Beekeeping with the Karen at the Global Neighbours Farm

The Karen people are packed up along the border, fill huge refugee camps here, sneak in to work illegally throughout Thailand, wear traditional brass rings meant to elongate their necks in the hopes of attracting tourist money, even though the practice had nearly died out before the tourists came.

Their language is quite different from Thai, making it harder for them to blend in and disappear than for the Shan, whose language is closely related to Thai. The Karen are as persecuted in Burma as the Shan (and Mon, Arakan, Rohingya, Chin, Wa...). Like the other ethnic groups they have a rebel army fighting vicious ambush warfare against the Burmese military in jungle.

Here in Mae Sot Karen trickle in from the Burmese countryside, cross the Friendship Bridge from Myawaddy town, take boats across the muddy river, and escape the Mae La refugee camp not far from here. They come for work and help.

A young NGO from Saskatchewan called Global Neighbors has a farm on the edge of town meant to train Karen migrants and make money to pour back into Mae La or other refugee aid projects.

The Karen staff's temporary living quarters on the farm is a typical raised bamboo longhouse, thatched with layers of dried leaves. Chester explains a slideshow about beekeeping to a group crowded around his computer. Through Henry Tha Won Phirachenchei's interpreting, the group ask if the bees sting, why do beekeepers blow smoke into the hive, how to extract honey. They laugh at pictures of a beekeeper clipping the queen bee's wings, saying they don't think they could be that careful. Outside the hut geckos, chickens and dogs compete for sound space.


The Karen are dark, with angular faces accentuated by strong jaws and high cheek bones. Their teeth are filed straight and often stained from chewing betelnut.

"So," Henry asks, "we need to plant many many flowers?...So, I will plant around the stream here, flower flower flower... Now I will try to call someone. Behind the house have a very big hive." Henry is all action. Already he's on his cellphone, still watching the bee video from the corner of his eye.

The crowd grows in the hut as young men come in for lunch. When Henry's finished on the phone they start asking questions again: How do you catch a swarm? Do bees sleep in the day? Should they look for the big bees that live in the trees, or the little ones in the ground? How big should they make the hive boxes?

The air becomes thick with the smell of betelnut once men fill the hut. They wear longgyis or faded jeans.