| Our first stop was to Mae Tao Clinic which provides service to illegal migrants. This clinic was full of patients seeking help with their dental work, eye care, acupuncture, orthopedics, surgery, nursery, obstetrics, gynecology and pharmacy. The clinic will treat anyone who attends and if a major surgery is required they send them to the Mae Sot Hospital and pay for them. We handed out baby layettes and baby blankets to the new mothers and visited the incubators and admired the premature twins that were only days old and tiny as tiny could be. We provided the clinic with lots of medical supplies, which they were very grateful for as the clinic depends greatly on support from outside sources. At Mae La Camp, Henry runs the Htee Moo Draw School and Orphanage. The teachers had prepared a beautiful lunch for us upon our arrival. We once again unloaded our numerous bags from the vans and presented them to Henry and the School Principal. These supplies will make a great difference in their operation. The students preformed song and dance for us which was so amazing it brought chills and goose bumps. We were honored to have the children perform their Bamboo Dance for us and after we presented them with two guitars, with cases and stands. A few goodies were handed out in sort of blankets, puppets and stuffed animals which were received with much gratitude and excitement. We had a very busy day today and were off and running to Pastor Arthurs camp which were waiting eagerly for our arrival. There are 50,000 people living in this camp. The camp was set on a hillside which was very steep to climb with all the supplies on our backs. But it was well worth the sweat as the children’s faces lit up when they greeted us. After we presented our gifts, the children sang for us and there was not a dry eye to be seen. They sounded like angels. One little girl came forward and gave us a blessing, which wrenched at all our hearts, as she being only a child is offering us adults consoling. This little girl is living a life that no one should have to live. None of these children will ever see beyond these barbed wire fences of this refugee camp. This will be their prison for life, unless great change takes place in their country. Prior to our departure the women of our group were treated to a pampering of Tanaka, which is a paste made from a tree. This provides sunscreen and decoration. We felt honored to have this special privilege from these beautiful young girls. Nearing sun set, we had to rush off to the Karen Village where we were spending the evening to set up our camp. Once again we were blessed to have 5 young teens join us from Henry’s camp for the evening. They brought their guitar and beautiful singing voices and treated us to an evening of music. We also enjoyed a performance from a villager playing a tradition Karen instrument. Only when our eyes were too heavy to stay open any longer, it was time for bed. |
