I didn't sleep well that night. The dizziness I had been plagued with for several weeks kept waking me up when I rolled over. Ah Htoo arrived just as I was finishing my breakfast Friday morning. He said he would take me to buy the pipe for Mu Gaw and take it back in Seh Lah with him that day. He was taking a young Karen woman into the camp who worked for Open Society Institute. They look for promising young Karen students and enroll them in an intensive GED prep course in Chiang Mai. When I got out to the truck, I saw that the young woman was a Karen girl I had met back in 1993 and had been keeping in contact with via letters and recently, e-mail. Mary and King had sponsored her for her last 2 years in school until she left the refugee camp for Chiang Mai. I was so happy to see her. We made plans for her to stop by the guest house to meet Mary when she got back that night. After buying all the pipe, faucets and fittings that were needed, I told Ah Htoo and Myra good bye and walked back to guest house.

Mary and I then walked to post office to mail some cards we had bought the night before. It was hard just sitting around killing time, but that happens a lot in Thailand. When Myra came by, she and Mary hit it off beautifully and we had a nice long visit. In her job, Myra travels a lot to Bangkok and knows people there who could help me with transportation. I will definitely call her for help on my next trip. She told us she'd meet us at the bus station when we arrived in Chiang Mai, or have a driver friend of hers meet us in his songtell (line bus). We were both excited about heading to Chiang Mai after we finished our visit in Mae Rah Moo camp.

Saturday morning I was still pretty dizzy so skipped going to worship service with Pastor Law Gler. We made arrangements for him to come by after church and I'd go with him to visit the Karen Hill Tribe dorm that our organization helped build. We had another lazy morning, then I headed out with Pastor to visit the Hill tribe students. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the new dorm building was. This was the first time I had seen it finished. The girls were living in the new concrete building and the boys were still in the old wooden dorm. The girls were very proud of their new "home" and proudly showed it off to me. I then toured the grounds with the house parents and teacher.

They have a huge garden area where the students grow all their vegetables to supplement their meager diet of rice and yellow beans. The garden looked a little dry and I asked how they watered and was told they dip water out of the well and water each plant with a dipper out of the bucket. We discussed the cost of purchasing hoses, pipes, faucet etc and decided that it would be very beneficial to them. I agreed to fund that project and gave the headmaster the money needed to buy everything they needed. It was less than $100.00 for everything. They were so excited to get the donation.

One of the visiting pastors told me the church/school in Seh Lah camp desperately needed new roof and they didn't have the money for the leaves, so I gave him $100.00 for that project as well. They then told me of 3 very needy students who were excellent candidates for my sponsorship program. Since it is so hard for me to get into the camp, I gave him the $300.00 to "pre-sponsor" the 3 students, then would find sponsors for them when I got back to the U.S.

Before leaving the dorm compound, I gave the headmistress money to buy fruit and other food to supplement the children's diet. After returning to my room, I called Phu Tah Moo and he told me a young Karen girl I have known for years named Po Po was there and wanted to see me. He brought her over to our guest house on his motor bike. She is as cute as ever. She is now living with a family in Mae Sariang. She is being tutored in English by Phu and wants to take computer classes. Phu said she has no Thai ID and can't attend any of the schools. We visited until almost dark, then Phu and Po Po left and we called it a night early. Pastor Law Gler was coming early in the morning to take us into Mae Rah Moo camp.

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