Elephant camps in Thailand, a sanctuary for Myanmar’s displaced

From police station to elephant home Among the many migrant workers is La Khun, a 28-year-old former policeman from Myanmar's Karenni State, whose weathered face gives him the appearance of an older man. La Khun’s life took an unexpected turn after he joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a boycott campaign by Myanmar government staff to overthrow military rule. After fleeing to an IDP camp, he now works in an elephant home in Thailand, assisting tourists with rafting and ziplining. “I was a police officer with nearly four years of experience in the force,” he said. When asked by Myanmar Now why he joined the CDM, he responded, “I didn’t like the military dictatorship.” “I didn’t like their actions, as they bully civilians,” he added. Despite the hardships of being displaced and adapting to a vastly different line of work, La Khun said that he remains satisfied with his decision to join the CDM. Myanmar’s generals, led by Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, staged a coup in 2021, toppling the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and making unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud against her party, the National League for Democracy. Since the military takeover, many parts of the country have been devastated by armed conflict, resulting in at least 3 million people displaced, and the flattening of villages, schools, monasteries and hospitals by junta airstrikes and heavy artillery. The daily attacks aim to suppress resistance movements, including those of ethnic armed groups. On November 11 last year, an offensive known as “Operation 1111” was launched by the anti-junta Karenni Nationalities Defence Force. As war raged in Loikaw, the Karenni State capital, La Khun and his family escaped along with hundreds of others. La Khun and his ailing parents sought refuge in an IDP camp, where the former police officer scrambled to find food to feed the family, relying on scant camp rations for their survival. Shortly after arriving, La Khun, the eldest of five siblings, realised he would be unable to support his parents if he stayed in the camp. He decided to leave to seek work across the border in Thailand. “I am here because the situation back there was really bad,” said La Khun, speaking hesitantly. La Khun said that working at the elephant camp is more demanding than being a police officer. “I had no prior experience, but I’m working hard,” he added. “Every three or four months, I can send some money back home,” he said. Ongoing fighting in Karenni State has disrupted telecommunications, making it difficult for most people in conflict areas, including La Khun, to stay connected to his family. “I miss home the most when I’m sick,” the former police officer said, wearing medicinal patches on his forehead to relieve headaches. Like everyone else who spoke with Myanmar Now in the elephant camp, La Khun is concerned for his family’s safety amid ongoing junta airstrikes and artillery shelling in Karenni State. Elephants in the camp as tourists pass by, October 2024 (Myanmar Now) Truck driver turned elephant feeder Emmanuel, 28, trekked through the rugged Karenni forest to make his way to Thailand, seeking cover under bushes when junta jets thundered overhead as he approached the Shan-Karenni State border. “When I arrived at the Shan border, I felt a huge relief,” Emmanuel said, recalling that it took him seven days to reach the elephant camp in Chiang Mai. Emmanuel rises at 4am daily to drive to areas as far north as the Thai-Myanmar border near Tachileik to collect sugarcane for the elephants. Around 9:30 or 10am, he returns with his haul to feed the four retired elephants who await him. Before the 2021 coup, Emmanuel worked as a truck driver for six years in Hpakant, a jade-mining hub in northern Myanmar’s Kachin State. He earned approximately 1 million kyat (US $470) per month, twice his current income. The Covid-19 pandemic forced him to leave his job, and he was unable to return to work after the coup. Emmanuel found work in Thailand through his uncle, who had a connection to someone at the elephant camp. Over the years, the camp has attracted hundreds of people, with many coming from Karenni State’s IDP camps and desperate for work. Emmanuel finds life more settled in Thailand compared to the chaos of Karenni State, where constant fear of airstrikes made sleep scarce. “If fighter jets or drones came close, someone had to wake everyone up to run,” he said. Despite his current distance from the warzone, Emmanuel remains haunted by his experiences back home. “Artillery shelling rained down day and night. We were constantly hiding and running from place to place,” he said. “Here I don’t have to run. But some days, I wake up two or three times a night with nightmares. I am still going through it,” he told Myanmar Now. Emmanuel worries for his family. He last spoke to his parents six months ago, and his ten siblings are scattered across the state. Contact is sporadic as they face ongoing offensives. Despite his relative safety, Emmanuel still yearns for his home in Karenni State, where close to half the population are Christian. He feels this longing particularly during December, when his family would gather in Loikaw for the festive season. “We used to sing all night, in front of as many houses as we could,” Emmanuel, a Catholic, recalled. “My favourite times were singing with a group of friends,” he said. “I want to return home, but I can’t because my parents depend on me. It will take longer than expected.” Though Emmanuel wishes to return home for Christmas, the horrifying Christmas Eve massacre of 2021, in which junta troops killed and burned over 30 civilians to death, continues to enrage him. “It is unacceptable that they killed innocent civilians. They should spare civilians and allow them to enjoy their special days,” he said. Were it not for the need to support his parents, Emmanuel said he would be fighting the junta on the frontlines. “My brothers are fighting, so I need to support the family. It’s like sharing our responsibility,” he told Myanmar Now.“But sometimes I want to fight them [the junta] with my own hands.” A worker from Myanmar bathing an elephant in the camp, October 2024 (Myanmar Now) A future in medicine lost Naw Phaw, a 19-year-old from Karenni State, began her job as a cleaner at the elephant camp at age 17. She works alongside other young women from her hometown who have found employment at the camp. The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent civil war in Myanmar dashed Naw Phaw’s dreams of becoming a doctor. Many schools closed in 2021, interrupting her education before she could even start high school. As Naw Phaw and her family struggled to feed themselves in an IDP camp, she realised her hope of becoming a doctor, inspired by grandparents’ deaths due to a lack of medical care, was unattainable. As the eldest of four children, Naw Phaw felt a responsibility to support her parents and younger siblings. “The war stripped away my dreams as well as my family’s livelihood,” she said. “Expenses were skyrocketing. Going back to our farm was almost impossible,” she added. “There was nothing we could do after becoming IDPs.” When asked if her parents had suggested she find work abroad, she replied quickly: “No, no parent would ever want their children to go abroad to support them—I did it voluntarily.” Having lost both of her grandparents in the displacement camps, Naw Phaw is deeply concerned for the wellbeing of her remaining family members amid the ongoing violence. “Both my grandmother and grandfather died due to a lack of access to the hospital—they were not allowed to travel,” she said, explaining that her grandmother, 60, died of liver disease and grandfather, 56, of heart disease. The continuing violence in Karenni State is constantly on her mind, she said, especially the children studying at school and other locals killed by airstrikes and artillery shelling. “It is painful that I myself was forced to stop my education. And it also pains me to see kids back home lose their futures while they continue to live in fear,” Naw Phaw said. “In villages, you never know when they will drop bombs on you,” she told Myanmar Now. She described her working conditions at the camp as relatively comfortable though at times physically demanding. However, she remains patient, knowing that her earnings will support her family back home. “Once in a while, I send around 700,000 kyat (US $330) from my savings,” she said, adding that she can’t afford to send money every month. Despite feeling somewhat secure at the elephant camp, Naw Phaw also longs to return home, especially during Myanmar holidays like Thadingyut, the second-most important Buddhist holiday of the year after Thingyan, the New Year’s water festival. “I miss those happy times being around my parents and other families,” said Naw Phaw, her eyes misting over. “I pray for Myanmar to become peaceful again so our young people can get their lives back,” she said. A mother and a baby elephant in a camp in Chiang Mai Province’s Mae Taeng District in Thailand, October 2024 (Myanmar Now) From farmer to mahout With hopes of supporting his wife and five children who remain in an IDP camp in Karenni State, Teenaw, a 50-year-old farmer, left his homeland in September 2022 to work as a mahout. Teenaw remembers the stress of living in Karenni State amid constant danger, unable to leave his home due to violence. He continues to worry for his family’s safety. “I didn’t have grey hair when I came here, now it has all turned grey,” he said, laughing, lifting his worn-out hat. Airstrikes targeted at schools, hospitals and other public spaces particularly concern him. “I don’t have to worry about myself as I live in freedom… [but] I have a five-year-old kid, who is studying at the IDP school, so I am tormented on a daily basis,” Teenaw said. Despite having had no intention of working abroad, and no prior experience with elephants, Teenaw said he has developed love for the animals through his daily care. “In my eyes, they are beautiful and lovely,” he said. “When I take a day off, I worry for them, thinking about whether my [two] elephants will get to eat or drink,” Teenaw said, adding, “I love them most when they listen to me, though sometimes they are mischievous and playful and run away.” Living away from his young children and wife, Teenaw feels a mix of sadness and guilt, though the companionship of the elephants has provided some comfort. “I never anticipated that I would have to live away from my family,” he said, tearing up. “It’s sad and depressing.” Teenaw has spent two years at the elephant camp, caring for two Myanmar elephants. Despite the elephants only responding to Karen and Thai commands, Teenaw has formed a strong bond with them. The farmer turned mahout starts his workday at 8am. He begins by cleaning the elephant shelter, then spends the rest of the day feeding, watering, and bathing the elephants. He also assists tourists who wish to feed the animals, completing his work at 5pm. “I love the elephants like my family, like human beings,” he said. “But I don’t want to stay here. I wish for Myanmar to become peaceful again,” he added. “I wish to go back home as soon as possible.”

Elephant camps in Thailand, a sanctuary for Myanmar’s displaced

Refugees uprooted by ongoing conflict in Karenni State find security and employment in a Chiang Mai elephant camp

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