Happenings and thoughts from Mae Sot

We have been in Mae Sot for almost two weeks now and have settled in well. The time has been spent visiting orphanages, schools and churches and making new friends.

One place we have been going back to numerous time is Future Light orphanage - who were recently robbed of a motorbike and mobile phones. (Who steals from orphanages?) 

When we return home, one of the things Rachael wants to do is help get sponsors for these kids. Nathan is working towards making some promotional videos for Dianne and Judah and the different schools and orphanages they support.

Today I (Nathan) visited Mae La refugee camp and was introduced to the principal of one of the schools there. By the way, this refugee camp is NOTHING like the movies.

This teacher studied Psychology in Burma but now works as a teacher and is only given 55cents as a stipend by the UN per day. (I hope he is getting paid more by a donor)

He has been at the camp for four years and hasn't been able to afford anywhere to live so he has been moving from fellow teacher to fellow teacher in this time.

But now he can afford to build a small house. (Small = about 5m square and is only a bamboo floor with leaf roof, all on stilts. He and his mother will live there.

Also, I'm noticing my indifference is growing steadily. I am able to hear terrible stories, meet victims of extreme evil and watch those in dire poverty and return home to watch my Tarantino movies without it playing on my mind too much. 

Maybe it's wrong of me or maybe it's a way of coping. 

Either way, it is how it is. 

Finally, here is a story from the other day. 

Men in Trucks

Yesterday:

In the afternoon Rachael and I spent an hour at Future Light, a fantastic orphanage on the Thai/Burma border which houses approximately 40 Burmese children. We spent the hour teaching the children an impromptu lesson in basic English.

However that is not the point of this story. After we left on our scooter, we took a turn toward the Burmese border rather than back to our cozy home. We kept heading toward the river border for about five minutes until we came across half a dozen trucks taking the same path as us. We hesitated when we saw a man in a military jacket, clipboard in hand looking over the trucks and checking what was passing through his checkpoint. Rachael says, 'I don't feel comfortable here. Lets turn around.'

We stop. The man with the clipboard came up to us and asked what we wanted. I responded, 'Nothing. We are just riding, having a look.' He asked what we were doing here. I wasn't quite sure what to respond. We tried to signal that we were leaving. He smiled. We turned around and left.

Later yesterday evening we learn that those trucks most likely carry contraband that the Burmese junta do not want the public to see by taking the main road over the border. So instead, they go ten minutes out of town and cross the river where no one really notices. Sometimes the trucks carry people. These people could be victims of human trafficking or perhaps sent to Burma for detaining, torture or murder by the junta.

Today:

We left Future Light orphanage and decided to take the road to our cozy home. But not far down the road I notice two trucks going the other way; the way towards the border. I don't take much notice but after we pass, Rachael says, 'Did you see the people in those trucks? They looked like prisoners'. I shake my head. She tells me more, 'They were in cages, squashed together and locked in.'

It's sobering to think that you just passed maybe 100 people who may be sent to prison, torture or even death; possibly for no crime greater than that they were born of a particular race.

I'm on my bike going one way; they are on the back of a truck going the other.

What to do? I feel powerless to do anything more than nothing.

Perhaps all I can do is remember how I feel today and use that to drive me in the future.