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While we waited to travel to Mae La camp, Rick unpacked the two large suitcases we had brought full of toddler and pre-school size jumpers made by the Dorcas Ladies at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Ozark, Al. There were about 125 jumpers. The photo on the right was taken later and shows an adorable little girl in one of the camps showing off her new jumper.
The second suitcase was filled with hand crocheted and knitted booties, caps, scarves and blankets that ladies from "Yarnworks" Ministry at Harvest church, (our home church) had made for the babies and older kids. Here is another photo taken later on in the camps of a child wearing one of the caps.
We also had brought in several "zip the blessing" bags from sponsors for their children. The sponsors used gallon zip lock bags and filled them with little gifts for their sponsored child. We decided to divide the clothes and toys into large garbage bags to make it easier for the young people in Mae La camp to carry them into the camp when we unloaded our truck. Rick got everything divided by camp and organized.
During the time we waited, Rudy's wife, Tai, who works at a bank, got all our money converted into Thai Baht and we divided it according to the disbursement reports I had prepared. We had almost $10,000.00 in sponsor money to disburse between the 2 camps!
I received several calls from my old friend Lucky (pictured on the left with his son, John). He had traveled with me as body guard and translator for many years and his 5 children treat me as their beloved grandmother. He told me that he and his family would be waiting in Mae La for us.
Lucky had also arranged for another old friend, Jennifer, to meet me in Mae Sot. Jennifer's father, General Bo Mya, was a powerful leader of the Karen freedom movement and was President of the Karen National Union until his death a few years ago. I met him about 18 years ago and would visit him and his family every year until his death. Jennifer and I made arrangements to meet up in Mae Sot on Saturday.