for the huspitality of the 
Thai King, his government and his people.

Please consider our request, 

Yours sincerely,

The people of Maeya Tha