SEAN MASTERSON PHOTOGRAPHY

International: The Karen

Refugees have long supported the soldiers of the KNU who maintain a constant presence in remote villages set up to house people who were driven from their homes by the Burmese government during a war that has been fought since 1948 in a struggle for greater autonomy. Though there is a temporary cease fire in the area known as the Karen State, soldiers and refugees are in constant peril from malaria and landmines scattered from nearly sixty years of fighting.

The jungle in which the Karen live is patrolled by armed groups from both Burma and the Karen National Union. While skirmishes have become an infrequent event, many are killed by the thousands of landmines that are scattered throughout the region. The conflict has also made it impossible for the Karen to maintain a steady supply of basic health-care needs or food.
   
Soldiers with the Karen National Union's (KNU) 202nd Battalion patrol the jungles near Mu Aye Pwe in Myanmar.
  
Soldiers with the Karen National Union's 202nd Battalion stop to rest.
     
  
Soldiers with the KNU’s 202nd Battalion arrive at a village in Mu Aye Pwe.
   
Karen refugees are treated for mine related injuries at the Mae La refugee camp, which has a population of nearly 50,000, near Mae Sot Thailand.
   
A soldier with the Karen National Union's 202nd Battalion receives treatment for malaria near Mu Aye Pwe in Myanmar on December 21, 2004. The chances that he will survive are complicated by the fact that adequate medical attention is severely limited in the Karen State.
     
  
Soldiers with the Karen National Union's (KNU) 202nd Battalion patrol the jungles near Mu Aye Pwe in Myanmar.
   
Soldiers with the Karen National Union's 202nd Battalion relax by watching Thai musicals at a base near the Thai border.
  
A Karen soldier tries to radio another patrol while visiting with villagers in a displaced peoples camp near the Thai-Myanmar border.