To simplify references for the sake of the following story, Burma is used throughout. First time to speak to an international audience. Five days before they had sneaked across Burma's border into Thailand, stumbling out of the jungle, hoping to encounter friendly people nearby. For nearly three weeks, the couple had been forced to serve as porters for the Burmese army. They finally fled from their village, just ahead of Burmese army troops intent on confiscating homes and fields and driving residents out.
Forced relocations are part of an ongoing effort by the Burmese military to crush civil unrest.
In its 38th year of rule by junta, the country's brutal military regime has maintained power by routing out all opposition. As part of the government's strategy to prevent dissenters from organizing, tens of thousands of poor people have been forced out of their homes in recent years and resettled in rural slums. A few weeks before the fleeing couple left Burma, they had been separated from their eight children. Now they had no idea of their whereabouts. Though the couple did not give the children's ages, they indicated that they were old enough to be working in the family orchard, located outside their town.