I was up early to make sure all the bags I was taking into the camp were ready to go. I hoped to visit 4 different camps during my stay on the border and wanted to spread the gifts around. After making a stop at the bank to convert U.S. dollars, we went to my favorite spot for breakfast and waited for Nee Kah to come pick us up. I was leaving some of my personal bags at Nee Kah's house for safe keeping. While at Nee Kah's we loaded food and a couple soldiers in the back of the truck and finally got on our way. We finally were on the road about 11 am. It is about a 3 hour drive to the camp, so along the way we stopped at a roadside market to buy fresh vegetables and have a bite to eat at an outdoor "cafe". I have stopped here to eat every time we have gone to Mae La camp and I felt comfortable eating there. They have great Thai style fried rice. Here I was, an American woman happily eating with 5 scruffy looking men and feeling totally at ease!

When we arrived at the camp I wondered how I was going to get in without a pass, but Po Jaw told me to just walk in with him and don't hesitate. I put a big smile on my face, slung my heavy backpack over my shoulder and stayed right with him. Within a few minutes there were swarms of children giggling and running along beside me. When we got to Po Jaw's house, his wife, Nah Way, came out with a big hug to greet me. We put all my bags down in the common area and before I even had a chance to drink a glass of water the children had crowded around.

Since we had no idea how long I would be lucky enough to stay in camp, we decided to start the sponsor money distribution right away, then we'd start taking pictures of new kids needing sponsors. I also wanted an updated picture of all the children already sponsored to take back home to their sponsors. Most of them had grown so much in the year since I had seen them and they all looked much healthier than before they were chosen for sponsorship. I recruited two older boys that I have known for a few years to help me. Both Day Day and his brother Dah Dah spoke excellent English and had learned how to use my camera last year. They got the children (and parents) organized, told them we wanted pictures of children needing sponsors first. I had decided that I would only get 20 new children from each camp. But every time we thought we would stop, another child would be brought by a friend or parent and I didn't have the heart to say no. I have a very efficient system set up for getting the information needed for each child. I have an index card for each child. When we called their name to give them their money from their sponsors, we verified their name, age, year in school, house number. All this information is vital for whoever distributes the money I send in every 3-4 months. On the back of the card is a large letter or number which we have the child hold up while his picture is being taken. When I get all the pictures developed, I can match the cards with the corresponding pictures and know who each child is.

Naw Way's tiny bamboo house was filled to overflowing with men, women and children with more spilling out the front door and peeking in the open bamboo walls. Those outside had to be warned to only come a few at a time. The Thai have observation posts all the way around the camp up on the mountain side and they would become very suspicious of a large crowd around any house. Since I technically wasn't supposed to be in the camp, we didn't want to draw undue attention to me. I found out later that the jungle grape vine had announced my arrival in camp within minutes of my walking in and people were coming for 4-5 miles away. It is a huge camp and the "roads" are nothing but rutted tracks. After 4 hectic hours Naw Way insisted we take a break and eat the dinner she had prepared for us. By that time we had over 50 pictures!

After a light dinner of veggies cooked in a big wok over charcoal burner, the older students who could speak English came to visit and practice their English skills. They are so sweet and all want to continue their studies after 10 years of the camp run schools. So few will be able to do so. They all dream of going to a university in another country, but none have any I.D. cards so can't even legally leave the refugee camps.

It was finally bed time and I was exhausted. Naw Way had made me a nice sleeping pad of 3 blankets on the split bamboo floor. I was pretty comfortable, but have to admit it was easier to sleep on the floors 10 years ago when we first started our work there. It can get pretty cold at night and I was very grateful for my fleece sleep pack.

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