PART 1: This week’s farm inspection takes us to Ternawtheri Family Farm in Chapel Hill.

A huge part of these inspections is getting to know our farmers more and hear their backstories, and holy moly, the Wei family’s story is not one we can fit into just one post. Zar Ree and Lion Wei grew up in a small village along the Ternawtheri river in Burma. Zar Ree is a 5th generation farmer. Together, they raised fruit, vegetables, and animals on their land and would fill their canoes and paddle to the larger village each day to sell. In 1997, that all changed when civil war found its way to their region of Burma. The conflict forced over 100k Karen people (the ethnic group they belong to) to flee the country. Zar Ree, Lion, and their two oldest daughters were forced to flee their family land and spent two months navigating through thick jungle, hiding in mountain caves, and evading execution squads. They finally arrived in bordering Thailand with only the items they had on their backs. Unfortunately, the mass migration of the Karen people into these bordering regions was a contentious subject in Thailand and made for a very complex life. The international humanitarian aid they received only gave them 8 bamboo poles and a plastic tarp for their housing. The Wei family spent the next 9 years living in a refugee camp in Thailand as stateless and undocumented people. They were unable to obtain ID’s, work legally, or apply for citizenship in the county. Even their three children who were born in the camp were unable to receive Thai citizenship. Lion worked odd jobs for money. He would leave before dawn and come back after dusk so that he could escape the camp without being spotted and turned into authorities (there was a state sponsored system that paid people who turned in refugees). They worked with an NGO who provided a small plot of land near the camp to teach other refugees how to grow food, as well as raise their own so they could survive. After almost a decade of living as stateless refugees, they were finally granted asylum in the US in 2006. Continued in Part 2...