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Our driver, Bet Soe, was the same one who had taken us to the camp last year and tried to get us in, to no avail, due to mis-communications with the camp commander. The photo on the left is Bet Soe and I in the market. Below are more photos taken at the open air market including market shelves, a table with a hog's head & raw meat, and one of the truck being loaded.
After buying food at this local outdoor market and loading the truck, we left for Mae La camp, which is about a 2 hour drive.
We drove quite a ways into the camp and passed through an area that our driver told us was the Muslim area. There were rows and rows of shops all pressed together on both sides of the road. There was just barely enough room for our truck and we were constantly being met by motor bikes coming and going. I have never seen so many motor bikes in the camp before. Bet Soe told us many families have resettled to other countries and they send money back to their families still in the camps and some of them buy the motor bikes. The shops are actually one room and the people live in the back with each house/shop sharing a common wall. I don't know how many Muslims are in the camp, but Bet Soe said "thousands". The whole area in the Muslim section seemed very dark and depressing. Last year when I asked how many people were in the camp we were told between 35 and 40 thousand, he told us this year there was 70 thousand.
To Give you an idea of just how congested the refugee camps are; pictured on the right is a a map of just one zone in Mae La Camp.
Bet Soe navigated the truck through the narrow roads (left) as far as he could until we came to a narrow foot bridge. He called our camp contact, Daisy, and she said she had forgotten the bridge was so small and said she would come meet us and walk with us to where the children and parents were waiting. Daisy brought several older boys with her and they unloaded the food and suitcases of gifts and clothes we had brought with us. They carried them to our friend Lucky's house so they could be distributed later.
We walked about 2 miles to get to the school room where the children were waiting for us. Rick was really struggling but was determined to persevere. Daisy's father, Lucky, met us on the way and walked with us. I have known Lucky for over 20 years and he is a trusted contact in Mae La camp for us. Daisy teaches at an elementary school and the principal had agreed to let us use one of the rooms for our registration and picture taking. This made it really nice to be out of the hot sun. The first photo on the right shows Rick and I with Daisy and her father, Lucky. The 2nd photo is Rick with Daisy's husband and daughter, Esther Grace.
The registration/picture taking process went very smoothly and all the children sat quietly and patiently waited for their turn. It was so nice for Rick and I to see the children and see how much they had grown since our last trip. One young orphan girl particularly was doing so much better than when I had first met her 10 years ago. She is severely handicapped and has only been able to walk in the past 2 years. Her sponsor is generous in her support and she is taken care of by a loving nurse who has helped her tremendously.
After we had finished our registration process, the children went back to school and we walked on to Lucky's home for a brief rest and visit.
I noticed that some of the steep dirt paths running between the homes had been paved with concrete and asked Daisy about that. She said an aid organization run by the Adventist Church had paid to have some of the steepest paths concreted. During monsoon season, the paths are a sea of mud which makes it very difficult to negotiate. Some of the children had written to their sponsors telling them about falling down in the mud on the way to school and having to sit in their muddy, wet uniform all day because they didn't have an extra uniform to change into. One girl told me her wet uniform had an "unwell smell." During the rainy season it takes a long time for laundry to dry. I think about the women washing the clothes down at the river, trying to keep from falling down in the mud as they struggle up the muddy paths, carrying their load of clean clothes. Life is very hard for the families in the refugee camps under the best of conditions. During rainy season their problems are compounded.
We made the trek back to our truck with many children following us. It was hot and we were very tired, but so happy that God had allowed us to visit Mae La camp and all our Karen families living there. The small amount of money and gifts we are able to provide makes a tremendous difference to these precious children. Without our faithful sponsors, our ministry could not continue.
I will close this journal with 2 pictures of Rick with some of the children during the registration process at Mae Rah Moe Camp and a photo of some of the homes in Mae La camp at the base of the mountain.
We thank you all for making it possible to make a difference, one life at a time!