Mae Sot

Hey guys! :) I'm sorry i've been MIA - i have been so busy coordinating this training here the past week (one more to go!) I wanted to update you on some past comings and goings! My adventures with Tammie continued into the weekend she was leaving, with a 5 hour bus trip into Mae Sot (Northern Thailand). We definately looked out of place there - not many farang around!
It is more remote than Chiang Mai - more poor and dirty, with little to do around town. There is also a higher rate of death, rape, beatings, and fighting all the time in and across land lines - especially towards the refugee camps (human trafficking is a hot commodity here). We saw the Moei River and the "Friendship Bridge" (I love the irony here!?) where the Thai-Burma border exists. Lots of local food and merchandise to buy and sell in the street market - the most common form of income.

Our goal was to visit her job's 'Thailand' counterparts and their education sites. We were able to see their work in local communities in action, and to get to see the Refugee camp in Mae La. They graciously took us into the local elementary school/orphanage of children of migrant workers, to meet some staff and hear about the teaching and prevention work they do.
(I appreciated the Stop Child Trafficking PSA, myself!) The residents and students were taking an afternoon nap (how i miss that!) they were cute and were easily distracted with 'farangs' visiting! :)


We also visited the junior high/high school, where they too were easily distracted and enjoyed the break from the normal routine to shake our hands and show off their singing skills with a little number! :)
I also met a wonderful young girl "N2" (16 year old who is from the Karen Hilltribe and wants to be a social worker!) She is a beautiful example of the heart these kids have to learn and better their lives through education and helping others.
They are so dedicated to their studies and certainly don't take it for granted the way a lot of kids do in the States...it's so sad when you think about some of the kids i know back home that drop out of school to work and make money for "stuff", when these kids need the education to make money to survive. Obviously i know there are reasons and circumstances for each of these examples - and everyone is different and has individual needs...but i just can't come to terms with the contrast between our lives and opportunities....

Well, it only got more complcated when we visited the refugee camp in Mae La - on the Thai-Burma border. It has been "home" (for over 60 years - of civil war struggle) - land and life, to over 50,000 Karen State Hilltribe peoples that are unable to leave the camp boundaries - ever. They work, play, eat, sleep, walk, explore, make life and watch life be taken...all in this stretch of land of grass, trees, and huts - rows and rows of them along a lush green hillside (the contrast is ironic, to say the least).
Because of the burmese military dictatorship and the violence that broke out in their country, the Karen people, escaped and migrated into Thailand - only to be stopped from going any further, with no opportunity to work and make a living. Not being allowed to enter into Thailand and become part of the community, the government has only allowed them to reside in this designated area of land - community living at its most extreme, in order to be 'safe' from the political unrest of burma, but not to enjoy any benefits of being 'free'.... .

One promising thing, there is hope found here! I know God is working amidst the heartache. Even this NGO program has helped the Karen people to have access to education - what started with one class (not even allowed to have computers!?) to 40 classes that teaches kids up to 10th grade (equivilent to our 12th) to become teachers themselves and educate their friends and families within the camp! It really is an amazing system - these kids just want to be educated and help their people. We met some teenagers in the secondary classroom - they sang us a song about being teachers! :)
They were so sweet and eager to talk. It is just so sad to know that they are trapped here indefinately...separate from the rest of civilization, kept from experiencing more out of life, always at potential risk and harm, and dependent on the generousity and kindness of others to come educate them and supply them with basic needs.

I still don't really have a good grasp on all this - i'm sure some of the info i've given is my opinion or secondhand, and i ponder what the difference between refugees and migrants workers is, and really why this is all happening, and how to help...but i am learning and i will share with you as i go on! :) *i actually just bought a book 'Restless Souls' that looks great - talks about a journalist's 5 year stay in and out of refugee camps and his observations of the bleakness and brutality, as well as the hope and the determination that exists in this exile.... **Come to find out, he is friend's with a friend of mine here! And i will meet him today at our friends wedding! i will give you more of the scoop as i read and talk with him!

PRAY for the unrest in these peoples lives...PRAY for the children that are uneducated and lost...PRAY for how YOU can learn more and how to help - financial or physical - to make a difference in others lives today! Blessings to each of you.