Pah said the refugees consume a large amount of food every day, meaning that further supplies of food and medicine are desperately required. He added that charitable organizations from the United Kingdom, the United States and China have attempted to provide relief, but to no avail. "Most people in the camps are women and children. They are vulnerable to a wide range of diseases, especially when the rainy season comes in April," he added.

One volunteer, who gave his name as Zhang, has been helping the refugees for around 18 months. He said the hospital in Laiza has treated many people injured in the fighting or hit by shrapnel during air raids. "One extreme case was that of a soldier whose left foot was blown off. This war is really cruel and should be stopped."

Fu Xing, a 25-year-old volunteer from Shandong province, has been teaching Chinese at the Je Yang Hka refugee camp for 12 months. The confl ict has not lessened the popularity of Chinese classes in the border city.

The international community should consider providing more humanitarian aid to the refugees to alleviate their suffering, said He Shengda, a researcher at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.

A quiet town

Currently, 107 students from Kachin are studying at Nabang Gateway Primary School; 90 percent of them are from Laiza. On Jan 17, the last day of the semester, many Chinese parents gathered at the school gate and waited to take their children home. Kachin parents prefer their children to stay at school because their homes have been destroyed or are too dangerous to live in, according to the principal Zhang Yongjun.

The Yingjiang county government has set up four camps to receive Kachin refugees, but no specific action plans have yet been formulated.

Zhang recalled that when he arrived in Nabang in 1999, most of the houses in Laiza were made of wood. However, as trade expanded, brick buildings were erected, and the city now bears a striking resemblance to neighboring Nabang, he said.