Thai ’08 Journal 5

I promised in yesterday’s blog to include Lorraine’s reflections on her experience at the refugee camp. She has kindly agreed for me to post it here:

“We spent the morning in the refugee camps. I was so deeply affected that I couldn’t handle writing about it yesterday. The things I saw (and smelled) almost defied description. The camp has been set up by the Thai government to house refugees from Burma. Thousands of people are crowded into the camps in thousands of small thatched homes. From the outside it was depressing – from the inside it was unbearable and nearly indescribable. I’ve not seen such living conditions in my life. But as bad as it was – and it is VERY bad – I’ve been assured that this life is better than what they knew in Burma. And not just the violence they experienced in Burma, but truly their living conditions were worse – which I still find hard to believe.

We took pictures as we drove past the camp (these can be seen on Pedrito’s Web site). After reaching the end of the camp we turned around and pulled off at the entrance to the camp. The camp is actually surrounded by barbed wire and police guard the entrance. A couple of small “stores” are set up outside the entrance to the heart of the camp. I bought a piece of cloth at one of the stores. Ruth led us inside and we were warned not to take any pictures inside the camp – and indeed Ruth had already told us this was forbidden so we left our cameras inside the truck.

Entering the camp is truly entering another world. All the “homes” are just small bamboo huts with thatched roofs. Many have small “stores” out front where little bits of various types of food or supplies are sold. The “roads” are muddy because it is the rainy season. Drops of blood are strewn over the roads from the meat that is sold at some of the shops. The meat is out in the open hot air and people sit over it swatting the flies away. A few people can afford small motor bikes but most just walk to and from in the mud…. Pedrito just told me that the red stuff on the roads is from the men chewing beetle nut and spitting it out. Yuck!

The air inside the camp was stifling. Poverty at this level has a stench. The memory of the smells stayed with me for hours afterwards. I can’t even describe the feeling I felt as we ventured deeper and deeper into the camp. It is another world – it was depressing and claustrophobic and oppressive.

We visited one of the small schools that Ruth and Winsleigh help oversee. There is very little there. The few children we saw though had smiles on their faces and were happy to see us. How anyone can smile in these conditions is beyond me – especially children. And Pedrito had to remind me yet again that this was better than what they had come from.

What killed me is that there is almost no hope of these people being able to get out of the camps. They will live and die there. This is their life. It is only because of man’s inhumanity to man that these people have to live like this. It is inhuman and yet they seem to do what they can to make the best of the circumstances. I’ve never seen anything so utterly hopeless and depressing in my life. I think every American should visit one of these places. It changes one’s perspective on what our “needs” really are. What we spend on a gallon of gas – the price of which we complain about – would give so much to one person here.

When we finally got out of the camp I just felt such a huge sense of relief. Yet I was deeply aware of the fact that I had the ability to get outside the camp and be free – these people did not. This visit haunted me all day and into the night. I don’t know that I’ll be able to shake the memories of what I’ve seen – and I shouldn’t. It keeps life in perspective. As hopeless as it seems and as impossible as it feels for one person to make any kind of dent in any of these people’s lives, it is true that every little bit helps. There are a number of organizations trying to help these people and donations can go very far here. As mortified as I was by what I witnessed, I think I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen it. This memory will be impossible to forget”

Today is our last full day in Mae Sot, and it was a full one. We almost completed the painting. We actually did complete the inside of the church. The blue that Ruth chose gives a lovely warm ambiance to the worship setting. We were pleased.

I should mention that the orphanage does not operate a school. They hope to build one someday. But for now the children attend the government school next door. During the lunch break they all gathered for a special Assembly. Lorraine had brought pens, pencils and erasers for them. So this was a great opportunity to give them out. The kids sang as beautiful as I remembered 4 years ago. I hope I’ll be able to post some on the photo gallery. They asked me to give a little talk (which I really didn’t expect – though by now you would think that I should expect anything!). I took a lot of liberties and expanded greatly on the story of little “Andrew” whose 5 loaves and 2 fishes fed the 5000. We then went and toured the new dorm.

This orphanage is supported greatly by a Swiss organization named REACH. They built the new dorm. If you saw the photos of the dorms in 2004 you can appreciate the stunning difference from then to now! But although the very, very, primitive dorms are now gone, there are still a couple of dorms that needs replacing. These folks here are doing a superb job with limited funds, and are totally dependent on external gifts. So if you have a burden to be a sponsor, please let us know. Walla Walla University is the only other organization that I know of that has adopted these children from the hill tribes of Burma.

After having lunch at another lovely restaurant (and I ate a Burmese curry dish for the first time – hot, hot , hot!!!), we went to the border of Myanmar/Burma. The ladies had no interest in crossing the Friendship Bridge and getting a new country stamped in their passport :). So we took photos with our zoom of Myanmar, and then went shopping at their famous market.

Tomorrow we head for Chiang Mai, and Ruth and Winsleigh has kindly offered to have us use their truck to go instead of taking the bus. I’ll drive up and Ruth and her daughter-in-law will drive with us and bring back the vehicle.