The only thing that has changed since then is that the Maw Ker camp has doubled in size, a fitting symbol for the misery that seems ever multiplying for the Karen people - and for Burma.
"At present, we are happy here," said Mya Thien's wife, Lulu, her face painted in tamarind bark, the traditional Burmese beauty cream. "Even though we have nothing, we can live safely, free from control of the Burmese troops."
"But we have no hope for the future."
Hope for the future in Burma has been in short supply for the last two years - ever since the country's xenophobic military dictators voided elections that they lost and imprisoned those who had trounced the ruling party at the polls, including Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the nation's democracy movement.
She is under house arrest and has not been heard from since she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December.
The Burmese army and air force are waging their latest dry-season offensive against Karen insurgents along a jagged, mountainous border that runs for 700 miles down a slender strip of Burma, bordering Thailand. The Karen are a Sino- Tibetan minority in Burma, who have been fighting for independence from Burma since 1948 in one of the world's longest and most obscure rebellions.
In the most recent government offensive, the Burmese army has continued taking Karen territory along the border. It has driven more than 8,000 new refugees into Thailand since mid-December, bringing the total on the border to more than 65,000. More than 300 people are believed to have died in fighting since the government offensive began in November.
The government troops have pushed the Karen National Liberation Army farther up against the Thai-Burma border, now threatening its two remaining strongholds, Kamura and the Karen headquarters at Manerplaw.
