Several weeks ago, I was sitting on a bench, under a bridge in Yangon, Myanmar, waiting for a taxi to arrive. There were some stairs going up to the bridge, next to where we sat, and I began to pace from the front of them, to the space beneath them.
I was exhausted. We’d gone to parks and monuments, pizza and malls and markets, and my sweet twelve year old friend saw a teddy bear and an escalator and the city she’d lived an hour away from for her entire life for the first time ever that day.
My head was scrambled eggs and I was spacing out as I paced. Then I noticed a woman sitting on a bench under the stairs. She was tucked in a dusty corner, food in hand. We stared at each other for a moment, like we’d startled each other. I don’t remember who smiled first, but I smiled, she smiled, and I went to turn away.
She stopped me.
She spoke to me in Burmese, stood up, pointed at me, and pointed at where she’d been sitting. “No, it’s okay. Thank you.” I responded- as if she could understand. Again, she smiled, pointed at me, then at her seat. I shook my head. She sat down.
Then, as I turned to pace back, her movement caught me before I left. I turned back, and she held out her food to me. She didn’t touch me, but kept motioning to put her food into my hands. I shook my head no. Again she tried, again I shook my head.
I wanted to talk with her.
Why was she eating alone under the stairwell. Did she have a family. Why did she want to give me her food. Could she see that I was overwhelmed. How do I love this woman right now. So many questions hung in the space between us under that bridge.
One of the young girls I was with walked over. I asked the girl why the woman was eating alone. The girl told me she didn’t know how to say in English. Then she said something in Burmese, smiled, the taxi arrived, and we left, for real this time.
As we passed the bench window on the outside, I saw the woman take her food box and her water, tuck them into a slot under the stairs, and sit back down in the little dusty corner.
I still wonder what her story was. I wonder what her name was and what she was thinking. I wish I would have sat down, even if just for a moment, so she knew: she is seen, she is heard, she is loved. I can’t redo that. I can’t go back to that moment on that bench under that bridge- but I believe that in that moment, that woman showed me unexplainable humanity, that goes beyond any barrier.
I’ve been back in Thailand for about a week! We’ve got two more weeks here before we move to Swaziland! I’m living in the very Northern part of Thailand this month, close to the Myanmar border, teaching English grammar and American history to seniors in high school. This is a super interesting season, and it’s been hard to realize that relationships will look different when people don’t know the Lord. Also, most of my students are older than me, so that’s been a bit of a battle, but I’ve started to make some friends at the school! This is the first month my team is living completely alone, and we have a new teammate (alleymcmillan.theworldrace.org). This week we’ve had so many sweet moments just hanging out and laughing every night, and it’s the greatest!! I’ve also gotten into super sweet morning rhythms with Jesus, am loving having coffee everyday again, and there’s some stunning sunsets every night!! It’s the little things!
Love y’all,
Cait
