Gong Mong Mung (Hill View Place) LDP camp

Gong Mong Mung is the newest of the SSA's IDP camps. “Mung” is the same as that in “Muang Tai,” the Shan's name for Shan State. The Shan call themselves the Tai. Mung means state, or place. Roughly translated, Gong Mong Mung means “Hill View Place.” It was established in 2007, but not as a result of the September 2007 monks' Saffron Revolution. Most of its 60 families came from a nearby Burmese town that was formerly the headquarters of the Muang Tai Army, until the MTA leader surrendered and the Burmese attacked. Life is still hard for them there because of that.

Unlike the other IDP camps, many of the buildings are adobe. It may be because there is a much larger than usual proportion of Wa and Pa'o mixed in with the Shan. The Commander's place is adobe, with a kitchen, a bedroom and a main room a quarter full with supplies like mosquito nets. He also has wood-shuttered windows, a well made bamboo gazebo, raised flower beds and bamboo fencing. Here, as in Loi Tai Leng, electric cables are strung down the street on sturdy poles.

The SSA commander is a strange looking man. Pale, broad faced, bad haircut and sores on his chin. He wears an expensive looking watch, a ruby ring and a “We Love Shan State” T-shirt.

It's a tiny village, with a tiny feel. For now there are only four orphans, only one land mine amputee. Most of the town sits in a bowl shaped valley perhaps half a kilometre across, surrounded by steep forested hills. At Gong Mong Mung's main entrance stands a blue oriental archway. Just a few hundred feet before that is the Thai-Burma border with a Thai military checkpoint, with a red and white striped barrier pole and just one young border guard manning the hut. The kilometre of dirt road before him is met by farmland, then a Chinese village on a lake. It's a beautiful, peaceful setting.

There are three teachers and 50 students in the school, between Grades 1-3. Higher grades will be added as the town grows, more teachers come, and the school adds more classrooms. It is currently quite small – one tiny class building one office building, one dining hut.

As in the refugee camps and other IDP villages many of the students were sent ahead to live with extended family. In Gong Mong Mung they can get better education than inside. The school teaches Thai, English, Burmese, Shan, History, Geography and Math. Later, their families may move here to join them.