The real masterminds of the protest in fact did not come from inside the camp, but thousand of miles away. Its Hmong refugees's extended families themselves - the people who have been successfully repatriated to first world countries such as the US, France & Australia some years back.
Here is the problem. The family members had good intentions but living in first world countries, they understood little of Thai politics and they were masterminding the protest. Protesting was alright, but when the refugees turned on the guards and people that feed them, it was no longer acceptable.
In one incident, they burned down the shelters that the thai government built for them, hoping that will speed up repatriation. Nothing changed, the refugees just punished themselves. Thousands of refugees families ended up sleeping in the cold for weeks.
The government strengthen their resolve to send these "trouble makers" back and that was the last straw. The clock was ticking for the the refugees.
They had been misguided by their own family members, the thai government was upset and now their fate was drawing near. The whole camp fell into an eerie depressive silence. - now they knew could trust no one and they just suffered in silence.
In March, we knew that time was short and we just did what we could to comfort them. Little food rations, first aid kits and small items to prepare them for an uncertain fate. As I stood in front of our refugee friends teaching them how to use the medical kits, the leaders just mustered a grateful nod, little words passed between us, but there was such a sense of grief in the air.
At our final outreach, when we entered the refugee camp we could see that the people were still visibly fearful.
When they came out, many came forward to ask us to pray for them because they were really scared to be sent back to Laos. It was an emotional sight when you see adults and children sobbing silently with all the hurts just surfacing.
I remembered during one of the first session, I told the crowd that if they think no one remembers them, they are wrong. Because we at RADION stayed for months at the mountains for months just waiting for the opportunity to enter the camp to bring these relief and medical supplies to them. As I spoke, tears welled in the eyes of these refugees.
I told them that they are remembered and there are people out there who still cares. More importantly my God still remembers them and has not forgotten them for even a second.
We saw tears rolling down their cheeks.
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