In the Mae La camp for Karen refugees, near Mae Sot, on the Burma-Thai border, 75 young women have become pregnant so far this year, according to statistics kept by the camp clinic. But, like the Ban Tractor camp, the statistics are probably incomplete because many young women shun the clinic, reluctant to make their pregnancy officially known.
The clinic’s ethnic Karen director, Billion, says the free distribution of condoms and sex education are avoided out of respect for traditional Karen values. Says Billion: “We have to avoid causing shock.”
The problem is not only rooted in an enduring conservative tradition and an unbridgeable generation gap, however. The church, which plays a major role in Karen and Karenni life, bears much responsibility, maintain many critics.
In July, a church in
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