Laughter, Eating and Connectedness

We took the blue boat to Piloke

Our family is feeling more and more at home here in Thailand. We care deeply for the Karen people and their futures. This past weekend we had the privilege of visiting a village about four hours away. This village, called Piloke, is home to 5 of the students that live (during the school term) at Bamboo School. Two of these students call us mum and dad - so visiting their home was a gift to them, but more so it was a gift for us.

Piloke is a Karen village surrounded by many others, accessible only by boat. We took a bus for a couple of hours to Tong Pha Poom and then took a boat to the village. We stayed with Apisit's family ( a 16 year old student from Bamboo School) he calls us mum and dad and introduced us to his family as his second family. I cannot portray in words how honoring it is to be introduced to a village as family. Piloke is a fishing village and so fish is the main food for each meal of the day. The family grow and prepare their rice also and so each day, three times a day, we ate fresh rice and fresh fish...incredible. We slept on mats and spent time at night laughing and talking with Apisit's family. They knew no English and limited Thai, so we spoke our limited Thai and Apisit (who can speak some English) filled in the rest of the gaps. On Saturday Apisit and his brother took our family fishing and hiking. We went by boat (there are no cars in Piloke) and then hiked into the jungle for about an hour and stopped near rushing water and swam while some fished. We drank water from the river and ate fish and rice.till our tummies were full. On our walk back Apisit's brother stopped our boys and said 'shhh'. His warning was a little late and a snake about a meter long and 5cm in diameter slid between Jordan's legs.

On the Sunday I preached in the Baptist church, this particular village is 99% Christian, most villages are 50% Christian and 50% Buddhist. The Baptist church is the only church, placed in the middle of the village. The bell rings and many of the 900 or so villagers begin their short treks to church. Apisit translated for me, something he had been telling me he could do for many weeks. He was so proud to be translating in front of his village, he was so proud to be introducing us to his village and he did a remarkable job. Colin preached at the night service and we returned home to sit and talk again with Apisit's family.

The following day we took photos with his family and said our goodbyes. The people had overwhelmed us with their love and acceptance. They ate after we had eaten, they cooked and cleaned up without allowing us to do anything, they hugged our children and moved away from their space on the floor for us to speep there. While we hugged and shook hands - Apisit's grandfather was bathing his grandmother on the bamboo floor of their home. His grandmother was very sick, very thin and frail. As the grandfather poured water over his wife, with his arm supporting her as she struggled to sit up on her own, we saw another glimpse of love. This family laughed with each other, they served each other and they were connected to each other. They owned very little and worked very hard. They are under constant threat that Burmese soldiers could come and attack them and probably have horrific stories of attacks or escapes in the past.

We heard a quote the other day, I can't remember it fully, but it speaks of today being a day that each of us were given. The challenge is to be present in the day. So often we long for the days past when we were stronger or lighter or younger or richer or single. So often we long for the days in the future where we will be retired or wiser or without young children or graduated. The Karen people don't know what the future will bring. They don't have freedom today and may not experience freedom in their lifetime. They don't know if they will have enough food next week, they don't know if they will get so sick that they have to travel two hours to see a doctor. They don't know if they con get permits to work or study in Thailand. They don't know if they will get permission to travel to the next town. They don't know so much. And yet....they seem to live today. Present in the day. Laughing, caring, seeking God and enjoying connectedness with each other. Today was a gift from your Father....did you live it? Really, were you 'there'?

On the right is Apisit's brother and his friend. Our girls are in the middle. They are scaling and gutting the fish that we ate for lunch. They were little fish that were put on skewers.

Here is Somgeit (a student from Bamboo School and Colin cooking the fish near the river. Our skin doesn't hold up in the sun like the Karen skin and we were a little roasted with the fish! The Karen thought it was hilarious that we had sunburn.

Here are our girls (and boys in the distance) eating from banana leaf plates...They absolutely love the fish...they eat around the bones and very happily crunch on the fins and head. Kenzie loves to get the head of the fish and mix it into her rice and then add sweet chilli sauce! Kenzie's face looks pale because she has yellow Karen face paint on. We covered ourselves in it to protect us from the sun. The Karen do this also, but it is now also part of their traditional dress.

This is Apisit's father. He has two sons and adopted our two girls as his own. The girls would wake in the morning and run to give him a morning hug. Our girls are wearing their Karen outfits...it was Sunday morning and we had just come back from church.

Our four....weary...but peaceful.