Aung San Suu Kyi Visits Thailand; Foreign Workers in Brazil
QUEST: Aung San Suu Kyi has received a rapturous welcome in Thailand on her first trip abroad in 24 years. The Burmese pro-democracy leader was mobbed by Burmese migrants, some of whom had waited many hours to glimpse her. Miss. Suu Kyi will address the World Economic Forum, taking place in the Thai capital on Friday. Today, Kyi offered hope to thousands of Burmese that they may soon be able to return home. CNN's Andrew Stevens now reports from the town of Matai, near Bangkok.</s>ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An emotional and uplifting moment for a migrant population living in Thailand with little hope in their lives. The woman many here describe as a savior, Aung San Suu Kyi, came to their town to listen to their issues and offer her support. It was a day many have dreamed of. And for some, it was overwhelming. "I was so happy that I cried," she told us. "We are living in Thailand and we are working and we are struggling and we want to go home." "Some people are living here 10 or 20 years. And this is like our savior come to see us." Some 2.5 million Burmese are estimated to live in Thailand, most as economic refugees. Aid groups say they are treated as second-class citizens, in many cases, preyed on by corrupt officials, forced to live hand to mouth. And they gathered in their thousands, singing the Burmese national anthem --</s>STEVENS: -- chanting her name, Daw Suu, Mother Suu, to welcome the person that they hope can one day bring them home to a better life. (on camera): We are now waiting for the imminent arrival of Aung San Suu Kyi. And the crowd has been building all morning. And the people I've been speaking to have very simple wishes. They want democracy. They want independence. They want jobs. And they want to go home. (voice-over): After waiting for hours in the blazing sun, the crowd erupted as she appeared on the balcony of a community center to make a brief speech. She would not forget them, she said. She would fight for their rights and to work towards making it possible for them to come back home. With that, she turned inside to get a clearer picture of the lives of her compatriots. (on camera): Upstairs here, Suu Kyi is now meeting leaders of the migrant community and also workers, and hearing some of the stories, some of the problems they face daily. (voice-over): And then deviating from the script, she spoke about what she'd heard.</s>AUNG SAN SUU KYI, LEADER, NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY: Of course, in such short meetings, I cannot really learn what all their problems are, but some of them are to do with the fact that the laws of this land, which do provide protection for workers, are not always observed.</s>STEVENS: From the relative calm inside to the tumultuous crowd waiting outside, hoping for one last glimpse, as she made her way to her car for the trip back to Bangkok. Brief though it was, her visit made a powerful impact. It was too much for some, but for most, a glimpse of a much brighter future. Andrew Stevens, CNN, Mahachai, Thailand.</s>QUEST: The whole question of those who migrate for security reasons is one part of the story. But what about when people go overseas for economic reasons, for a better way of life? When economic times become hard in their adopted country and things look better at home, then, of course, even those who originally left ahead home, too. It's one of the experiences now being seen in Brazil, as our correspondent, Shasta Darlington, reports.</s>SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A banker, architect and Internet entrepreneur -- white collar workers from around the globe are pouring into Brazil. But 20, even 10 years ago, not even Brazilian professionals stayed home. Jonathan Assauge's (ph) family migrated to Miami in 1992.</s>JONATHAN ASSAUGE: Initially, it was tough. And my parents decided that the business that it made sense for them to open was like a 99 cents store.</s>DARLINGTON: Now, he's back in Sao Paolo.</s>ASSAUGE: The immediate reaction in my mind was, you know, all this hard work that my family did to come over here, you know, all that we fought for and now I'm going to go back? Like it's going to break my mother's heart.</s>DARLINGTON: A Harvard Business School graduate, Assauge tried to develop a start-up in Silicon Valley, but finally concluded Brazil's booming consumer market made more sense. This year, the country overtook the U.K. as the world's sixth largest economy, fueled, in part, by domestic consumption. Since returning last year, Assauge has launched an online eyewear business. (on camera): The number of Brazilians returning home has doubled over the last decade. And they're not alone. The number of legal foreign workers has also jumped 57 percent, many of them white collar migrants. (voice-over): Josh Livingstone, a native New Yorker, moved to Sao Paolo with an international bank. He found a vibrant banking industry and expat community.</s>JOSH LIVINGSTONE, BANKER: But it's just a lot more exciting. You -- you sort of feel the energy. There's a lot more going on in terms of mergers and acquisitions, which is where I work.</s>DARLINGTON: On the down side, he says prices here are nearly 20 percent higher than Manhattan. For many in Portugal and Spain, where unemployment has hit record highs, the attraction is obvious. The construction industry is booming and qualified labor often hard to come by. That was enough to convince architect Miguel Feranno (ph) to abandon the comfort of his parents' home in Seville, Spain. "I took a risk and I came," he said. He landed a job in an architectural firm on his first day, but he's had to make sacrifices. In the apartment he shares with three Brazilian architects, Serrano uses the maid's room. "I just use it to sleep," he says. "You can't do anything else in it." He's adapting to the big city and assures his family he's just happy to finally have a steady job. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paolo.</s>QUEST: In a moment on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, we're preparing to update you around the business world. Investors fear for the company that gave us the BlackBerry. RIM, Research in Motion, is playing catch-up and having to do it pretty quickly. In a moment.