ABSTRACT
We were able to drive the whole way to the Karen village of Pa Pong Tam, which means literally “low village”. The track off the main road, however, was very bumpy and we had to cross several rickety bridges and negotiate several patches of mud before we arrived. Unlike the other hill tribes, the Karen have lived in Thailand for a long time, some say since the thirteenth century. They are the largest tribal minority in Thailand and are very familiar with the Thais, calling them jaa, or “old friends”. Also unlike the other groups, the Karen have a form of swidden agriculture with rotation of crops, which means that they do not have to move their villages very often. They tend to live at lower altitudes than other groups with their villages, like this one, being built on a slope close to a river at the bottom of a valley. After the journey it seemed that we were a long way from so-called civilization and I was therefore very surprised when, on getting out of the van, the first thing I saw was a children’s playground. Not only was this covered with grass and enclosed so that the animals couldn’t get to it, but the slide, swings and roundabout were all in working order. There was also a substantial school building together with the teacher’s house and a community meeting hall. This was clearly a village of some substance.
