Karen Migrants

The Karen women here are very industrious.  They need to be as most do not have work permits and so apply themselves to things they can sell or exchange for goods or services amongst the local and relocated Burmese and Karen people.

One afternoon the women at the house and I sat around weighing and bagging tea into 50gm sachets to be sold at the local village house shop.  It’s interesting to learn how resourceful these women are at earning a living.  Some have work permits; others do not. They all have immigration cards which are basically useless as the police need to be paid off to leave the Karen alone.  Other family members work as teachers, some as labourers, still others find intuitive ways like my host family; rebottling yogurt and grass jelly into smaller containers, bagging tea to sell locally, or helping out at the church and other charity organisations which receive support from abroad.

At 3pm that afternoon I was taken to the Karen school, (where I went to church on Sunday) where I was asked to talk about horticultural practices as well as what it was like living in Australia.  The head master interpreted from English to Burmese. To keep them interested I asked lots of questions and had them ask me questions too.  Some interesting questions were posed like: “how old are you?” I explained that this was not a polite question to ask in Australian, especial to women but I didn’t mind as I looked younger than I am.  They laughed. I then asked them to try and guess my age.  This is very difficult when guessing people of a different nationality; for example I think most Asians look much younger than they are.  It must be the same with the Europeans as some of the ages they called out were very flattering, it ranged from late 50’s to one cheeky boy, bringing laughter to us all, who said 90.  In fact we had lots of laughs and joking around. I was relieved as much as the students were when the headmaster said it was time to play.  Wow!  You should have heard the younger boys applaud bringing more laughter.  I’m told the girls were the ones interested in the horticulture information and had enjoyed the talk.

Although it had been a long day and I was tired I wasn’t able to sleep till nearly 11pm, during which time I caught up with emails including sending my blog to be proof read.  And yet I still woke up during the night taking a while to resettle and finally waking at 6am. Most of the morning after breakfast I sat chatting with family members as the WiFi bill hadn’t been paid so we were needing to use our mobile data, which I used sparingly.

I had a three hour firm massage by a Karen lady who spoke Thai which was rather awkward as she thought I knew more than I did. She told me that the right side of my body from my head to my feet was very tight but the left was soft. She also told me that she could fix it.  I wasn’t so sure, although she told me I should have three sessions but unfortunately this was my only session as I ran out of time.  The following day I felt no better so was it that I needed two more sessions or was it just beyond her ability to bring full recovery.

That afternoon I booked my flight from Chiang Rai to Suvarnabhumi Bangkok International Airport praying that the flight will be on time as my flight to Bali flies out from here the same day.

Then I joined the drive to pick up the Karen parents who were attending a parent’s day at the Hebron home school.  Ben arrived driving the church Songthaew or Jeepney (a ute with a high canopy and bench seats along both sides) to pick me up and drive me across town to the school.  The kids and some of the parents clambered into the back while others sat on the back seat of the cab.  I wasn’t able to have a look around nor meet the headmistress as she was busy with other parents but Don promised to bring me back another day.  On our return to the house we dropped off families we were taking home.

Many of these families had just the clothes they had on when they arrived in Thailand from fleeing the trauma in Myanmar.  Other Burmese families helped them out with everything; clothing, accommodation, food and when they were able to afford rental, then furniture, household goods including fans and refrigerators could be bought from the families who had left and been relocated with overseas families.  My host family had experienced similar hardships and had been generously supported by their own people when arriving in Thailand.  Many of these gifts and purchases were old and worn down including the refrigerator which lacked a freezer door; this meant food kept in the freezer was rarely frozen. Before I left Mae Sot they were donated a new fridge and were able to pass the old one on to a needy family who were without one.

One morning, I joined the family on a shopping trip into the city; we stopped at Macro, a large supermarket with appliances and other goods, here I also bought a few things.  Unfortunately Macro didn’t accept bank cards; customers could either pay by QR code or cash.  QR code payment is very common in Asia especially with smaller vendors as they don’t need a transaction device which has high bank fees.  Because I only carry a small amount of Thai Baht and prefer to use my WISE card where possible, ideally I keep my cash for local markets or street stalls.  The WISE card gives a great exchange rate and no transaction fee.  I can also load it up with the local currency which makes it more acceptable while traveling.  WISE also has a monthly limit on how much I can withdraw in cash so I have to be careful how I spend it.  My friends told me I could use my card at Robinson and Lotus. So the following day we went shopping at Robinsons which is quite a bit more expensive but I didn’t mind as long as I could use my card.  I was quite surprised when I went to pay, I was asked if I wanted to pay in AUD or Thai Baht.  I’d never been asked that before so said Thai Baht was ok. This store also had a better variety of food products, there were other stores under the same roof offering different products and goods similar to our large shopping centres.

On another day I was dropped off at Lotus where I did a bit more shopping and had no problems paying with my card.

After our first shop I had bought items we needed to make yogurt and kefir. We had bought glass jars for this purpose and some plain yogurt as a starter.  I had brought my kefir pearls from home. It took only 14hrs for the yogurt to set and 20hrs for the kefir. The women liked both the yogurt and kefir without sugar as it wasn’t very sour and was thick and creamy.  Most of the men preferred it with honey or sugar.

Lucy, whose husband is still imprisoned in Myanmar, is a great cook and is often called upon to cook for functions and events or for individual orders.  This is her main source of income as she doesn’t have a work permit yet, although she is applying for one but was told to reapply in October. She often cooks for the whole family who come around at dinner and sometime lunch.  She is the one who buys the tea, black grass jelly and yogurt in bulk. I suggested instead of buying the four litres of sweetened yogurt she could make her own. Which led me to showing them how. I also suggested they could add honey, sugar, or other flavourings. These she could sell at a higher price so as to get a better return for her labour and outlay.

Mary is a qualified teacher who is not permitted to work but helps out at the Karen school and provides after school homework and tutoring classes.  She does online English lessons which she would like to set up so as to receive payment, but is unable to open a bank account here as she too doesn’t have a work permit. Life here is very challenging for migrants as they don’t have the status recognition that they would have in Australia.

It’s the wet season here in Thailand which means it rains most days and sometimes most of the day.  One night it was so heavy I thought the roof would cave in, there were, what sounded like tree branches landing on the roof which I’m sure were very frightening to the Karen who, in Myanmar, had been bombed.  Many of them now suffer PTSD and depression.  It wasn’t till the day before I left that I went to see if I could do anything about the racket on the roof at night.  I noticed it was tree branches that were hitting the roof and broke them all off.  That night was more restful.

Getting to know the children of the families and those who came for after school and English lessons was interesting. Most of the children listen to English stories (they sound like AI produced) online and their English is exceptionally good.  Unfortunately I could hear they were really not stories I’d encourage young Christian children to listen to as the language, although not swearing was not very polite and the stories didn’t portray good behaviour towards other children or adults.  I mentioned this to Don who was going to look into it.

One of the weekends after the children told me they like swimming I told Don I also liked swimming. He very gracefully suggested we go. He can’t swim so is reluctant to take the children who can.  It was a fun morning for the kids and the ladies and myself although I did get a bit sunburnt on my shoulders and back of my neck.  The two brothers sat on the sideline watching us over their coffee and lunch.  Having been a swimming teacher I was able to help them improve some of their strokes which they appreciated.  Free swimming lessons, while a Thai boy was paying for his.

On our return to the house we made mock pizzas. I say mock as I wasn’t able to buy the pizza bases and substituted the base with flat bread, plus I had been told they had an oven but actually they meant a microwave oven which wasn’t going to give us a crispy base.  Again we compromised and after melting the cheese on the base in the microwave we toasted the bottom of the bread over the gas burner.  Everyone enjoyed them but it was not something that could be mass produced to sell, as we had hoped.  Still there was one more thing we wanted to try, pikelets.

That evening Don had asked me to speak to his colleagues and suggested a PowerPoint presentation.  I felt it was a little out of my depth as these were agricultural students, some with a master’s degree.  I only had a bit of horticulture experience. I decided to look at my notes from what I taught at church during the Gardening Basics class.  From these I put something together, then later showed them to Don before sending him the file which he said he would organise so I could use them on the Tuesday.

The day before my birthday I was taken to a ‘Durian Banquet’.  This is like sushi train but instead it had plates of durian, savoury rice and sticky rice dishes and bowls of rumbutans.  We all ate as much durian as we could fit in, we didn’t want to waste it on rice which we could eat at home. Some of the durian was hard and crunchy so we asked the girl who was refilling the trays if there were any soft ones.  These were delicious.  I was so full I didn’t need to eat another thing all day.

That evening a group of Karen families came to the house for prayer. We all sang songs of praise then a group of girls sang some songs and then Don’s family sang with his mother joining in.  Every morning she sings ‘You are my sunshine’. But this night she sang both Karen and English songs.  Her Alzheimer’s prevented her from remembering all the words but she knew the tunes well.  She is such a gentle, quiet woman of God, it’s such an honour to have been able to spend time with her.  She lost her husband in Myanmar through a stroke when he was in his early 50’s and had raised her children by herself while pastoring a church.

Don later told me, singing together as a family brought back painful memories and how much they missed his brother who is still in prison in Myanmar. After singing, an older Karen woman spoke on Timothy and Silas’ imprisonment in Acts, how they praised God in the midst of persecution. We ended with a time of prayer and shared a typical Burmese meal of rice with peanuts.  After this I was driven close to the Thai – Myanmar border where there is a huge complex built by the Chinese to house the online scammers.  It was in the worldwide news saying the Burmese government was closing it down but they didn’t as they get kickbacks from those who run it.  There are many people traffickers who have provided these complexes with people to operate the scams.  These people are paid next to nothing and are tortured if they do not do the work.  Very few have escaped to tell the story as they are shot on site if seen escaping. I later met an Australian worker, Kate, who had met some of those who had escaped.  Many were hunted down by the Chinese or caught by the Thai authorities who are paid to send them back to Myanmar.

Another quiet evening at the house, I showed Lucy how to make macaroni with the leftover tomato paste from the pizzas, bacon, lots of garlic and carrot. There was a huge pot full as I thought it was going to be served up to all the family.  Unfortunately only a few members came that evening and much was left over.  The dish was then left on the table till the morning by which time it had gone off.  I suggested they add chilli next time which I’m sure they enjoy more.

It had poured all night and now all morning so on my birthday I asked if Kate could pick me up for our coffee date. When I opened the sliding gate, to leave, there was a small snake which slithered off into the garden.  Unfortunately or was it a blessing that we never saw it again.  I do hope it found its way back outside into the neighbouring fields.  My new friend, Kate, is an Australian from WA.  She has been in Thailand many years, both at the international school in Chiang Mai including over the Covid lockdown and now in Mae Sot.  She has her finger in many pies including Missions & Relief, Life Impact Australian board and Global Alms. We also realised we had a mutual friend, Rhianon, who I stayed with in Vietnam.  She had never been to the DeHouse café and was pleasantly impressed. Over our coffee we got to know each other a bit, I was very interested in her work here and the work of a co-worker who is into horticulture like me.  Kate suggested if I come back next year I could meet up with her to share our talents and mutual interests.

Midday I took a ride with some of the family who were applying for a work permit.  They dropped me at Lotus shopping centre to do some shopping saying they would be back in about an hour.  After walking around looking for the supermarket, I eventually asked if there was one here.  I was told it was upstairs.  I hadn’t found it as the stairs were hidden behind some small vendors’ stores.  I asked one of the attendants at the supermarket if I could use my bank card here, she said not a debit card.  Still I took my chances and finding a few things I wanted, I headed to the teller and presented my card saying “Tap dai kah” basically letting her know it’s a tap and go card.  Praise the Lord it was accepted and all was well.  I went back down stairs and to fill in time wandered around the handyman store. I hadn’t been there long when Lucy found me.  They had been told that she would have to reapply again in October. I’m not sure what people are supposed to do in the meantime without a work permit?  I bought a few more items to help with the yogurt making then found somewhere to sit while we waited for the others to finish their shopping.  From here we stopped for a late lunch at a noodle place while Ben picked up his son, Sam, from school.  Then on to pick up some of the other children from the international Christian school before dropping them and myself back at the house.

It was a quiet afternoon till later that evening when some of the English students and many of the family and friends came around to give me a surprise birthday celebration.  I was in my room doing my Duolingo studies when Don called me to join him.  The dark lounge room gave it away.  I was greeted with a rowdy round of singing happy birthday in various versions culminating with me blowing out the candles on the cake. I couldn’t believe how many gifts I received as each family group brought their special something.  For someone who’s not really into gifts I felt rather embarrassed, I was also thinking; how am I going to take these with me with the weight restrictions on my luggage? I didn’t want to be rude and refuse the gifts!  The evening was rounded up with, you guessed it more food. I had already taken a small slice of cake which I couldn’t refuse after all their effort.  Unfortunately that night it took me ages to get to sleep and then I woke at 1am and couldn’t sleep till nearly 4am.  It is so hard to tell people I can’t eat after 4pm especially sweet things as it effects my sleep.

With much excitement the following morning the new fridge arrived.  We made space for the delivery men to unload and unpack it then before they left were given instructions, in Thai, which I translated into English.  We were not to turn on the fridge for 4-6 hours then when turned on, to leave it for 2-4 hours to let it get cold before filling it with things.  We opened up the manual to read the instructions but of course it was all in Thai so I searched for an English version and read that.  The guys wanted to move the old fridge and put the new one in its place. It was now ready and left to settle till 5pm when it was turned on.  Having read through the manual, I suggested they do likewise but forgot to remind them that when it’s turned on it needs to be left another 2 hrs before putting anything in it. I realised it was too late when I noticed the old fridge had been turn off and all the contents put into the new.

That morning was my speaking appointment with Don’s work colleagues.  I really wasn’t sure about what I should speak about so asked the Lord to guide me.  They all spoke English quite well so no interpretation needed. When we arrived Don asked if I had brought my computer.  No, I thought the reason I had send him the PowerPoint was so that he could set it up at the office.  Obviously there was a miscommunication as he had also left his computer at the house.  Not to worry, it was still on my GDrive so could be transferred to one of the office computers and then onto the screen.

I asked if I should introduce myself and was told not yet so started chatting to the group about myself and what they did.  I hadn’t realised we were still waiting for a few others to arrive.  Finally I was asked to start with an introduction, I laughed and said I’d already told them all about myself but then reintroduced myself briefly before they all introduced themselves and what role they played in the organisation. They were very well educated in agricultural areas and were helping the rural Karen people to grow and sell produce, from their lands.  Most of these people are hunter gatherers not growing to sell products so this was a challenge to help them become more self-sufficient. My PowerPoint was well accepted as was our discussion on my involvement with the community garden in North Beach. Before leaving I told Dan I could smell durian.  He was surprised at how sensitive my nose was.  Sure enough after looking all around we found a bag of durian which had been brought back from Myanmar.  One was offered to me which I brought to the house to eat.  It was different to the Thai durian which has small seed and stronger taste, these had large seeds and little flesh but were delicious.

Wednesday Don was wanting to take me to the hot springs and waterfall that afternoon after a morning at the Hebron School.  He had suggested 8:30am but I asked for 9:30am as I needed to have breakfast and make my coffee before leaving.  He initially agreed but then said I could go with Mary and the school children when his brother picked them all up. I was ready and out the gate by 8:50am. Don and a work colleague came along as he too was taking his daughter to school.  We dropped off some other children at the Karen International School at the church before reaching Hebron.

I was shown around by the headmistress who also told me how the school was started through her desire to teach her daughter.  She had started home-schooling her daughter but then also wanted her to have school friends.  This led her to opening the Hebron school based on the home-schooling curriculum. From five students it has now grown to over forty including four special needs children.

While I was here, Don said Kate was trying to call me.  I turn off my connection so as to save data, this eSIM doesn’t have a phone number; all communication is done through various social media connections. I called her back and was alarmed that I had the dates of our departure wrong!  She was at the house waiting for me.  Had I stuck to my original plan with Dan to pick me up at 9:30am I would have been there when she arrived.  We hurriedly returned to the house with only 20 mins to pack.  I threw everything into my two suitcases, grabbing my stuff from the fridge and stuffing it into my backpack before bidding a quick goodbye to the family who were home and took off.  What a stressful time.  I now had to arrange for my bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai to be changed.

I think the mistake was made when Kate was talking about needing to be in Chiang Mai on Thursday the 11^th of June and I had forgotten she was leaving the day before.  Praise the Lord she waited for me.

 

Photos:  1. Crown Flower – Calotropis gigantean    2. Me with Granny    3. Scam city Myanmar    4. Rural scene   5. Durian Banque   6. Kate and me    7. Birthday surprise    8. Hebron school headmistress and me

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise the Lord for His continuing grace, providing leading, guidance and protection here in Thailand.

Please pray for the Karen families here in Thailand that all their needs will be met and visa granted so that they may soon join family abroad. Pray also for their situation here which is very stressful due to the corruption, lack of working status and inability to provide for their families.

Please continue to pray for my time in Chiang Rai in the north of Thailand.  Pray also that my Thai will continue to improve as I practice speaking with the Thai people.

Please continue to pray that the Lord will use me to be a blessing to others while I’m here and that He will complete the work He has started in me.

Please pray for my Indonesian visa which I will try to reapply for this month.

Continue to pray for world peace and countries dealing with major disasters, wars and the unbelievable hardships they cause.  Pray for all those caught up in the suffering these events have caused.  Pray that God’s peace may be known by all people especially for those who live with despair, that they will find hope in Christ Jesus.

Please keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.