The ride to Mae Sot

I found a short video on YouTube of the ride from Mae Sot to Umphang. It's good because it will give you a small glimpse of my trip in the blue car and a bit of the scenery. The blue car is generally very crowded and often makes stops to drop off and pick up passengers along the way. All of the houses that you see in the video are located in the Umpiem refugee camp, the one that just had the horrible fire. Thankfully, the last time I went to Mae Sot (last week), I was in a private car!

Tragedy

Yesterday, a fire swept through one of the nine Burmese refugee camps located along the Thai-Myanmar border. The camp where the fire took place is called Umpiem. The road to Mae Sot, the nearest city to me, passes directly by the camp; I was just there the day before. It is believed that the fire started in a single home while someone was cooking. The houses are made of bamboo and the roofs of thatch, (a type of grass) so the fire spread quickly. There were strong winds that day so the fire was able to jump up to 5 houses at a time. In an effort to contain the fire, residents whose houses were located around the perimeter of the fast spreading fire started removing their roofs. It was finally contain and extinguished. Sadly, thousands of homes were destroyed in the end. They are all in such close proximity, literally only feet from each other, it seemed inevitable that there would be great loss. These people already have nothing and the little they have is now gone too. The displaced residents had to stay with friends or relatives within the camp. Since they are not legal citizens of Thailand, they are not allowed to just leave the camp. A friend of mine here works for one of the many NGO's  that assist the refugees, she was able to take pictures that I am posting for you to see. Thank God, there are no reports of casualties. Also, if you would like to read, here is a link to an article posted about the fire.
http://www.news24.com/World/News/Thailand-Fire-razes-Myanmar-refugee-camp-20120223
Here is a video of the fire in progress:

Houses with roofs removed

The whole hillside, top and bottom used to be houses

Charred remains from a house

A new playground

In December, someone from the States donated money for a playground to built at the orphanage and in January it was completed! The kids love it so much!! Here are some pictures, enjoy!

A Wedding at H2O

On Sunday, on February 5th, two of the volunteer staff at H2O, Naw Taya Phaw and Ko Sein Myint, were wed! As I mentioned in previous posts, I was asked to be the Maid of Honor (yeah, I still don't get it). The night before they were married, we had Phaw Phaw over with some other girls and had a little bridal shower for her. We ate, played games and gave her advice on marriage! It was a lot of fun and she enjoyed the little break from all of the hustle from the wedding preparations. The wedding was conducted in Burmese so I really had no clue what was going on! I never knew when to take her flowers from her! The wedding was a mixture between western style and Karen. I wore a traditional Karen dress and she wore a western style dress made of material that had a Karen pattern. Just before we went out to go to the church, they put this mini veil on me.... now I looked like a junior bride! Anyway, it's what they wanted and that's what matters right! He wore a regular suit. The order that we walked down the isle was a bit different and they do not have a lot of our traditions such as seating parents, runner for the isle, unity candle, communion during the wedding, and things like that. The cake was on the stage in the church and they cut it as part of the ceremony. They did not feed it to one another or cut the whole thing up at that time. They had the signing of the wedding certificate as a part of the ceremony, but me nor the best man signed! Family signed as witnesses, lol. There was no formal reception, but food was provided. Most people left after eating (just like a normal church service on Sunday). I have included 2 pictures, enjoy!

The harsh reality of poverty

I have mentioned before and I will mention again, I really love my house! We have the best view. Whenever people come over, the first thing they notice when they come up the stairs is the view. Most are not interested in hanging out inside, they would rather sit on the porch and look out. I noticed recently that my house is pretty much surrounded by other, more rustic dwellings. They are inhabited by Burmese Karen people. Most are not legal citizens of the country and therefore cannot find decent work, if they work at all. That also means that they cannot purchase wood, which is VERY expensive here. As a side note, although wood is expensive 99% of houses here are built of wood. They build their houses out of bamboo. They are very similar to the houses in the refugee camps, VERY basic. If they can afford it, they can get a tin roof put on, but most have dead leaves weaved together as a roof (it is more sturdy than you think). Not all of the houses are totally enclosed either. The one outside of my kitchen window has 3 walls and the front is facing the beautiful view. From what I can see, they have a small enclosed room where they sleep.

The other day I was washing the dishes and looking out of my kitchen window (by the way, I don't have a choice, we don't have curtains) and there isn't much to see but into my neighbors house. I noticed that they were cooking. As the man was turning the food on the grill, I thought, that can't be what I think it is.... and it was. He was grilling a rat... they call them bamboo rats. Yes, that was to be their lunch. Apparently many Karen eat bamboo rats. I felt very bad for them. Now, Doris and I have been going back and forth about the reason why they eat rats; do they do it because they cannot afford chicken or pork? Do they do it because that is what they always eat and they like it? I really don't know, but I cannot imagine that anyone wants to eat rats, however, people do like to eat fried grasshoppers, grubs and a host of other insects and they are not doing it because they are poor. I look at how they live and eat and wonder how do they do it? The title of this post is "The Harsh Reality of Poverty", but I wonder, is it harsh for them or me? I think the answer is for me. This is life for them and they need to live it and most of them don't know anything better, but I do.