My team and I had the incredible opportunity to travel a couple hours west to the border of Myanmar and Thailand. There we lived and served alongside a community of Karen people for six days. If you do not know the Karen people are refugees from Burma (now Myanmar). There is a large population of about 1 million refugees currently living in Thailand. They don’t belong in Myanmar anymore and they aren’t excepted by the Thai government so they are sort of just stuck where they are.
The week was definitely a tough one but I learned so many things about myself and God and I am so thankful for the opportunity I had.
The hopelessness that the Karen people have is heartbreaking. The men have an extremely hard time finding work nearby so most of them are gone for weeks or months picking up odd jobs. I saw so many women raising up to 8 kids all by themselves because their husbands were away trying to find work and sending money back. Since there is little to no hope, and it has been this way for so long, most of the adults struggle with alcoholism. It was hard for me to know what to do while witnessing all the brokenness but I learned all I can do is pray for them and spread Jesus’s love to them.
Children are seen as a gift here so the average family size is about 5-8 kids. All of the kids in the village grow up together and it was so fun seeing how close they all are. The whole community just seemed like one giant family. I loved watching them interact with each other and it reminded me of how much I love (and miss) my siblings. Before leaving for the village my team was told that the kids had lice. We mentally prepared to get it but we were quite nervous going into the trip. Someone said that lice love clean hair so I took it upon myself to not bring any hair products with me and just wear my hair in a bun/braid everyday. I think it’s safe to say I DON’T recommend… my hair was just one giant knot at the end of the week! Either way I am happy to report that none of us have lice and I pray it remains that way.
We went there to specifically teach english, share bible stories/skits, do manual-labor projects, and just love on the community. Each day we lead some english lessons and played games for a couple hours with all the kids. It was so much fun seeing their faces light up when they understood something or hearing them scream and laugh during sharks and minnows. One day we mixed cement and made a concrete road going up to the local church. It was such a rewarding experience seeing hard work pay off and benefiting the community.
The six days in the Karen village I could really see how much the Lord works behind the scenes. He’s always there helping us out and when I actually took the time to realize that and notice all the littles things He does it was truly incredible. I am overjoyed that God sent me there to see and love His precious people.
