First Lady Laura Bush's Visit to Refugee Camp in Thailand

Mae Sot, Thailand, August 7, 2008: First Lady Laura Bush visited the Mae La Refugee Camp during travel to Thailand.

	Mrs. Laura Bush and daughter Ms. Barbara Bush talk with a nurse Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008 at Mae Tao Clinic at the Mae La Refugee Camp, which provides free treatment for the sick and wounded Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot, Thailand.
	Mrs. Laura Bush and daughter Ms. Barbara Bush try on shawls created by weavers carrying on the traditional Karen ethnic craft at the Mae La Refugee Camp at Mae Sot, Thailand. In her Aug. 7, 2008 comments, Mrs. Bush pointed out that the weavings are done to help generate money for the refugees and can be purchased via the Internet through consortiums that work with women at the camp. The camp houses at least 39,000 refugees waiting for a safe time to return to their home country. Many have decided the wait of 20 years has been too long and have immigrated to the United States and other countries.
	Mrs. Laura Bush watches as an English student works at the chalkboard of a grammar class at the Mae La Refugee Camp in Mae Sot, Thailand, on Aug. 7, 2008. The English lesson on the chalkboard uses the sentence to discuss compound sentence structure: "My life in refugee is better than Burma but I don't have opportunity to go outside of my camp.” The Aug. 7, 2008 visit to the camp in Mae Sot, Thailand, highlighted the fact that it has been 20 years since the crackdown in Burma that sent many people fleeing the dire conditions. Many residents have been born in one of the nine camps along the border or have lived most of their lives there.
	During her visit to the Mae La Refugee Camp in Mae Sot, Thailand, Mrs. Laura Bush visits with a class studying grammar. Mrs. Bush's daughter, Ms. Barbara Bush is to the right of Mrs. Bush in the Aug. 7, 2008 visit. The camp, the largest of nine on the border, houses at least 39,000 refugees fleeing the oppression in Burma.
	Mrs. Laura Bush listens as she participates in a discussion with community leaders in the Mae La Refugee Camp in Mae Sot, Thailand on Aug. 7, 2008. The visit to the Community Center was one of several stops at the refugee camp, which is the largest of nine along Thailand’s western border with Burma. Mrs. Bush noted that since 2005, more than 30,000 Burmese have moved to the United States in this long-standing exile.
	Mrs. Laura Bush visits a prosthetics workshop in the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, on Aug. 7, 2008. Traveling with Mrs. Bush is her daughter, Ms. Barbara Bush, nearby, who is flanked by two host guides. Many of the refugees from Burma need prosthetics because of injuries from land mines. Twenty years have passed since the August 8, 1988 crackdown began in Burma. At least 39,000 Burmese refugees are in the Mae Sot Refugee Camp, one of nine in Thailand along the Burma border.

 [White House photos by Shealah Craighead]