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authorities and bcgan walking
through a virtual city of temporary
shelters filled with more than 40,000
pathetic remnants of the Cambodian
race.
"As 1 walked with Vinai down the
dusty paths separating different sec–
tions of thc camp, 1 was totally
unprepared for what 1 saw.
" 1 observed the people of the camp
as they went about their daily rou–
tine. Gaunt, tircd mothers attempt–
ing to wash the dirt and the grime of
cooking fires from their children.
Elderly men crouched in the dirt
talking and shading themselves from
the intense mid-day sun. Women
walking slowly down the dirt tracks
carrying their sick children to the
infirmary, themsclves coughing and
wheezing, in need of medica! atten–
tion. Children carrying tins of whole
grain rice gruel, their only food, back
to their family shelters.
"We visited one young man pre–
paring his family's meal over an open
fire. That meal consisted of only
white rice, granulated sugar and a
few tiny dried fish. He told us that he
was very happy his family was able to
eat again. In Cambodia they often
had had no food for days.
"This was the same answer that
we received from everyone that we
questioned about the food in the
camps. Thcy usually had no fruit, no
meat or vcgetables, but they had
24
Roy•l Thai Army Photo
enough to eat! They were happy to be
here.
"When it rains in this part of
Thailand, the camp becomes inun–
dated. Oue to a lack of adequate
shelter, the refugees are exposed to
the elements and the camp becomes a
virtual sea of mud. Ouring tl)e dry
season the problem of water is of a
very different nature. This camp pos–
sesses only two wells to serve the
needs of the entire refugee popula–
tion of 40,000.
"When we looked into one of the
wells, we discovered that it was
already completely dry with only
mud at the bottom. When we spoke
to the Tha i , military authorities of
this camp, we asked them how the
refugees were supplied with suffi–
cient water. They told us that they
must bring in more than 100 trucks
each day in order to provide suffi–
cient water.
"As the dry season begins, and
more and more refugees are brought
to the camp, the problem of water
supplies would reach the critica!
stage.
"At the infirmary a long line of
refugees were outside awaiting medí–
cal attention. Sorne were too weak to
walk by themselves and had to be
helped by others. The one thing that
struck me the most when 1 entered
the building was the extreme fatigue
that was in the faces of the doctor
and his two assistants. They had been
working long hours with little or no
relief trying to deal with the thou–
sands of cases of disease and mala–
dies due to malnutrition.
" 1
talked brieny with Dr. J oe
Barnes, an American physician.
Briefty, because as we talked, he
continued to administer to the slow,
almost unending st ream of sick refu–
gees in his small, sparsely furnished
examination room. Dr. Barnes told
me that many still had problems with
malaria, dysentery and especially
ftu. He explained that most of those
who were too weak to be helped
were already dead. At the time of
my visit, the number of deaths had
been reduced to only two or three
per day. (Our driver watched sol–
diers carry two bodies out of the
camp during the period that we
were there.) He also mentioned
there was also life; more than 100
babies had been delivered so far
since the camp was set up four
weeks before our visit.
" 1 asked Dr. Barnes what is the
single most important need of the
refugees. He answered, pointing out
a window: 'Look out there at the
thousands of people jammed to–
gether. They have plenty of fresh a ir,
but they need toilets.' Fresh air
would aid in checking disease, but
because the refugees had no proper
latrines, the spread of local epidemics
The
PLAIN TRUTH