Inserts:

00:01 Report by / Georg Matthes
01:24 Georg Matthes / DW Asia Pacific Bureau Chief, near Mae La, Thailand-Myanmar border
02:00 Tawatchai Yingtaweesak, Tha Song Yan Hospital Director
02:37 Wai Yan / Refugee

Script:

Catching freshwater crabs - for these Burmese refugees it's a rare moment of joy. The family of three lives in camp Mae La, one of Thailand's oldest refugee centres on the border with Myanmar. Like many of the camp's some 30,000 refugees, they were born here and now pin their hopes on a new labour program the Thai government has set up.

00:25
+++ SOT Rahimahullah: +++
"I have done the blood test and they took my fingerprints. I think they will send me to Bangkok but I don't have an update yet. I just know it’s a chicken farm."

00:39
+++ SOT Shakeelah: +++
"I have also applied for the chicken farm but I haven't given my fingerprints yet. Living here is so difficult. We go hungry on many days. I applied to change things for the better."

00:54
The couple says life inside the camps has deteriorated since major international aid, including from USAID, was cut. Theft and drug use they say - are on the rise. Around 80,000 refugees have been forced to live in several camps along the Myanmar border for decades. Although many Burmese already find casual work in shops around Mae Sot, formal legal employment has been out of reach - until now.

01:23
+++ PTC Georg Matthes: +++
"Thailand is short of migrant labour. After the border clashes with neighbouring Cambodia half a million Cambodians rushed home. Many here say that the Thai government now hopes that this move will help and plug the gap."

01:36
Another hope is that giving the refugees work will reduce the costs of healthcare provision. This Thai hospital is already struggling with the financial burden of caring for thousands of people like these new-born babies from the camp. The director thinks the employment programme could be a game changer.

01:56
+++ SOT Dr. Tawatchai Yingtaweesak, Tha Song Yan Hospital Director: +++
"With more income they can support their family to buy food or good sanitation and another one is they can buy insurance for their family, so that their family can be not the burden of the hospital and the insurance can support the hospital too."

02:18
Getting an insurance plan is exactly what Wai Yan hopes to do too. The 32-year-old has two children and a sick wife, and until now was not allowed to work. Today he's heading for a job interview in a nearby factory.

02:35
+++ Wai Yan, refugee: +++
"There are a lot of people with health issues such as diabetes and heart disease((s)). My mother has both and my wife has kidney stones and a liver problem, and she vomits blood quite often."

02:49
If this labour program turns out to be the win-win the government hopes, the refugee camps along the border could finally start to shrink. 
A sliver of hope, with the civil war in Myanmar showing no signs of ending - the chances of people returning home soon - remain slim.

END