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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
August 7, 2008
Statement by Mrs. Laura Bush During a Visit to Mae la Refugee Camp
Mae La Refugee Camp
Mae Sot, Thailand
9:53 A.M. (Local)
MRS. BUSH: Thank you for coming with me today to this camp, one of the largest refugee camps here on the border. The border is right here, right at the top of the mountain, the border with Burma. And the Thai government and the people of Thailand are very generous in letting these camps be here.
This is an opportunity, first -- we just saw two of the traditional things that any culture that we visited would welcome us with -- a dance, and then the weaving that the women are doing here, that they all do. They do this -- there's a number of consortiums with NGOs to be able to allow women to use this what is a traditional Karen craft, being able to weave like this, to make some money. There are some ways you can buy this off the Internet from consortiums that work with the women here in this camp, or for you, members of the press, you'll have a chance yourselves to participate if you want to take something home to your spouses. So I want to encourage you to do that.
Thank you all for coming with me. We'll just continue around the camp. We'll see a lot of other things, and I'll talk with all of you again at different spots on the trip.
So thank you all for joining us today.
END 9:55 A.M. (Local)
