Latest news with #KarenRefugeeCommittee
Sydney Morning Herald
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
How a river saved a village when war reached its doorstep
Zach Hope and Kate Geraghty travel to the borderlands near Myanmar, where efforts are under way to rescue thousands of trafficking victims from scam factories. See all 7 stories. Ayoung woman crouches by a gap in the bamboo fence of Thailand's biggest refugee camp, her head askew, eyes peering through barbed-wire strands at the sparse oncoming traffic. She is anticipating a taxi – a family member has a doctor's appointment in the nearest Thai town. When the car pulls up, they will need to move fast, as they do not want the attention of the guards. Almost 40,000 people live in the Mae La camp, a crowded jumble of tin and timber homes and rambling tracks, close to the border with Myanmar. The occupants are mostly Karen, an ethnic group from south-eastern Myanmar. No one is allowed to leave without special short-term permission, unless to return to the homelands they have fled over decades of civil war. Even trips to the doctor must be discreet. Mae La is the largest of nine camps on the Thai side of the border. Many residents, longing for third-country resettlement and peace, have known no other life. The latest iteration of Myanmar's civil war, brought on by the 2021 military coup that removed the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, has added 20,000 people to the camps, pushing the combined population above 100,000. Loading 'But there is no more space, so we cannot build new houses,' Karen Refugee Committee secretary Saw Bweh Say says. The committee has been operating along the Thai-Myanmar border for more than 40 years. In addition to increased population pressure, US President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid has crippled the capacity of at least one major non-government organisation to deliver healthcare, water and sanitation. Another major non-government organisation, The Border Consortium, said on Friday (World Refugee Day) it had been forced to reduce rations to 'well below international standards', though it did not cite the Trump administration as the cause. While some people get help from relatives overseas and a small number slip out to work illegally, about 80 per cent depend on NGOs for their everyday needs, the secretary says. Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning the camp populations are not recognised as such, and are restricted in their movements and activities. 'Life in a refugee camp is you cannot work and you cannot do anything with your daily life,' 70-year-old Mae La resident Naw Mu says. 'When USAID was suspended, we faced a food shortage – they reduced the monthly food ration – and we don't get enough water. 'On the other hand, when you look at the Burma [Myanmar] situation, there is no peace. People face difficulties every day. They cannot live in their villages.' Naw Shee Eh Plo, the eldest daughter of Karen revolutionaries, came to Mae La in 1997 because it was unsafe at home. 'If we cannot go back to Burma or another country, then I prefer to stay here,' she says. 'I don't have hope for peace in Burma.' Saw Bweh Say, the Karen committee secretary, hopes Thailand will change its position on recognising refugees, allowing adults to work and children to attend formal education. Still, he is grateful. For 50 years, the Thai government and people have allowed the Karen refugees a safe haven. For those still in the Karen lands of Myanmar, life can be upended – and ended – at any moment by military air raids and drone attacks. This masthead met a group of internally displaced people in the Thai town of Noh Bo, about 50 kilometres north of the Mae La camp. Loading The men had crossed the shallow Moei River border that morning – not because of an immediate threat, but because they wanted Australians to be aware of what is happening to them and their country. The Myanmar civil war, though unfolding in Australia's region, is overshadowed by the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, and now Iran. But it is no less barbarous, claiming about 50,000 lives, including 6000 civilians, since February 2021. About 20 million people – more than a third of Myanmar's population – need humanitarian assistance and 3.5 million people are internally displaced. These young men are among these numbers. On February 27, the State Administration Council, as the military regime is called, bombed positions of the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar's many ethnic resistance forces. The fighting was almost at the village of Pu Lu Palaw, forcing the civilians to wade over the river to the safety of Noh Bo, aided by Thai military border patrol teams. 'We could not even bring anything with us,' Saw Hser Khu, a weathered 39-year-old former fisherman, says. Hundreds crammed inside the Noh Bo church. Hundreds more slept where they could outside. When things calmed down, they crossed back to Myanmar, but Pu Lu Palaw was still not safe. 'Mostly, people now sleep by riverbank, but those who are quick, they stay in their homes,' Saw Hser Khu says with a grin, only half-joking. Some have family on the Thailand side, and this masthead witnessed several family groups crossing the river with sacks of rice and whatever else they could carry above the waist-high waterline. Military planes are a regular sight and sound above the hazy mountains. 'If the [regime] see a lot of people in the village, they will bomb,' Saw Hser Khu says. 'We were lucky that we were already in hiding.' Almost all the group living in Pu Lu Palaw has fled there from elsewhere in Myanmar because of the fighting. Now, they are displaced again. As there is almost no work, the villagers on the riverbank rely on charity and NGOs for most of their needs. Those with a little bit of money sometimes cross into Noh Bo to buy rice and supplies. Those without often go hungry, the men say. At the end of the day, it is time for the villagers to leave Noh Bo and return to the Myanmar riverbank. This masthead follows them down the steep track, past the Thai military observation post. They pause on the way to point out an abandoned regime military base, shrouded by trees at the tip of a Myanmar mountain. At the river, we exchange thank yous and farewells. Then, they pull up their shorts and pants legs, and wade back to broken Myanmar.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The villagers who waded across a river to tell us their story
Zach Hope and Kate Geraghty travel to the borderlands near Myanmar, where efforts are under way to rescue thousands of trafficking victims from scam factories. See all 7 stories. Ayoung woman crouches by a gap in the bamboo fence of Thailand's biggest refugee camp, her head askew, eyes peering through barbed-wire strands at the sparse oncoming traffic. She is anticipating a taxi – a family member has a doctor's appointment in the nearest Thai town. When the car pulls up, they will need to move fast, as they do not want the attention of the guards. Almost 40,000 people live in the Mae La camp, a crowded jumble of tin and timber homes and rambling tracks, close to the border with Myanmar. The occupants are mostly Karen, an ethnic group from south-eastern Myanmar. No one is allowed to leave without special short-term permission, unless to return to the homelands they have fled over decades of civil war. Even trips to the doctor must be discreet. Mae La is the largest of nine camps on the Thai side of the border. Many residents, longing for third-country resettlement and peace, have known no other life. The latest iteration of Myanmar's civil war, brought on by the 2021 military coup that removed the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, has added 20,000 people to the camps, pushing the combined population above 100,000. Loading 'But there is no more space, so we cannot build new houses,' Karen Refugee Committee secretary Saw Bweh Say says. The committee has been operating along the Thai-Myanmar border for more than 40 years. In addition to increased population pressure, US President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid has crippled the capacity of at least one major non-government organisation to deliver healthcare, water and sanitation. Another major non-government organisation, The Border Consortium, said on Friday (World Refugee Day) it had been forced to reduce rations to 'well below international standards', though it did not cite the Trump administration as the cause. While some people get help from relatives overseas and a small number slip out to work illegally, about 80 per cent depend on NGOs for their everyday needs, the secretary says. Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning the camp populations are not recognised as such, and are restricted in their movements and activities. 'Life in a refugee camp is you cannot work and you cannot do anything with your daily life,' 70-year-old Mae La resident Naw Mu says. 'When USAID was suspended, we faced a food shortage – they reduced the monthly food ration – and we don't get enough water. 'On the other hand, when you look at the Burma [Myanmar] situation, there is no peace. People face difficulties every day. They cannot live in their villages.' Naw Shee Eh Plo, the eldest daughter of Karen revolutionaries, came to Mae La in 1997 because it was unsafe at home. 'If we cannot go back to Burma or another country, then I prefer to stay here,' she says. 'I don't have hope for peace in Burma.' Saw Bweh Say, the Karen committee secretary, hopes Thailand will change its position on recognising refugees, allowing adults to work and children to attend formal education. Still, he is grateful. For 50 years, the Thai government and people have allowed the Karen refugees a safe haven. For those still in the Karen lands of Myanmar, life can be upended – and ended – at any moment by military air raids and drone attacks. This masthead met a group of internally displaced people in the Thai town of Noh Bo, about 50 kilometres north of the Mae La camp. Loading The men had crossed the shallow Moei River border that morning – not because of an immediate threat, but because they wanted Australians to be aware of what is happening to them and their country. The Myanmar civil war, though unfolding in Australia's region, is overshadowed by the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, and now Iran. But it is no less barbarous, claiming about 50,000 lives, including 6000 civilians, since February 2021. About 20 million people – more than a third of Myanmar's population – need humanitarian assistance and 3.5 million people are internally displaced. These young men are among these numbers. On February 27, the State Administration Council, as the military regime is called, bombed positions of the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar's many ethnic resistance forces. The fighting was almost at the village of Pu Lu Palaw, forcing the civilians to wade over the river to the safety of Noh Bo, aided by Thai military border patrol teams. 'We could not even bring anything with us,' Saw Hser Khu, a weathered 39-year-old former fisherman, says. Hundreds crammed inside the Noh Bo church. Hundreds more slept where they could outside. When things calmed down, they crossed back to Myanmar, but Pu Lu Palaw was still not safe. 'Mostly, people now sleep by riverbank, but those who are quick, they stay in their homes,' Saw Hser Khu says with a grin, only half-joking. Some have family on the Thailand side, and this masthead witnessed several family groups crossing the river with sacks of rice and whatever else they could carry above the waist-high waterline. Military planes are a regular sight and sound above the hazy mountains. 'If the [regime] see a lot of people in the village, they will bomb,' Saw Hser Khu says. 'We were lucky that we were already in hiding.' Almost all the group living in Pu Lu Palaw has fled there from elsewhere in Myanmar because of the fighting. Now, they are displaced again. As there is almost no work, the villagers on the riverbank rely on charity and NGOs for most of their needs. Those with a little bit of money sometimes cross into Noh Bo to buy rice and supplies. Those without often go hungry, the men say. At the end of the day, it is time for the villagers to leave Noh Bo and return to the Myanmar riverbank. This masthead follows them down the steep track, past the Thai military observation post. They pause on the way to point out an abandoned regime military base, shrouded by trees at the tip of a Myanmar mountain. At the river, we exchange thank yous and farewells. Then, they pull up their shorts and pants legs, and wade back to broken Myanmar.
The Age
a day ago
- Politics
- The Age
The villagers who waded across a river to tell us their story
Zach Hope and Kate Geraghty travel to the borderlands near Myanmar, where efforts are under way to rescue thousands of trafficking victims from scam factories. See all 7 stories. Ayoung woman crouches by a gap in the bamboo fence of Thailand's biggest refugee camp, her head askew, eyes peering through barbed-wire strands at the sparse oncoming traffic. She is anticipating a taxi – a family member has a doctor's appointment in the nearest Thai town. When the car pulls up, they will need to move fast, as they do not want the attention of the guards. Almost 40,000 people live in the Mae La camp, a crowded jumble of tin and timber homes and rambling tracks, close to the border with Myanmar. The occupants are mostly Karen, an ethnic group from south-eastern Myanmar. No one is allowed to leave without special short-term permission, unless to return to the homelands they have fled over decades of civil war. Even trips to the doctor must be discreet. Mae La is the largest of nine camps on the Thai side of the border. Many residents, longing for third-country resettlement and peace, have known no other life. The latest iteration of Myanmar's civil war, brought on by the 2021 military coup that removed the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, has added 20,000 people to the camps, pushing the combined population above 100,000. Loading 'But there is no more space, so we cannot build new houses,' Karen Refugee Committee secretary Saw Bweh Say says. The committee has been operating along the Thai-Myanmar border for more than 40 years. In addition to increased population pressure, US President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid has crippled the capacity of at least one major non-government organisation to deliver healthcare, water and sanitation. Another major non-government organisation, The Border Consortium, said on Friday (World Refugee Day) it had been forced to reduce rations to 'well below international standards', though it did not cite the Trump administration as the cause. While some people get help from relatives overseas and a small number slip out to work illegally, about 80 per cent depend on NGOs for their everyday needs, the secretary says. Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning the camp populations are not recognised as such, and are restricted in their movements and activities. 'Life in a refugee camp is you cannot work and you cannot do anything with your daily life,' 70-year-old Mae La resident Naw Mu says. 'When USAID was suspended, we faced a food shortage – they reduced the monthly food ration – and we don't get enough water. 'On the other hand, when you look at the Burma [Myanmar] situation, there is no peace. People face difficulties every day. They cannot live in their villages.' Naw Shee Eh Plo, the eldest daughter of Karen revolutionaries, came to Mae La in 1997 because it was unsafe at home. 'If we cannot go back to Burma or another country, then I prefer to stay here,' she says. 'I don't have hope for peace in Burma.' Saw Bweh Say, the Karen committee secretary, hopes Thailand will change its position on recognising refugees, allowing adults to work and children to attend formal education. Still, he is grateful. For 50 years, the Thai government and people have allowed the Karen refugees a safe haven. For those still in the Karen lands of Myanmar, life can be upended – and ended – at any moment by military air raids and drone attacks. This masthead met a group of internally displaced people in the Thai town of Noh Bo, about 50 kilometres north of the Mae La camp. Loading The men had crossed the shallow Moei River border that morning – not because of an immediate threat, but because they wanted Australians to be aware of what is happening to them and their country. The Myanmar civil war, though unfolding in Australia's region, is overshadowed by the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, and now Iran. But it is no less barbarous, claiming about 50,000 lives, including 6000 civilians, since February 2021. About 20 million people – more than a third of Myanmar's population – need humanitarian assistance and 3.5 million people are internally displaced. These young men are among these numbers. On February 27, the State Administration Council, as the military regime is called, bombed positions of the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar's many ethnic resistance forces. The fighting was almost at the village of Pu Lu Palaw, forcing the civilians to wade over the river to the safety of Noh Bo, aided by Thai military border patrol teams. 'We could not even bring anything with us,' Saw Hser Khu, a weathered 39-year-old former fisherman, says. Hundreds crammed inside the Noh Bo church. Hundreds more slept where they could outside. When things calmed down, they crossed back to Myanmar, but Pu Lu Palaw was still not safe. 'Mostly, people now sleep by riverbank, but those who are quick, they stay in their homes,' Saw Hser Khu says with a grin, only half-joking. Some have family on the Thailand side, and this masthead witnessed several family groups crossing the river with sacks of rice and whatever else they could carry above the waist-high waterline. Military planes are a regular sight and sound above the hazy mountains. 'If the [regime] see a lot of people in the village, they will bomb,' Saw Hser Khu says. 'We were lucky that we were already in hiding.' Almost all the group living in Pu Lu Palaw has fled there from elsewhere in Myanmar because of the fighting. Now, they are displaced again. As there is almost no work, the villagers on the riverbank rely on charity and NGOs for most of their needs. Those with a little bit of money sometimes cross into Noh Bo to buy rice and supplies. Those without often go hungry, the men say. At the end of the day, it is time for the villagers to leave Noh Bo and return to the Myanmar riverbank. This masthead follows them down the steep track, past the Thai military observation post. They pause on the way to point out an abandoned regime military base, shrouded by trees at the tip of a Myanmar mountain. At the river, we exchange thank yous and farewells. Then, they pull up their shorts and pants legs, and wade back to broken Myanmar.
Saudi Gazette
12-02-2025
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Trump's foreign aid freeze: Patients lifted from hospital beds risk death in Thailand
MAE SOT, Thailand — Plastic tubes meander from Rosella's nose to a nearby oxygen tank that's bigger than she is, as she flicks through a book of her drawings: a flower, a house, a 9-year-old needs non-stop medical attention for the bone condition she was born with that has left her ribs pushing dangerously on her lungs, one of which is not working as it should.'She cannot breathe properly,' her mother, Rebecca, 27, tells CNN via video call. 'She needs a constant supply of oxygen.' But she doesn't know how long it will and her mother are refugees living in one of nine remote camps dotted along Thailand's mountainous border with 100,000 people live in the camps, having fled decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebel groups. The situation at the border has worsened in recent years by the junta's coup and ensuing civil La is the biggest camp and its US-funded hospital is the only source of health care for more than 37,000 people living there – mostly from the ethnic Karen the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US' entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people.'We have never faced a problem like this before,' said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai in the Thai border camps live a fragile and isolated cannot legally work and need a permit to even leave the camp. The Thai government considers the camps temporary settlements, but some communities have been there for services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world's largest aid donor – through the International Rescue the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people.'If it's an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,' said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney medical oxygen, 'I will die,' she told CNN via video call from Mae some, it's already too late. In nearby Umpiem camp, an elderly lady with breathing problems died after she could not access supplemental oxygen due to the hospital closure, an IRC spokesperson refugees told CNN they now face the cost of treatments such as dialysis – a huge expense when most struggle to feed their IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones.'Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that's not enough,' said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half.'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel.'Refugees use a food card system to buy items in the camp shops, which is paid for by The Border Consortium. The food and cooking fuel are funded by the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the group said.'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel. So far, there is no alternative to the US grant,' said Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border organization has started prioritizing the most vulnerable refugees who have no income of their own, Riedmatten said, as the aid freeze and continuous arrival of new refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar drain the Tawatchai Yingtaweesak heard the camp hospitals had shut, his team raced to see how they could is the director of the Tha Song Yang hospital, about a 30-minute drive from sprawling Mae no doctors on duty in the camps, his hospital and several others have stepped in to treat refugees with serious and emergency said suddenly closing the US-funded hospital was 'dangerous' and, since the aid freeze, his facility has taken in between 20 and 30 refugee is working with camp medics and helping to deliver oxygen, among other supplies, but says this can only be a temporary fix. His hospital serves about 100,000 people and while they can cope, he worries that this year's rainy season will overwhelm starting around June, the monsoon is 'high season for disease,' Tawatchai said, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases and children with pneumonia.'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?'Naw Mary, 32, was rushed to the maternity ward at Tha Song Yang on Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure. Far from her family and home at the camp, she was about to give birth to her first child.'They said it was risky to deliver a child in the camp without a doctor and facilities so they referred me to this hospital,' Naw Mary and excited to bring her baby into the world, Naw Mary also said she's concerned about follow-up care for her newborn and herself.'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' she pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration's include cuts to vaccines, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people.'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need.'For more than 30 years, the Mae Tao clinic near Mae Sot has been a lifeline for vulnerable and impoverished migrants from Myanmar. The clinic handles almost 500 patients a day, and 20% of its funding comes from the that funding has been put on hold, the clinic has to reallocate part of its budget so their healthcare services are not impacted.'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need,' said Saw Than Lwin, deputy director of organization and development at Mae the clinic, aid workers with the Burma Children Medical Fund load boxes of supplies containing food, infant formula baby milk powder, medicine, and eye screening kits, into a headed across the Moei River, a border between Thailand and Myanmar, to help thousands of people just kilometers away displaced by Myanmar military airstrikes and ground needs in Myanmar are huge, aid workers say, where millions of people struggle with hunger, trauma and the constant threat of attacks.'The places that we're working in are the remotest areas in all of Burma, very hard to reach communities without other alternatives to medical assistance,' said Salai Za Uk Ling, founder of the Chin Human Rights Organization.'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?'About 30% of CHRO's funding comes from the USAID and the group, which provides medical and mental health care to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar's northwest, has had to cut vital services and lay off staff in the past three weeks.'Rural communities, people who are living in displaced situation, don't know a whole lot about international politics, all they care about is their daily survival,' Za Uk said.'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?'In Myanmar's Kayah state, also known as Karenni, the aid suspension has meant teachers' salaries cannot be paid, leaving kids without education, said Banya Khung Aung, founder and director of the Karenni Human Rights they had more notice, groups like his could have sourced alternative funding, he Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the US is continuing to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid. Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated last week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs.'If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that,' Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven't applied for a least six organizations that CNN spoke to in northern Thailand said they had not received waivers, or even been reviewed. And USAID employees told CNN almost all humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped.'A week or two ago people thought the waiver process would be legitimate, and programs would be reviewed,' one USAID employee based in Washington, DC, told CNN. 'When it became clear that was not happening, there was a complete sense of shock.'Another USAID employee told CNN 'work is grounded to a halt because there's no staff to manage it, and there's no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.'Even if funds are made available after the 90-day freeze, 'who would then communicate to us or be knowledgeable enough to process what is left of the system?' asked Za Uk from his January 20 executive order, President Donald Trump said the 'US foreign aid industry' serves to 'destabilize world peace' and is 'in many cases antithetical to American values.'But those affected in northern Thailand are some of the world's most vulnerable people who rely on US aid to Mae La camp, Rosella can't stray far from her oxygen tank. She needs one tank every two days, her mother their family's situation is that Rebecca is five months pregnant. She used to get her ultrasounds and prenatal care at the hospital, but that has all stopped as well.'I don't know what to do. There are no doctors to go and see right now for this pregnancy,' she said. 'I'm worried for my daughter and this pregnancy, worried for everyone.' — CNN
CNN
11-02-2025
- Health
- CNN
No doctors for sick children. This is the reality of Trump's aid freeze in remote northern Thailand
Plastic tubes meander from Rosella's nose to a nearby oxygen tank that's bigger than she is, as she flicks through a book of her drawings: a flower, a house, a chicken. The 9-year-old needs non-stop medical attention for the bone condition she was born with that has left her ribs pushing dangerously on her lungs, one of which is not working as it should. 'She cannot breathe properly,' her mother, Rebecca, 27, tells CNN via video call. 'She needs a constant supply of oxygen.' But she doesn't know how long it will last. Rosella and her mother are refugees living in one of nine remote camps dotted along Thailand's mountainous border with Myanmar. About 100,000 people live in the camps, having fled decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebel groups. The situation at the border has worsened in recent years by the junta's coup and ensuing civil war. Mae La is the biggest camp and its US-funded hospital is the only source of health care for more than 37,000 people living there – mostly from the ethnic Karen minority. When the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US' entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee community. Video posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in blankets. Rosella was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat her. Numerous aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the border. Some told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people. 'We have never faced a problem like this before,' said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai camps. Refugees in the Thai border camps live a fragile and isolated existence. They cannot legally work and need a permit to even leave the camp. The Thai government considers the camps temporary settlements, but some communities have been there for generations. Basic services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world's largest aid donor – through the International Rescue Committee. Though the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people. 'If it's an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,' said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney disease. Without medical oxygen, 'I will die,' she told CNN via video call from Mae La. For some, it's already too late. In nearby Umpiem camp, an elderly lady with breathing problems died after she could not access supplemental oxygen due to the hospital closure, an IRC spokesperson said. Other refugees told CNN they now face the cost for treatments such as dialysis – a huge expense when most struggle to feed their families. An IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US funds. Teams of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones. 'Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that's not enough,' said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae Sot. Compounding their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel.' Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium Refugees use a food card system to buy items in the camp shops, which is paid for by The Border Consortium. The food and cooking fuel are funded by State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the group said. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel. So far, there is no alternative to the US grant,' said Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium. The organization has started prioritizing the most vulnerable refugees who have no income of their own, Riedmatten said, as the aid freeze and continuous arrival of new refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar drains the funds. When Tawatchai Yingtaweesak heard the camp hospitals had shut, his team raced to see how they could help. Tawatchai is director of the Tha Song Yang hospital, about a 30-minute drive from sprawling Mae La. With no doctors on duty in the camps, his hospital and several others have stepped in to treat refugees with serious and emergency conditions. Tawatchai said suddenly closing the US-funded hospital was 'dangerous' and, since the aid freeze, his facility has taken in between 20 and 30 refugee patients. He is working with camp medics and helping to deliver oxygen, among other supplies, but says this can only be a temporary fix. His hospital serves about 100,000 people and while they can cope, he worries that this year's rainy season will overwhelm them. Typically starting around June, the monsoon is 'high season for disease,' Tawatchai said, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases and children with pneumonia. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' Naw Mary, refugee from Mae La camp Naw Mary, 32, was rushed to the maternity ward at Tha Song Yang on Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure. Far from her family and home at the camp, she was about to give birth to her first child. 'They said it was risky to deliver a child in the camp without a doctor and facilities so they referred me to this hospital,' Naw Mary said. Nervous and excited to bring her baby into the world, Naw Mary also said she's concerned about follow-up care for her newborn and herself. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' she asked. The pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee camps. CNN spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration's policy. They include cuts to vaccine, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need.' Saw Than Lwin, Mae Tao clinic Now that funding has been put on hold, the clinic has to reallocate part of its budget so their health care services are not impacted. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need,' said Saw Than Lwin, deputy director of organization and development at Mae Tao. Nearby the clinic, aid workers with the Burma Children Medical Fund load boxes of supplies containing food, infant formula baby milk powder, medicine, and eye screening kits, into a van. It's headed across the Moei River, a border between Thailand and Myanmar, to help thousands of people just kilometers away displaced by Myanmar military airstrikes and ground attacks. The needs in Myanmar are huge, aid workers say, where millions of people struggle with hunger, trauma and the constant threat of attacks. 'The places that we're working in are the remotest areas in all of Burma, very hard to reach communities without other alternatives to medical assistance,' said Salai Za Uk Ling, founder of the Chin Human Rights Organization. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO About 30% of CHRO's funding comes from the USAID and the group, which provides medical and mental health care to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar's northwest, has had to cut vital services and lay off staff in the past three weeks. 'Rural communities, people who are living in displaced situation, don't know a whole lot about international politics, all they care about is their daily survival,' Za Uk said. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' In Myanmar's Kayah state, also known as Karenni, the aid suspension has meant teachers' salaries cannot be paid, leaving kids without education, said Banya Khung Aung, founder and director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. If they had more notice, groups like his could have sourced alternative funding, he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the US is continuing to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid. Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated last week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs. 'If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that,' Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven't applied for a waiver. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO At least six organizations that CNN spoke to in northern Thailand said they had not received waivers, or even been reviewed. And USAID employees told CNN almost all humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped. 'A week or two ago people thought the waiver process would be legitimate, and programs would be reviewed,' one USAID employee based in Washington, DC, told CNN. 'When it became clear that was not happening, there was a complete sense of shock.' Another USAID employee told CNN 'work is grounded to a halt because there's no staff to manage it, and there's no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.' Even if funds are made available after the 90-day freeze, 'who would then communicate to us or be knowledgeable enough to process what is left of the system?' asked Za Uk from CHRO. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' In his January 20 executive order, President Donald Trump said the 'US foreign aid industry' serves to 'destabilize world peace' and is 'in many cases antithetical to American values.' But those affected in northern Thailand are some of the world's most vulnerable people who rely on US aid to survive. In Mae La camp, Rosella can't stray far from her oxygen tank. She needs one tank every two days, her mother said. Complicating their family's situation is that Rebecca is five months pregnant. She used to get her ultrasounds and prenatal care at the hospital, but that has all stopped as well. 'I don't know what to do. There are no doctors to go and see right now for this pregnancy,' she said. 'I'm worried for my daughter and this pregnancy, worried for everyone.'
