Thailand's largest refugee camp welcomes Aung San Suu Kyi

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By Sara Sidner and Kocha Olarn, CNN
updated 3:24 AM EDT, Sun June 3, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Aung San Suu Kyi rounds of historic Thai trip with visit to largest refugee camp in the country

Many of the 30,000 inhabitants fled persecution from Myanmar's military regime

Some wish to return to Myanmar, but prefer to wait for reforms in Myanmar to continue

Pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi recently elected to Myanmar's parliament

Mae Sot, Thailand (CNN) -- In a valley in the misty hills of Mae Sot sits Thailand's largest refugee camp -- a maze of mud alleyways stuffed with bamboo and wood huts.

The camp is filled with people who fled Myanmar before the country's regime signaled its intent to come in from the diplomatic cold.

For the majority of the 30,000 people living there, the camp is their entire world. Their daily routine changes little because they can't go into the rest of Thailand or they will be arrested, and they won't go back to Myanmar because they are still afraid or have nothing to go back to.

But on this day there was something exciting happening inside the camp, something that has never happened before.

Hundreds of people streamed onto a football field inside the camp to see a woman many consider a hero. They were waving the Burmese flag and chanting: "Mae Suu, Mae Suu," which in English means Mother Suu.

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http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/03/world/asia/thailand-suu-kyi-refugee-camp/index.html