The quietly flowing Moei River, which forms part of the border between Thailand and Myanmar, can be seen as a metaphor for the silent anguish of the Karen refugees in Thailand who fled human rights abuses, violence and desperate economic conditions in Myanmar. For more than 60 years, Myanmar's largest ethnic group, the Karen, has been seeking greater autonomy in their homeland, which is also known as Burma -- a quest that has fueled one of the longest running internal conflicts in the world. Karen refugees began crossing into Thailand in 1984 and the Thai military started setting up refugee camps along the border about 20 years ago. In most of their accounts to the United Nations, the refugees speak of direct attacks by the Myanmar army, forced labor, enslavement, and destruction of their homes and crops. There are now around 140,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand, living in nine fenced camps along the border between the two countries. The largest camp is Mae La, which sits on a hill about 60 kilometers north of the border town of Mae Sot. Sam Lai, 36, often sits on this hill pondering the future of the camp's 43,000 refugees, especially the children. Lai is a volunteer with the non-governmental Taipei Overseas Peace Service (TOPS) , and the only one from the organization who is stationed in Mae Sot, where he has worked for seven years in collaboration with local and international organizations. 'It is deplorable that the Karen refugees are now stateless, have lost their freedom and have no legal identity or protection within Thailand,' Lai said. 'It is hard for people outside to imagine what life is like within the highly restricted refugee camps.' Since 1996, TOPS has been administering humanitarian and educational programs at Karen refugee camps and in Myanmar migrant communities in remote Thai villages. 'What we do is to help the refugees improve their lives, and in particular, we seek to help the children avoid the harrowing experiences of their parents,' Lai said. The children's education is an issue of great concern, according to Lai. At Mae La alone, TOPS runs more than 20 day-care centers as 38 percent of the Karen children there are of kindergarten age. 'Most children who are growing up in refugee camps do not have the slightest idea of what constitutes a normal life,' Lai said. Every week, Lai visits each of the camps in Mae Sot, driving seven to eight hours along the rugged mountain roads. He often spends the night at one of the camps to better assess the needs of the refugees. 'Sometimes I do get tired and frustrated, but I have discovered that my discomforts are nothing compared to the suffering of the displaced Karen refugees whose dreams of going home might never be realized,' he said. A major part of TOPS mission in Thailand is to help run schools for migrant Karen children in remote Thai villages. The schools built on the hillsides are open-sided thatched huts made of bamboo, but according to Lai, they are five- star havens to the Karen children who long to learn. These crude structures collapse easily during the rainy season from May to November. This year, some of them have not been rebuilt because of tighter financing since the global economic crisis broke, Lai said. Despite the challenges, Lai and others like him do their best to bring 21st century education to the refugee children. Taiwanese Chang Lee-an has been engaged in this effort since 2005 when he and Lai first met in Thailand. Chang, then a student in the Department of Information and Computer Engineering at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan, began to collect computer equipment after he returned to Taiwan that year from his summer break. He went back to Thailand in the summer of 2006 with the equipment to teach Karen children at Mae Sot camps how to use computers. Taking his efforts one step further, Chang established the Youth E-Service, Taiwan in January 2007 to foster youth voluntarism. 'It is good that Taiwan's college students are willing to do volunteer work during the summer and winter breaks, ' Lai said. This allows them to gain useful hands-on experience and gives them an opportunity to better understand the rest of the world.' The program is also aimed at fostering interaction among youth through the development of digital learning, he said. According to Lai, it takes many years of devoted work to make any significant difference. 'Humanitarian assistance is a long-term commitment and it requires professional knowledge, patience and a deep understanding of the problems. But Taiwanese tend to be more keen on short-term work,' he said. One of exceptions is Lin Liang-shu who has been volunteering at Karen refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border for many years. Lin first became involved in the work 20 years ago, when she was 25. She has now made Mae Sot her home and, along with friends in the area, has set up the 'Tak Border Child Association Foundation' to help refugee children. For volunteers like Lin and Lai, it is not only about helping others, but also about self-discovery and development. Lai said that through his interaction with the Karen refugees, he has learned to shed prejudices, to share his thoughts and emotions openly, and to find strength even in the most desperate situations. 'This work has also helped me to know myself better and to find ways of serving my own homeland, ' he said. 'I've discovered my own weak points, most of which derived from the easy life I had when I was growing up.' Nonetheless, after seven years of service in the camps, Lai has decided to quit his work with TOPS by the end of this year. He thinks that the search for life's meaning is a matter of giving one's self a chance to explore, and that happiness means choosing the thing that one wants most to do. 'I would like to slow down and reexamine my life, but humanitarian concerns -- particularly the future of Karen refugee children -- will remain a lifelong passion of mine,' he said. Enditem/ pc 