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MAE LA REFUGEE CAMP
We finally made it to the camp, having gotten through the check points without incident. Having Tay with us, who is Thai, made it so much easier.
My Mae La camp contacts are Mi Nge and Ruby, a young couple I have known since I stayed in the jungle in 1995 with Mi Nge and her family. They met us outside the bamboo fences that surround the camp. Rick was taking as much video footage he could as the camp came into view. He didn't realize the Thai soldiers patrolling the highway did not want the camp photographed. The camp goes on for miles and there are thousands of homes crowded together at the base of a huge mountain. As you get closer, you can also see homes way up the slopes of the mountain. I always have joked that no matter where you go in the camps, you have to hike uphill, and Mae La is no exception. It was a neat experience for me to see everything through Rick's eyes.
Watching him take in everything made it all the more meaningful to me. It made me remember my first times in the camps. The smells, the sounds of children laughing and playing, bamboo huts with leaf roofs crowded together, the hard packed dirt paths leading up the mountain. These are all things I had started feeling comfortable with. I sometimes forgot the fact that they are trapped like animals in a cage inside the bamboo fences. They are not allowed to travel freely in Thailand. Some do go outside the fences to try and find day labor jobs, or cut bamboo in the jungle, but they are subject to arrest if they are caught. After introducing Rick to Mi Nge & Ruby, Mi Nge said we needed to quickly get inside the fence before we were seen entering the camp.
Ruby stayed with our bags at the car as he called for children to come help carry everything in. I had divided the Bibles up into several bags because I knew the children would insist on carrying everything we brought with us. As we hiked in to Mi Nge & Ruby's house people passing would smile and shyly greet us. The ones who knew me would shake my hand and give us a warm greeting.
A lot of the older people in the camp chew Beetle nut, which stains their teeth and lips red. Over a period of time, it rots their teeth badly. They roll the nut in a lime paste and wrap it in a section of banana leaf and chew it. You can see evidence all along the dirt path where they have spit the red juice. My first trip to the area 18 years ago I tasted one and it has a horribly bitter taste. I have no desire to try it again!
As we hiked up the path to Mi Nge's home she told me that she and Ruby have now taken in 51 children to care for. They have 3 of their own children ranging in age from 18 months to 7 years. That makes 56 people living in one home! The 51 children that they are caring for are either orphans, abandoned or mistreated children, or children whose parents are still in Burma or they have sent their children to Mae La to go to school. All the children attend the school where both Mi Nge and Ruby teach. They range in age from 2 to 20 years.
Their bamboo home had been added onto, accommodating their expanding family. The children are divided into groups and each group is responsible for different chores.
All the older children cook, do laundry by hand, haul water for cooking, bathing and drinking and work in their large vegetable garden across the street from the camp.
The smaller children scrub the floors every morning on their hands and knees, using a damp cloth. They then sweep the area outside the home with a palm
This photo on the left shows one of the Children, Evergreen, cooking for us while we were staying in their home.
Ruby had built a small room beside the main house which they use as a study room for the children. He had built the room with a steep roof and 10 of the older boys slept in the upper area. Someone had also donated concrete and they were able to pour a concrete slab floor in the room. What a step up from when I was there last!
In 2008 the only source of light was candles in most of the homes. Some homes, that were close enough to the hospital, had access to the hospital generator and could have one electric light for 2 hours in the evenings. Mi Nge's home now has a single light in 4 of the rooms. Lighting by candles has always been a fire hazard, and with 56 people in one home, the chances of having a fire were great, especially when all the children studied in the evenings. The normal procedure when they studied was to drop hot wax on the bamboo floor close to their books and immediately set the small candle on it to keep it steady. When they walked around, they held the candle between their fingers. The lights have greatly improved their lives. Since it gets dark early there, we were only able to take pictures for a short time. We were going to have to finish up our picture taking/registration in the morning before we left to catch the line bus back to Mae Sot.
Rick and I slept on the bamboo floor in one of their rooms on several blankets that Mi Nge had spread out to make it more comfortable for us. We were really tired and when everyone was settled in for the night, we were both struck by the absolute darkness. We could hear soft talking or babies fussing from other houses. It struck me how far the Lord has taken Rick and I in our desire to do His will in our lives. Neither of us had trouble falling asleep.