Crossing Borders

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how nice it'll be when there are no more borders.  No more man-made boundaries, or fences... or silly rules to say: "no, you many not take that tiger home with you."  No more gates put between friends just because of race or language...

Ultimamente he estado pensando en que tán bonito será cuando ya no existen más las fronteras.  No más bordes hechos por hombres, cercas, ni reglas tontas para decir "No. No puedes llevar a ese tigre contigo."  No más paredes puesto entre amigos porque ellos son de diferentes razas u idiomas...

What got me thinking about all this was a recent trip to a refugee camp in Thailand, near the border with Myanmar...
Lo que me hizo pensar en eso fue un viaje recente al campo de refujiados en Tilandia, cerca de la frontera con Myanmar... 

If you haven't brushed-up on your Burmese history lately, here's a short version:  In 1989 after a decades-long, rocky political past, the country underwent a bloody coup, came under the control of a military government, and changed it's name from Burma to Myanmar.  But inside the political boundaries of what is today Myanmar, there're numerous ethnic peoples- with their own cultures and languages-  who have clashed with that government.  The results have been brutality, military action, and scatterings of civil war going on for decades.  One of the largest of these groups are the Karen people, which has an estimated population of about 3,500,000 living in or near Karen state, on the border with Thailand.  But because of the conflicts in their own country, some sources say there are around 400,000 Karen living in Thailand as refugees.

Si no te has leido la historia de Myanmar ultimamente, aqui hay una version breve:  En 1989, después de un largo y dificil pasado politico, el pais tuvo un golpe de estadio sangriente y llego a estar bajo el control de un gobierno militar. Entonces ellos cambiaron el nombre del pais de Burma a Myanmar. Pero, dentro de los bordes politicos de lo que llegó a ser Myanmar, hay muchos pueblos distintos- con sus propias culturas y idiomas- quienes no han llegado a un acuerdo con ese gobierno.  Los resultados han sido violencia, accion militar, y périodos de guerra civíl durante décadas.  Uno de los pueblos más grandes son los Karin.  Tiene una poblacion estimado a 3,500,000 dentro del estado "karin" junto al frontera con Tilandia.  Pero, a causa de los problemas que ellos se frentan en su pais, se estima que ahora son cerca de 400,000 Karin que viven in Tilandia como refujiados. 

I took the above photo outside the Mae La refugee camp, near the Thai town of Mae Sot; about 8km from the Myanmar border.  From what I understand, conditions here are relatively good.  The total size is about 4km sq,  and population reports say anywhere from 30,000 to 75,000 people live here.

I ended-up visiting this place because in recent years some Karen people have been permitted to migrate to the US; specifically near Utica and Syracuse N.Y., close to where I grew-up.  A bunch of my friends back there are learning the Karen language in an effort to be more effective teachers.  Last month, one especially wonderful couple decided to use their vacation time to come all the way here, so they could get to know the people & language even better.  So, seeing that my friends were going to be in the neighborhood... I decided to come meet them!


Tomé a esa foto fuera del campo de Me La, cerca del pueblo de Me Sot, Tilandia.  Eso es alrededor de 8km de la frontera con Myanmar.  Entiendo quEl tamaño es 4km cuadrados y se reportan que entre 30,000 a 75,000 personas viven adentro. 

Tuve la oportunidad de visitar a esta zona  porque en los ultimos años, el gobierno se ha permitido a algunos grupos de Karin migrar a los E.E.U.U., espicificamente a "Utica" y "Syracuse" NY, cerca de donde yo me críe.  Entonces algunos de mis amigos en NY estan aprendiendo a esa idioma para poder ser maestros más eficazes.  El mes pasado, una pareja múy chevre decidío usar sus vacaciones para venir, y aprender aún más sobre la cultura y el idioma.  Pués, debido que mis amigios ya se habian vendio a mi barrio...  pensé seria una buena idea ir a reunirme con ellos.

There's a small Karen speaking cong. in Mae La.  From what I understand, currently the only one in the world.  Foreigners aren't allowed inside the camp without special permission from the U.N. administrators, but some of the brothers were able to come out and spend an afternoon together with us.  Some of  them have friends and family who've migrated to Syracuse or Utica, NY and know my friends. It was quite something to be on the opposite side of the planet, meet a bunch of total strangers from another culture, and realize that we have friends in common :) What a small world!

Ha una congregacion pequeña de habla Karin dentro del campo de Me La.  Entiendo que es el unico en el mundo.  Los extranjeros no se les permiten entrar sin permiso especial del O.N.U., pero unos de nuestros hermanos pudieron salir para pasar una tarde junto con nosotros.  Unos de ellos tienen familiares y amigos quienes ahora viven en los estados, y conocen a unos de mis amigos allá!  Es algo íncreíble llegar hasta el otro lado del planeta, encontrar a unas personas desconocidas de una cultura distincta, y descubir que tienen amigos en comun.  Verdad que el mundo es pequeño!

One sister from the neighboring congregation of Mae Sot was kind enough to drive us there in her truck, and  everyone happily piled inside.  I thought it was interesting, they said there are a little more than 50 pubs in this cong, and 340 people attended the memorial celebration last year in the camp. 

Una hermana de Me Sot fue muy bondadosa en llevarnos todos en su camioneta.  Me parecío interesante que ellos dijieron hay poco más de 50 publicadores en esa cong, pero tuvieron a 340 personas para la conmemoracion el año pasado. 

Happy goodbyes as they head back inside.  I just love this picture. 

Habian despididas felices antes de irnos.  Me encanta a esta foto. 

Even though we weren't allowed to go inside the refugee camp, we found that there are many Karen-speaking people who live in the surrounding areas- even some brothers and sisters. This is the home of a  very kind sister we met, who went out in service with us that day. 

No pudimos entrar el campo, pero aún así descubrimos que hay muchas personas de habla Karin que viven en los campos alrededoes, hasta unos de nuestors hermanos y hermanas.  Esta es la casa de una hermana bondadosa que conocimosy fue a predicar con nosotros un día.  

There's not much public transportation out here, so a pioneer sister we met in Mae Sot very generously let us use her car; a Nissan SUNNY.  Not all the windows rolled down, and the back doors only opened form the inside, but we were able to use it for service and it got us everyplace that we needed to go!  

And then, when the road ended, we started walking...

  It was a long, dusty walk- but well wort it! 

These are some of homes we visited in a Karen-speaking village. 

These are just a few of my favorite pictures from the days we spent out there together. 

The friends we met were absolutely wonderful, and the scenery was stunning.  I wish you all could have been there too!

The closest town to Mae la is Mae Sot.  This is the small place that's rented for a Kingdom Hall there.  There's a very hard working little group of publishers here. Because the territory here is very diverse, they have all their meetings in both Thai and Burmese languages, and normally all the publishers will attend all of the meetings,  to help out.

This a partial group shot taken after the Burmese WT study. 

Some students had recently legalized their marriage in order to bring their lives into harmony with bible principals, and so that weekend some friends in the hall threw them a really nice party.  

Many of the Burmese people will wear a light tan paste on their faces, made from finely ground sawdust.  It's considered good skin protection from the sun and elements, and (I'm pretty sure) sometimes worn just for the fun of it.

Mae Sot is right on the border; which is what you can see here in this picture-  on the left is Myanmar, and on the right is Thailand.  All along the length is a fence like this- looped with razor wire- and small stalls where people will reach over and sell you cheap stuff...  mostly what we saw for sale here were: cigarettes, liquor, gemstones, dubious looking "prescription" meds, and piles of rare orchids.

 

Thai border police.

The markets here were huge, sprawling, and colorful, in every way. It was interesting to walk around and explore.

The, um, "seafood" "area" had one of the weirdest collection of stuff I've ever seen... strange looking octopus, squid, eels, crabs, snakes, turtles, toads, fish... Some were sold alive; some... less-than-alive.  It was hard to distinguish was between pet and food.

Frogs, anyone? 

We also had the special treat of being taken out for coffee and deserts at 'the most beautiful place in the world'!  Well, at least according to our local tour guides it is :) It's at a restaurant, just off the highway and easy enough to drive right by without giving it a second thought.  But once inside, it opens up into truly, what's one of the most incredibly landscaped gardens I've ever seen... Ponds, waterfalls, sculpted forests...   It's like a little preview of paradise. 

 Alas, even the beautiful places have bugs!

This is a kind of Green Leaf Insect, also called a Walking Leaf.  And there was a cantankerous old pelican with crazy hair hanging around for a photo op. 

After saying goodbyes in Mae Sod, it was time to start trekking back towards Bangkok, by bus.  My first stop was in Chang Mai, where we stayed 2 days and could meet the local English cong for just one morning of service.

It's a relatively small town, but lots of tourists and  

exciting night makets. 

Not far outside of town there're small mountains with rivers and waterfalls. I rented a motorbike for the day and drove around with a friend doing some exploring and a little hiking. 

I'm riding a motorcycle on hairpin turns up this long, misty mountain road, and I come to... an "elephant crossing zone"!  er..... I've got mixed feelings about that!??

By far the best part of Chang Mai was a visit to the Tiger Farm, about an hours' drive north of town.  These cats become accustomed to being around lots of people from the time they're only a few months old.  So by the time they're full-grown, they tolerate silly tourists quite well and don't seem to mind the attention at all.   This was definitly another preview of paradise!

After leaving Chang Mai, we took an overnight bus back to Bangkok.  Maybe you've heard that this city is sometimes called "Venice of the East" because it was originally built on a series of canals, many of which are still in use today. 

This was the captain of the long-tail boat that we rode.  Check out those wild tattoos!  

There are antique buses, new (hot pink) taxis, and ultra-modern trains to get around the city ... but we found out that the water ferries are a much cheaper and a faster way to beat the traffic.  The canal water is black and stinky; and many times we swore the boat was as full as it could possibly get... but they just kept on stopping... and everyone squished together just a little bit more so that more people could climb in.  They fit an astonishing number of people onto that boat! 

We were able to stay as guests at the branch, and work one morning as a volunteer.  Fortunately, here it's marked with road signs so not too hard to find.

The branch office is registered as "Foundation For Furtherance Of Bible Study"  That's us!  

mural in the Bethel dining room. 

We also took part of a day to wander around and see some of the city...

China town in Bangkok; someplace I'd like to have more time to explore. 

Most streets has been decorated with red lanterns for the Chinese New year.  Incidentally, did you know that in Thailand, it's the year is 2555? 

Going UP??

After saying some sad goodbyes in Bangkok, my next stop was Kanchanaburi.  Also near the Myanmar border, but much further south than where we had been.  Some special and regular pioneers were asked to move here several months ago, and get a new group started.  It's a great place...  Here we are after a morning of preaching, on our way to lunch... 

This is the living room in the home of a S.P. couple, which also doubles as their little Kingdom Hall.  At the meeting on this day, there was an attendance of 32 people; representing 7 countries, at least 8 different languages.  We may not all understand the same vocabulary, but we all speak the same language. 

They have the lovely custom here of sharing lunch together, picnic style, after every Sunday meeting. 

If you know the history about the Bridge Over The River Quay, or ever seen the old movie by that name... this is a picture of the actual bridge, also located here in Kanchaburi.  

At some waterfalls outside of town

Visiting this area brought another unique opportunity...  elephants are SO much fun to play with! (well, except for the part where you get schlobbered on!)

That's it!  I've decided I'm trading-in my bike for an elephant!  (No more getting stuck in traffic jams for me! :)   

All this did seem like a little preview of promised things to come.  And it was all finished way to fast! -just one week, one day, one hour-  but...

"God, who furnishes all things richly for our enjoyment; to work at good, to be rich in fine works, to be liberal , ready to share, safely treasuring up for [ourselves] a fine foundation for the future, in order that [we] may get a firm hold on the real life." - 1 Tim 6:17-19