What's New?? (part 1)

Wow, so much has happened since I wrote a blog telling what has happened. :) Lol, hope that makes sense. My life has been very crazy these last two months. (I can't believe that I've been here over 2 months already!) I have done and learned many things. Here is a little overview of my life.

Right after the training in Chiang Mai, we took off on a real adventure! We started out taking a very exciting trip with many people and much stuff packed into the back of a truck. We were planning on staying in the jungles for a long weekend. (There were many more people and much more stuff at the beginning of the trip.)

We spent the night in one little town, and the next morning, on the way to the market to purchase some food, we found out that we would be staying in the jungle for over a week! Exciting news, to say the least!

Our next stop was at a Karen refugee camp called Beccla. While there, I saw some of the most extreme poverty that I have ever seen before. The pictures that we took do not even come close to showing what it was really like.

The scenery was beautiful, but the poverty and filth was sickening. These people are displaced out of their Burmese land into Thailand and many of them had to walk all the way to get here. It is a very sad story of their lives. Most of them have seen family members killed, gotten chased out of their own valleys, homes, etc.

In this refugee camp, I received a new nickname. This is the first time in my life that I have had many children scream something and run away when they see me! They would yell "Galawa, Galawa" and run away. I found out later that "Galawa" means "White foreigner" in Karen. Lol, that has become one of my nicknames.

I saw one little story unfold that melted my heart. My Thai friends baught a small snack that was not "aroy" (delicious). They gave it to one small boy. He proceeded to go straight over to his two little friends, split the snack in threes, and each of them got a tiny portion! That made me very happy to see. The Karen are dear, sweet, humble people.

We departed from the refugee camp and continued on our trip. We went to a small village school way out in the jungle! It was located in a beautiful little valley surrounded by majestic mountains.

I learned many things here. We slept on bamboo mats on a bamboo floor (not the most comfortable at first, but got better as I got used to it). This picture was taken at about 4:30 am. They would ring the first "bell" (which consisted of hitting a metal something with another metal something;) at 4:30, then they would all start getting up and doing chores.

I learned how to eat food with my fingers, which was actually very fun. (When I was little, I always wanted to eat with my fingers. Lol, just kidding) We do it sometimes now, even when we don't have to. (sorry, the picture is pretty dark)

One of the most exciting/embarrasing/intriguing things that I learned how to do was: to take a shower in the creek, with a mixed audience. Wow, that sure was an experience! There is not much privacy at the school, seeing as the the little bamboo hut we slept in was also the female staff's house, the worship house, the play house, the hang-out house, etc, etc. So, we had to change with children in the same room quite often. The way it was possible was with something called a "Ni". It is a wide piece of cloth, sewed together (so it is a round piece of cloth). That is wrapped around and tucked in, and changing and showering are all possible! (The Ni is also used as a skirt.) It was a very exciting thing to learn. :D My Thai friends had fun trying to teach me. (sorry, the picture is only of the creek, not of any showers going on;).

I was also able to visit a clinic while we were there. It had the softest beds that I have ever seen in a clinic. . . .

It had a great stash of medications on hand. . . . (many of the bottles were empty)

There were also great quality IV poles available. . . .

It was very sad, actually, the care that was not able to be properly given to some of the people. We wanted to go back and teach them some other ways of treating things like malaria, etc. (becaues malaria was very high in this area), but we ran out of time and never made it there to teach. Maybe next time we go we will be able to.

I was able to teach many things to the children about health. That was actually pretty fun. :D (a "cholesteralized" [word?] artery, and a clean artery)

I fell in love with all of the children. They were so sweet, and I did not want to leave them!

This is the house that we stayed in!

Oh yes, lol, I don't have this one on picture, (or video, too bad) but when we were on our way out of the village one morning, it was raining, and the ground was very slippery. We were walking away, but still in the village, and everyone was waving and telling us bye, and my feet went right out from under me! That was so embarrasing, but funny! Now I look back and just laugh! Well, that's not the end of the story. Once we were out of sight, I fell again. (lol, I'll blame my flip-flops that have no traction;). Then, we were about to get into a boat, and I almost slipped right into the river, computer and everything! Praise the Lord I didn't! That was my exciting exit from the beautiful school in the valley. :D (Read part 2 for the next section of our trip)