S alt Lake Tribune reporter Julia Lyon says she drew a long stream of negative responses when she tried to make a trip to Thailand to find the Burmese refugee camp where Hser Ner Moo and her family lived before they came to Utah.
Hser Ner Moo is the little girl found murdered in her South Salt Lake neighbor's apartment about a year and a half ago. The Tribune ran a special section last Sunday about the case, a tragic tale that dramatically illustrates the plight of refugees in this country.
"I've never been told no as many times as I was before I went to Thailand. 'No, we can't help you access the refugee camps.' 'No, journalists aren't allowed in the refugee camps.' Perhaps being from a lesser-known paper complicated things. I e-mailed with a CNN reporter who made it sound like the camp doors swung open the second he arrived," Lyon said.
Finally, with the help of a $7,500 International Reporting Project grant, she flew to Thailand and spent almost a month hunting down the story. There was fighting on the northern border of Burma (Myanmar), driving more refugees into Thailand. The Thai government would not give her a refugee camp pass.
"I had arranged interviews in Bangkok for my first week in Thailand, but after that, my trip was open. I had assumed the names and sources I had built up before the trip would help me. In fact, I found the best approach was talking to anyone who would listen.
"My first night
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in Mae Sot, a town in Thailand near the Burmese border, I sat down in a bar, part-terrified, part-determined to find someone who could get me inside the camps. An older Burmese exile led me to Winston Win, who was critical to my success. Many beers and songs later, he contacted his friend at Mae La Camp. That person agreed to be my guide and, on occasion, interpreter," Lyon explained.
"Five grueling days later -- we had climbed up steep hills, waded in mud and gone back to people's homes countless times -- I had my story," she said.
But finding sources was not the only hardship. Each night Lyon made sure she had enough bottled water and food for the next day. In the early morning, she packed batteries, notebooks, pens and hand sanitizer then climbed on a rickety bike and rode to the bus station.
Lyon said, "I was on edge -- concerned that I would be turned in or kicked out. I typically kept my notebook and camera stuffed in my bag, only taking them out for seconds unless I was inside."
Hotels -- ranging from $5 to $50 a night -- were pretty basic. TV was not always available. "But I always stayed somewhere with Wi-Fi so I could work. On one occasion I watched Chinese state television because nothing else was on."
Lyon used bottled water to brush her teeth and drink, but there were several times when she got severely dehydrated and thought she might faint. "Truly the hardest thing to get used to was the heat and humidity. Sometimes it felt like showering was a waste of time."
Salt Lake Tribune Editor Nancy Conway applauds this kind of effort. "We support good journalism. We look for opportunities. International reporting widens your scope. The world is smaller now."
If you missed Julia's report -- called "A Missing Peace" -- in the newspaper, you can still read it online at www.sltrib.com.
Reader Advocate's number is 801-257-8782. Write to Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. E-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com.
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