Ben's work at AAPP

In our first month of being in Mae Sot, we had heard of this organization of political prisoners who gave tours of their office which included a museum dedicated to the political prisoners languishing in Burma. Steff and I , along with our housemates visited them one day and were quite impressed with their work, not to mention shocked at the hardship and cruel treatment they had endured while in prison. In the museum you can see many pictures of the prisons along with the prisoners. There are very vivid pictures of the torture techniques used by the prison guards on the prisoners along with an actual chain and cross bar that was almost continuously attached to the prisoners ankles throughout their imprisonment. In another part of the room was a wall of photographs of many people (too many), and above it read “those who died in prison”. Along with the walk through the small, but profound museum one of the AAPP members (they are all former political prisoners themselves) explains what it was like living in the prisons and their reasons for being put their (usually, they were a member of a political party, or marched in the 1988 protest, that left thousands of protesters dead by the response of the military government.) Not one of us in our group did not feel affected by their stories and their cause. A couple of months later, a teacher friend of mine, who is also a former political prisoner himself, asked if I would like to work with the AAPP since school would be on their summer break, and I wouldn’t have to teach as much. Of course I jumped at the chance and am glad I did because the people here at this organization are some of the most kind, determined, hardworking, and inspiring people I have ever known. I will refrain from using their full real names, because as crazy as it sounds to an American, they still have to worry about junta spies finding out about their work here. Junta spies are a real part of Mae Sot, and in the past there have been assassinations of resistance leaders right here in downtown Mae Sot. There was also a time when a nurse at the Mae Tao clinic was kidnapped and by Burmese agents and taken back across the boarder where she was interrogated for several days before being released. However, most anti-junta, pro-democracy Burmese people in Mae Sot like to keep a low profile for fear that junta spies and informers will find out who they are and what they are doing and then go back and punish their families who are still inside Burma, this is not an uncommon tactic employed by the junta. While not all the former prisoners here at the AAPP have much reason to fear spies, for various reasons there are some that do. With that being said, I would like to reiterate that these guys at the AAPP are wonderful. As soon as I came they were very welcoming and generous. One night they had a small party to which we were invited. They brought out the whiskey, as they usually do, and after a while the conversation left politics and somehow turned to food. I mentioned that I wanted to try the bugs they sell in the market and immediately one of the guys jumped on his motorbike and took off. Within 5 min. he was back with bags full of grubs, crickets, and grasshoppers (I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth). That night after a couple glasses of whiskey, Steff and I enjoyed some tasty Thai bugs. Actually, they weren’t that bad, just really crispy and salty. The guys at the AAPP are always looking for ways to entertain themselves in the evenings because it is unsafe for any Burmese without proper documentation to go out at night. Very few Burmese in Mae Sot have documentation, it is a situation that is slightly similar (and I do mean slightly) to the situation with undocumented workers in America. At any time, any Burmese can be asked to present documentation and if they don’t have it then they are arrested and deported. For most Burmese this means they just have to bribe their way back across with a few hundred bhat (but a few hundred bhat is a lot of money to a poor Burmese worker). The situation is a little different for a Burmese pro democracy/anit-junta worker who is deported back across the river, they might never be seen again. So, the guys here like to have social dinners and drinks whenever they can. One guy, “Aung T.” is a big fan of movies like myself, so I will download a movie and bring it over to watch on their computer projector screen. One night it was just me and him outside watching “the good, the bad, and the ugly”, while enjoying a few beers and fighting off the mosquitos. That night he told me of his personal story and how he was forced to flee Burma after being released from prison. He left behind a wife and a son who just turned 5. It gave me a better understanding of the sacrifices these guys, along with countless others, have made in their struggle for freedom and democracy. I asked him what more I could do to help, and he told me to act as a kind of reporter, he wanted me to report his story to others when I got home. He wanted me to tell of their struggle and sacrifice and to let everyone know that there is a horrible injustice happening in Burman right now. But also there are people like him that are ready to fight on forever to achieve their freedom. He wanted me to do this in order to rally more support to the cause. So, whoever is reading this please keep these people in your thoughts and take some time to do a little research on your own about Burma, and what you can do to help. My job here at the AAPP office is mainly to update the monthly chronology report that is then distributed to all the Burmese supporting groups throughout the world. It basically consist of monitoring the news gathering information on political prisoners: new arrests, sentencing, prison transfers, prisoners in bad health, and any relevant international news, etc. Aside from this, I have been helping on the petition campaign however I can, as well as updating the prisoner profiles. All in all, it is a pretty sweet job, especially since I get to sit in an air conditioned room!! (I know for most of you who are reading this that won’t sound too amazing, but trust me, when you are in Thailand in the middle of the hot season it is a big deal. Air condition is a luxury out here and not many places have them. Although, the local 7-11’s have them and we sometimes browse the isles for a long time just to enjoy that sweet A/C) After work on Mon. Wed. and Fri. I go to the Mae Tao clinic to teach my conversation class, which usually last for a couple hours, although it is so fun with those students I wouldn’t mind if it lasted 5 hours, but that’s another story.