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We stopped at the camp leaders’ office and he came out and greeted me and gave his ok for us to spend the night. It was food distribution day were lots of people waiting for their rations. They are given rice, yellow beans, salt, fish paste, cooking oil and charcoal. Rations are given monthly to each family according to how many are in a family and the ages of family members. No fresh fruit, vegetables or meat are supplied and I knew how valuable the pork and vegetables we brought would mean to Kasu and his teacher and Po Po’s family. Many people helped unload the food when we arrived at the river and we all started across the high suspension bridge.
I have mentioned in other summaries how much I like this bridge. Every time I cross it I am awed by the beauty of the mountains on both sides of the river and the almost other world look of the bamboo homes crowded together way up the mountain. Traveling the steep trails to their homes in rainy season is really difficult and treacherous. I have so much respect for these hardy people. They seem so happy. They smile and laugh a lot. Lucky commented on the fact that there are so many children running around. I have always noticed that parents are not anxiously watching their small children to make sure they don’t get hurt. They all seem to run freely wherever they want. You can hear their excited voices and laughter everywhere you go in the camps.
We always use my friend, Po Nee Nee Mo’s home in section 7-A and as we were walking to her home we were told she was at her husband’s military camp. The camp leader had given another announcement in 7-A over loud speaker so many children and parents were waiting for us. One of the former soldiers, Kyi Aung, who I had known for years came running to see me. He calls me Mother Betty and unashamedly gave me a big hug and took my shoulder bag. I noted he chewed so much beetle nut his teeth had almost rotted away. I of course teased him about the wad of beetle in his mouth and he laughed uproariously, as he has always done when I treat him like my son! He spit it out and hugged me again and called me “Mother”. That is the only word I can understand, because he has learned it in English. God has blessed me with so many sons, daughters and grand children in the camps. I am truly a very rich woman. The fact that my daughter, Robin, in the US is such a big part of my ministry is another huge blessing. I had named Kyi Aungs twin boys Benjamin and Joseph when I was in camp when they were born about 8 years ago and it is always fun to see what little rascals they have become. They are a very lively pair and continuously tease their 5 siblings. I shake my head every time Kyi Aung tells me he has another child. Birth control is taught in the camps, but he says he is not a good student!
When we entered Po Nee Nee Mo’s home, the traditional woven visitors mat had been spread on a section of the split bamboo floor. A low table was provided with fruit and coconut milk. Families started crowding in as Kasu, Lucky and I sat up. We were soon surrounded on 3 sides by eager children. Kasu told me “Pee you are the hope of our children, they see you take their picture and they know you will work hard to find them a sponsor”. Many of the families in Section 7-A are Buddhist or Animist. I lived with them in the jungle for 2.5 months back in 1995 and we have a strong bond. Many of their children are not as clean as some of children in the other sections and my heart aches for these dirty little urchins. There seems to be more orphans in the camp this year. There are also large numbers of teens who have banded together and made their way through the jungle into the refugee camp so they can go to school. A group of 50 recently came into Mae La camp and a friend of mine, through his organization, was able to provide a house and food for them.
It was really sweltering in the crowded home and I was thankful for any air that came in through the bamboo slats in the open walls. Kasu and Lucky tried to keep some semblance of order as people kept crowding into the home. Kasu would yell out loudly for everyone to move back and give Pee Pee some room and everyone would scoot back so I could stand up to take the pictures as the children held up their cards. However, soon they’d be right up against me again. Lucky is a very organized man and even though he doesn’t speak Karen language, he got the idea across for the children to form one line. I had to laugh as he got them lined up and as soon as he turned away, 1 line would break up into two, then 3 as parents tried to jockey their children to a closer spot to me and the “magic camera.” At one point, Lucky was standing with both arms out trying to hold the children back. He’d take 4 at a time and put them in a line in front of him and use his body and arms to hold the rest of the children back. We were both laughing at the futility of trying to make order out of chaos! I thought the children would never stop crowding into the overflowing house and I wondered if the bamboo floor would give way as it did last year. We just kept calling out names and taking pictures as the children kept coming.
Someone called my name and I looked up and saw twin girls from Section 2 come in. Their father lost both eyes and both hands above the wrists in a land mine explosion. His wife and daughter had led him over an hour and half down the rugged trail to get to us when they realized we had left section 4. I took a minute and went over and spoke to them and squeezed his arms. He and his wife have always been very special to me. His twins were sponsored by a man in the US who has not been able to continue, so I am making it a priority to find them a sponsor. I was so glad to see them again and I longed for time to sit and talk with them through my interpreter, but there just wasn’t enough time. The girls are so pretty and blossoming as the grow up. One of the girls took hold of his shorts leg in the front and the other put her hand on his back as his wife guided him down the steep bamboo steps when they left. When I see how hard life is for them, I feel badly that I was silently complaining about the heat and how exhausted I was.
We used up the rest of the index cards we had and headed out to Po Po’s family home where we would spend the night. Kasu said maybe more people would come from other sections who hadn’t seen us yet. We were out of blank index cards and I felt I had more than I could possibly find sponsors for, but I didn’t have the heart to tell the children I wasn’t taking any more pictures. We walked about 15 minutes to our host home and settled in. There were so many people coming and going in the house I couldn’t tell how many people actually lived there. Po Po said they had 2 houses side by side with 14 people all together. Some are orphans; some are older students in camp without their parents (their families are still in Burma). They all take care of each other and eat together. Po Po’s mother went blind 3 years ago after a high fever but gets around remarkably well. The doorways to the outside and into the kitchen have bamboo slats about knee high that you have to step over. This keeps her from falling when she wants to go from room to room. She walks up to them and steps over with no problem. Many people came to see us and visit and we had a very pleasant evening. I still wasn’t feeling like eating, but when a nice meal was prepared from the food we brought I, I ate a little rice and cooked vegetables and drank bottled water. We sat around on the floor and visited with people who kept coming to see us.
Po Po is a great translator and made the visits really fun. She is shy to speak English but does very well. She will have no problem when she resettles in America. About 8:30 Po Po’s mom said “Pee Pee is tired, she wants to sleep”. I was surprised because I had never heard her speak English and didn’t know she could! Po Po had told me we could take a bath outside after dark. The “bath” is a 55 gallon drum filed with cold water. The bathing area is just off the kitchen (outside) and in full view of everyone walking by. The women bathe in their longei (wrap skirt) but I didn’t feel comfortable bathing in plain view in the daylight. After dark, I gathered my shampoo, soap and towel and went out to bathing area. The first dipper of cold water is always the worse as it runs down your back. I needed to shampoo my hair and that really woke me up! It did feel wonderful to get out of my dust clothes and get clean after a long hot day. It’s a good thing I have short hair because it dries fast. I would hate to have to sleep with long wet hair. After my bath, I told everyone good night and went into the little room they had prepared for me. I crawled under my mosquito net and stretched out on the blanket they had put down for me to lay on. Even though the floor was hard, it felt great to stretch out after a long day and listen to the soft voices of my Karen friends talking in the other room. I was almost asleep when I heard the family softly singing a hymn during their nightly family worship time. I was sorry I had missed that precious time, but was just too tired to stay up any longer.