Land Mine Victims at the Mae Tao Clinic

19 year old land mine victim

Burma/Myanmar is one of four countries (the others being Israel, Syria, & Libya) left in the world that still actively place land mines. The ICBL (International Campaign to Ban Landmines) reports that “landmines and explosive remnants of war caused 4,191 casualties in 2010, 5% more than in 2009... [though] the real figure could be nearer 6,000 casualties.” The total number of Burmese and Karen people becoming victims of these nefarious weapons of war are unknown. However, it is clear that dozens of seriously wounded individuals cross into Thailand each year to seek medical care at the Mae Tao Clinic on the border town of Mae Sot.

Karen refugee adjusts his dressing.

The Mae Tao Clinic provides free health care for Burmese refugees. Its multiple departments help administer treatment to land mine victims. Its services include intensive care, trauma, the main land mine ward, and a prosthetics department that creates artificial limbs to help victims reintegrate into society after healing.

I noticed a patient chart hanging in the prosthetics department, which showed that large majority of land mine survivors are men. It was explained to me by a clinic staff member that, due to the patriarchal societal structure in their tribal and rural communities, most women stay at home to cook, clean and care for the children, while the men go out into the fields to farm or into the forests for wood. These activities drastically increased their chances of being injured.

Land mine victim in the Intensive Care Unit.

Documenting the various land mine cases at the Mae Tao Clinic was a difficult story to work through: I was working with an incapacitating fever at the time, but there was also a palpable feeling of helplessness. It pained me to see that there was very little that I could do to ease their pain. All I could do was hold their hand, speak a few words in broken Karen or Burmese, and photograph their lives, stories, and suffering to share it with the world. The whole time I was at the clinic, I felt isolated and alone. I empathized deeply with the emotions expressed by the victims as they lay in bed: alone, without friends or family, unable to do anything to improve their situation.

However, while this unfortunate reality was true, I noticed one very remarkable act - the smallest act of compassion or awareness could dramatically alter the mental states of the patients. No, I could not fix the damages that have been done to each refugee, but in this time of personal crisis, I found a recognition from the victims: Someone (and a white American, at that) had left their comfort zone and traveled a very long distance to understand the experiences of a people that can be easily overlooked and forgotten. I could see that it had become clear to the patience that, in desperate moments, there are still people around the world who care about them. It noticeably reignited a sense of hope.

That, to me, is the purpose of activism. No one person will ever change the world - if you set out with that goal, you will surely fail. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King would have been nothing without the thousands of ordinary people supporting them, who showed individuals acts of non-compliance. It is those everyday acts of compassion and resistance - holding a hand, words of comfort, showing compassion and caring- that will actually make a difference and invoke a positive change in our world.

We are never truly alone when connected to our common humanity.

Open wound.