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The 3.5 hour drive in the van was a lot more comfortable than some of the buses we have been on so we arrived fairly rested. My friend, Lucky, was now in Mae Sariang translating for a group of US doctors who were teaching a medical trauma course to medics. He was staying at the home of Honest Roger's Father, Roger Khin, which is about 30 minutes out of Mae Sariang in the mountain. We had been invited to stay at Roger's home also. A driver was sent to pick us up, but we had to wait about an hour for him to arrive. We had one 50 lb. suitcase full of clothes and gifts and our 2 personal back packs.
The "bus station" is nothing like what you'd imagine. There is a dirt parking lot where the vans, buses, cars and motor bikes come in to load and unload passengers. The "ticket office" is a shack with a small window opening. The "ticket counter" is a small wooden table. The dust is horrible as vehicles come and go. There is a 7-11 store right across the street where we were able to get water, snacks and use the restroom. One thing I have noticed about Thailand is that there is a 7-11 in just about every little town.
We finally made it to Roger's home where Lucky was waiting for us. We had a nice relaxing evening visiting with him and the other Karen who lived with Roger and his wife. Honest's sister came over to meet us and Lucky asked if we would register her 3 children and take their pictures, which we did. We were both pretty tired, so after a quick shower, we slipped into bed on a mattress placed on the floor under a mosquito net. We were in one corner and Lucky was in another.
I had made arrangements with a Karen friend, Suchart, who has driven me in the past, to pick us up at Roger's and drive us into Mae Rah Moe camp. He arrived about 7 am. The truck was loaded with supplies for the camp and they wedged our big suitcase under the ropes which secured their supplies and we were off on another adventure! Lucky would be waiting for us at Roger's when we returned that evening.
The trip up the mountain was uneventful. Road crews had graded the deep ruts left by the heavy rains during Monsoon season, so there was a layer of soft dirt which resulted in a more comfortable but very dusty ride. This would not have been the case during the Monsoons.
The photo on the left shows a typical home built in the flood zone with construction designed to help the family stay dry when the inevitable heavy rains come.
When we arrived at Pastor Kasu's home, he was waiting for us and we quickly set up our registration table in the church entry, out of the hot sun. We had about 200 cards for children we had registered in prior years and we started taking new photos to update their records. Roughly 130 of them have sponsors and we will give the new pictures to their sponsors. I had sent Kasu 50 blank cards also, so there were new children waiting also. After all those cards were used up, we registered about 50 more new children.
When we were done in that section, Kasu had a truck waiting to take us to the suspension bridge (about 30 minutes away) that would take us to Section 7-A . There were children waiting at the bridge to greet us and walk with us over to where we would take pictures. This section has always been my favorite because so many families I have known for almost 20 years live here. They are a unique group of people comprised of Christians, Buddhists, Animists and those who have no religious preference.
In 1998 I stayed for 2 months in a little jungle camp with about 200 of them until the Thai government forced them into refugee camps. This group had a little compound in the jungle with a bamboo church/school, and many little bamboo homes. It was a wonderful time and I will always thank God for giving me that opportunity to stay there with them until they had to leave.
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Whenever we enter section 7-A children and adults run out to greet us and we have a joy filled reunion. It is always a challenge getting this group organized! They all want to press in as close as they can to our table, both children and adults. Rick and I both had problems with auto focus on our cameras when we were trying to take individual pictures because there are so many people crowded around the child we are photographing. Several adults and children also stand close and fan us with palm fronds. They fanned us the entire time we were working at the table.
Many families have been re-settled to other countries under the UNHCR re-settlement program. Kasu says that for every child who has resettled, dozens more are waiting to take their place. When we told Kasu that we couldn't possibly find sponsors for all of the hundreds waiting to be registered, he told us "It doesn't matter. Just take their picture and give them hope that they may be sponsored." I would love to be able to find sponsors for every one of them! These pictures show the registration area we had set up. It is always heart wrenching to turn children away who haven't yet been registered, but we had been able to register over 75 new children and over 200 photos of children registered in years past or new, pre-registered children.
It was very hot and humid and by mid afternoon we were both starting to feel the effects of the previous long day and night. We also hadn't eaten lunch and I had only eaten a little rice and about half an egg for breakfast. Rick had eaten nothing. We were told that some of the ladies had prepared food for us, but we asked Kasu to let them know we couldn't take the time to eat. We had to meet our driver at the bridge at 4 pm. We also didn't want to eat any of the small amount of food they had.
It was starting to cloud up as we walked to the bridge, but since Monsoon season had ended in October we were not concerned about it raining. Boy were we surprised when it started sprinkling after we loaded into the truck at the bridge! By the time we got to Section 4, where we dropped off Kasu, it was raining in earnest. After we had said our good-byes and drove toward the gate we heard thunder and saw lightening fairly close. As we started down the mountain, the wind picked up and the rain pelted down, turning the road into a slippery muddy mess. Fortunately, Suchart is an experienced driver on this treacherous mountain road. We encountered other trucks stuck at the bottom of a particularly steep hill. I had confidence that Suchart could get us off the mountain, but it was not easy driving. We were constantly meeting trucks coming up the mountain and sometimes it looked like there was no way either driver could give the other enough room to pass. One side the winding road is right up against the mountain, the other side is a sheer drop off with no guard rails. There were also sections where the road had eroded away during the heavy Monsoon storms, leaving even less room to navigate safely.