WOMEN'S OUTREACH
~ Betty introduces us to some wonderful Karen women ~
~ Betty introduces us to some wonderful Karen women ~
The Karen Woman is a truly remarkable person. I have gotten very close to many of these women and honestly don't know how they manage.
Many are very well educated and were professional women in Burma before having to flee.
They have had to become adept at running for cover in the jungle with all their wordly possessions on their backs.
In the years we've been involved with the Karen, I have seen some of these women have to literally start over 2 or 3 times in one year.
Their "permanent" homes are made from split bamboo with leaf roofs. Beds are woven mats on the floor & you can lay on your mat at night and see the stars through the holes in the roof.
During monsoons they have to deal with constant mud and wet clothing for months at a time and the constant threat of malaria and other tropical diseases.
I wonder how well the typical "Woman of the 21st Century" would do if she were to trade places with one of these brave women.
MEIN MEIN EH -
Mein Mein Eh is mother to 3 children - her 4 year old son, a 5 year old daughter, and a 15 year old "adopted" son, Chit Oo. Her husband is a soldier and away from home much of the time. She runs her home in the refugee camp very efficiently. Everything is clean and well cared for. She is also the districts representative for the Karen Women's Organization.
In her kitchen she had nutrition charts tacked to the bamboo walls where she helped teach the other women in camp about proper nutrition. The food supply is very limited, but she grows a vegetable garden to help supplement their bean and rice diet.
UPDATE: 2007
Mein Mein Eh is now in Sweden. She and her children were in constant danger due to the fact her husband was a soldier, so the U.N. resettled her in Sweden. She is really missed in Noh Po camp where she was a leader among women.
This photo shows Moo Moo (a pastors wife in Mae Rah Moo refugee camp) with Mary Wright of Alabama and a young girl who is helping cook our evening meal.
Moo Moo is the mother of 3 adult children and grandmother of Baby Faith. Moo Moo teaches at the Karen Adventist Academy, teaches kindergarten age children at the church, and oversees a household that is always filled with people. She opens her home to me whenever I stay in Mae Rah Moo camp. I can always count on her to know which family needs clothes and/or food.
UPDATE: 2007
Moo Moo, her husband, Pastor Law Kler, their married son and his family and 10 others all resettled in Norway. Moo Moo and Pastor Law Kler hope to come back to Thailand when they earn travel documents in 2 years.
MI NGE -
I met Mi Nge when she was a teenager living with a pastor and his wife in Htee Thay Kwee village. I later spent time with her when they were living in the jungle trying to stay out of the refugee camps. She was a sweet, industrious teen. She was always smiling as she helped around the house, sang with the family or played with the smaller children in the household. After she graduated from school in Burma she married and came back to the border. She and her husband have taken in 51 children to care for. The children are all either orphans, abandoned, mistreated or their parents are too poor to care for them. Mi Nge has organized her household to revolve around Christ and teaching the children the plan of salvation. It is always a pleasure to spend time in her bamboo home in the camp. She and her husband have organized the children into groups so that everyone pitches in and helps with cooking, cleaning, hauling water, doing laundry, working in the garden (on land outside the camp). They start the day at 5 am with family worship beginning at 5:30. It is an awesome experience to sit on the floor with them and sign praise songs and listen to the devotion for the day. Mi Nge is a young woman I have tremendous respect for.
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