Last week, our family, along with Colleen Saddler, Lisa Issler (from West Kelowna), an 8-person team from the USA, and a couple of our Mae Sot staff travelled 6 hours south, to a refugee camp.  The traveling was difficult.  The narrow, mountainous roads were some of the most curvy we’ve ever driven.  Most of us felt sick at one point or another and all had a tint of green upon arrival!

The camp has an occupancy of over 10,000 people…moms, dads, teenagers, children, babies, and seniors.  People like you and me…except without a country.  For those of you who have seen pictures and news footage of refugee camps (most likely in Africa), the camps in Thailand are more civiilzed.  These camps are the longest running camps in the world and so people have settled in.  Bamboo homes, markets, churches, and schools are all a part of this stateless community of people.  Most are from the Karen ethnic group and have escaped the mass persecution of the Burmese military regime.

Our purpose in being there was to help run a teen camp.  Three hundred students between 12 – 22 years of age filled a dirt floor auditorium much like an old-style church camp in a rural town. A group of pastors from the surrounding area who ran the camp rivaled the creativity and energy of any group of North American youth pastors.  The picture below shows some of the craziness! The camp was incredibly organized, the teens were musically talented with musical specials and performances on a continual basis.  Their earnestness was demonstrated as the students took notes 0n everything that was taught.

Derek was one of the main session speakers and besides speaking in the camp, he spoke a number of times in the churches of the camp.  Irislee also received an opportunity to speak at the Sunday morning 7:00 am Women’s service at one of the churches! As a team, we led the songs and stories for the younger teens in one of the breakout groups and led games for the entire camp on one particular day.

We were billeted in two homes.  We slept on bamboo floors, on bamboo mats and ate Karen food everyday for breakfast (incredibly delicious!). Lunch and supper, served by the camp staff was yummy too!  Incredible hospitality.

Here are some important lessons we learned:

1. The missions work of Adoniram Judson in the early 1800’s to Burma has carried on 200 years later.  The majority of the Karen ethnic group are Christians and their faith can be credited to his pioneering and sacrificial work.  We saw it first hand everyday.

2. People are the same wherever you go.  While dreams and goals may differ because of available opportunity, everyone wants security, a place to live, and a chance to earn enough money to survive and accomplish their dreams.  Education is important to all.   It was so easy to have an us-them kind of mentality when I lived in Canada.  Not so easy anymore…

3. The camp reminds me of a very large cage.  There is some employment available… people can work for NGO’s or for Thai landowners who own farms outside the camp. Some relatives outside the camp send money in and so people can start small businesses.  Children go to school.  However, there is no escaping the fact, that the camp has a gate, there is barbed wire and there are fences all around the camp.  There are food rations and foreign groups are needed to give aid and offer programs.  The Karen are stateless and they are waiting, waiting, waiting…either to resettle in a third country or for Burma to have freedom and democracy.  One the last day, we met a young adult who is resettling to America this month. Amazingly, she will be only 40 minutes drive from our American team that were with us for the camp.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Another girl will head to North Carolina in October to live with her Karen grandparents who are waiting for her.  If Burma doesn’t change, most people in this refugee camp will die of old age, stateless and uprooted from their homes. There is room to move, but the camp is still a cage.

4. These people have not given up.  They carry on their long-standing traditions, they are full of life and energy, they are thankful, and they are preparing themselves for the future by educating their young. Always looking for more resources to do the job better. Computers, better school buildings, vocational training centers, etc. They are an example to those of us who quit too easily when life gets tough.

As a way of thanking the camp for hosting us, we decided to learn the camp theme song in the Karen language and sing it for them at the closing ceremony.  It was written by one of their teachers and is one of the most beautiful songs we’ve heard. What made it even more special was the words themselves.  It took hours, for our Karen staff to teach us, but was so worth it.  These words express the desires of the 300 teens who attended the camp. The song is much more beautiful sung in the Karen language, but the English translation is…

When you are young, give yourself to Jesus.

We must do the duties that Jesus gives to us.

Let us hold hands and work hard for Jesus.

Peacefully, we will do this.

Along with a hauntingly beautiful melody, this song could easily be a hit all over the world.

Back in Mae Sot, our camp experiences continue to fill our thoughts.  Olivia and Hannah didn’t want to leave the camp because they loved the “camping out” experience so much.  I’m sure they would feel differently if they knew they could never leave.  However, the cultural richness of the Karen people, their ability to smile, laugh, and engage life fully in spite of difficult circumstances, the memory of the crazy pastors, and general feeling that even though the Karen people are not free, they continue to learn and grow and develop as individuals and as a community, has left a permanent impression on our hearts and minds.  Again, like in so many situations this year, we came to teach and we have left having learned more than we have taught.