Wat Tham Krabok, most widely known as a Buddhist temple that aided in drug rehabilitation, it was also the last remaining Hmong refugee camp left in Thailand. The camp was then home to more then 15,000 Hmong refugees that fled Laos into neighboring Thailand in 1975.
The Hmong, a tribal group from Laos, were recruited by the CIA to help fight the communist uprising in Laos during the...
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Wat Tham Krabok, most widely known as a Buddhist temple that aided in drug rehabilitation, it was also the last remaining Hmong refugee camp left in Thailand. The camp was then home to more then 15,000 Hmong refugees that fled Laos into neighboring Thailand in 1975.
The Hmong, a tribal group from Laos, were recruited by the CIA to help fight the communist uprising in Laos during the Vietnam war. After the US government pulled out of the Vietnam war, and Laos fell to communism (1975), the Hmong people fled to Thailand fearing for their lives for their help in fighting the war with the United States.
Thirty years later, Thailand shut down the last remaining Hmong refugee camp, and the United States tried to fulfill its promise to them of a homeland in the states for their part in the Vietnam war. The Hmong refugees, of which over 50% of the camps average was under 14 years old and who have gone through the interview process as well as received medical clearance, left the 133 acre camp.
This camp, which was their home for over 12 years, has also been under Thai military control for the last three years. The perimeter of the camp is lined with razor wire. This wire protects the Hmong people from outside threats, the military said but it was mainly to keep the Hmong out of the private Thai farm lands that surrounds the camp. The living quarters were mainly constructed from bamboo shoots or old corrugated steel, the floors were all dirt. There was no plumbing or running water in the camp although some did have limited electricity.
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