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Po Po told us she has been selected by United Nations High Commission on Refugees for re-settlement to the USA. SHE will have to go wherever they send her in the US, but after 6 months she can go to Loma Linda, Calif. where her sister has resettled. I know she will have a wonderful life in the U.S. She is a very bright young lady and already speaks Burmese, Thai, Karen and English.
We bought “to go” meals for Larry, his co-driver, Po Po and Lucky. Po Po said we’d eat on the mountain. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but would soon find out. About 1.5 hours into our trip Larry stopped at an outcropping which overlooked the entire valley. The sun was just coming up over the mountains and the entire valley was shrouded in thick fluffy clouds which partially obscured the mountain peaks miles away. I felt like I was in another world, and I guess I really was! The thought “You’re not in Kansas anymore” popped into my head. Lucky asked me what I was smiling about and I realized there is no way he would understand where that expression came from without a LONG explanation. It was so still up there you could hear the breeze rustling the leaves on the thick bamboo along the road. Lucky had insisted I buy some rice to eat since I wasn’t eating one of the “to go” meals. It was a mound of sticky rice with butterscotch coconut topping wrapped in a banana leaf pouch. Lucky said “You must eat it all, it’s good for you”. I did eat it and it did not upset my stomach, which I was very grateful for.
Another hour up the mountain we pulled off the road into a Karen hill tribe village that Po Po said had a clean outhouse with European toilet we could use. There was a cute pet monkey on a leash up in a tree by the road who did all kinds of tricks. When we got back into the truck, it jumped down onto the hood of the truck and peeked in the driver window. I took some cute pictures of him. Obviously, it doesn’t take too much to amuse me!
It was only 8:30 am when we arrived at the camp security gate. Larry and his friend got out and carried some of the food we had bought up to the guard shack. Then I realized these were the soldiers Po Po was saying we needed to buy food for. They are Thai-Karen and are on security duty at the camp. Lucky had picked up some Red Bull drink for them also. Larry then drove us right to Pastor Kasu’s house in section 4. The “road” up the mountain was terrible. The rainy season had washed huge ruts into it and big slabs of concrete and rock had been dumped so the men could “repair” the road and make it easier to walk on. Very few trucks come into camp, so it is really just a wide trail. Some of the people who knew me came running out of their homes when they saw us arrive
. We were told that Pastor was in another section conducting “Anti-Drug Day” classes for the students. Drugs are becoming a real problem in the camps in the past couple years. The Burmese are smuggling the drugs into camp to try and hook the young people on them. We were taken to the school administrative “office” which was just another bamboo building with dirt and cement floor. Only half of the floor had cement and they told me they were trying to get funds to cement the remainder. In the rainy season it was a muddy mess in there. When Kasu arrived he greeted us warmly and asked if he and I could go over the last distribution sheet he had gotten from me. Some of the children due money on the sheet had already been resettled in another county or were no longer in school. It is always a big chore to keep track of the children and transfer their money to another and then notify the sponsors. It takes over 45 days for my check to clear the bank in Chiang Mai. I send it to a trusted pastor who lives there. When the funds are available, he withdraws the money and gets it into camp to Kasu.
After I had listed all the changes that needed to be made on our database, Kasu took us over to the church across the trail where we’d take pictures of children sponsored and those waiting for sponsorship. The church is made of wooden posts with woven bamboo walls ½ way up. The roof is woven leaf that hangs down low on both sides to help keep the rain out during rainy season. There are wood plank benches and dirt floor. A wooden platform in front held a small table and pulpit. We had cards already made up for the sponsored children (Lucky and I had worked on them before we made the trip to Mae Sariang). Kasu had the camp leader announce over the loudspeaker that I was in camp and needed the children to come for pictures. We had made up 200 cards for this camp and needed to save some for section 7 where we would go after we finished here. Kasu called out the names and filled in information cards while Lucky helped with setting the children up with their cards so I could get their picture. We quickly ran out of the pre-numbered cards, so Lucky started making up new ones and numbering them. Kasu continued to fill in all the info on the child and I kept snapping away! I thought we should only take about 25 pictures of new children but they just kept coming and Lucky and I didn’t have the heart to turn any away. I started worrying about how I could possibly find sponsors for all these new children, but then remembered, “I can’t, only God and. This is HIS ministry, not mine!
We finished up about 11 am and I couldn’t look at those hanging around outside waiting to see if they’d get called. We went back over to admin. Building and Kasu and I went over the new distribution list. I gave him $4,000.00 which I had converted into Baht (34 baht to one US dollar). It was a huge stack of Baht notes. When Kasu saw that I had gotten all small bills, he got a huge smile on his face and said “Oh thank you Pee for the smaller money. It is so hard to make change here in camp for 1,000 baht notes.” Of course there are no banks in the camps. I am so thankful that I no longer have to distribute the money personally. It breaks my heart to not be able to give every child in the camp some money. To have to look into their sad little faces when they realize there is no money for them is more than I can take. I have to keep reminding myself of our motto…Making a difference…One life at a time!
I asked Kasu if there are many organizations coming in to the camps to sponsor children. He said I was the only one he knew of with direct sponsorship. Many organizations gave to churches and schools, but IAG has a unique ministry to the children. I believe there are others sponsoring children that I have heard of over the years who do go directly through the churches.
We packed up our stuff and prepared for the hour walk over to Section 7. When Po Po told me our driver was waiting to take us to the river I just smiled. I should have realized they wouldn’t want me to walk in the heat, even though I’ve done it for years. To the Karen, women are old at my age and it would be disrespectful to let me walk (even though I love the walk and interacting with the people along the way.)