Her husband in the background is carrying a considerable weight in a basket using a tump line around his forehead. Although you cannot see it in this picture, the man has a prosthesis for a leg he lost probably to a land mine. The Karen have a truly amazing ability to walk up and down steep inclines carrying very heavy loads, and some with artificial legs. Of course not all of the heavy work is done by humans, elephants are used for the really big jobs. But an elephant in a refugee camp is a rare sight.
Elephants are generally too valuable to be used there.
As you can see this elephant has gathered a small group of children around him to watch in appreciation of his great strength. Because elephants are so valuable, and because their working life is generally longer than that of a man, elephants are frequently jointly owned and used by a father and son team. This picture shows the construction of a large bamboo structure such as would be used for a school, a monastery, or a boarding house for students. Many workers cooperate on such building projects. Here we see workers putting on a roof.