Mae Sot

This past weekend we had Friday off for a Buddhist holiday. I had the opportunity to go with a few people from my church to Mae Sot. Mae Sot is a city right on the border of Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. There are about 100,000 or more Burmese refugees that live here. A good number of them are children whose parents have sent them across the border to try and give them a better life. So there are tons of kids who need a lot of help. They live in schools that have been set up. They sleep on the floor and pretty much only have the clothes they are wearing and maybe a few school supplies. The schools are lacking in materials and curriculum and are struggling to get by. And most of these refugees are illegal immigrants... right now there are supports set up for them, but as soon as that changes, they will have to go. They never know when or if that might happen.
SO, I had the opportunity to go visit one of these schools. There is an organization called Imagine Thailand that has built relationships with these schools and so we are able to go in through them. Because it's about 7-8 hours away, we didn't have a whole lot of time. Some of the girls got supplies for the school and played games and did crafts with the kids. I helped paint the girls dorm. The walls were terribly dirty, so we gave it a few good coats of white paint, and then painted flowers, butterflies, and bees all over the walls. It turned out really pretty! The kids are so adorable and loving. It amazes me how easy it is to be with kids and have fun, even though we speak different languages.
One day after we had finished lunch, there were a lot of people painting, so I took a break to go outside and hang out with the kids. They had gotten into our trash and were cutting up the orange peels and the Styrofoam containers and mixing it with dirt so that they could play "chef" and make food for each other, and we would pretend to eat it. They stored this "food" mixture in an empty potato chip bag. I'm sure most of us have played "make a meal and pretend to eat it" when we were younger, but I highly doubt it was with someone else's trash. They have that little that they have to play with trash. It's really sad, but at the same time, we had a great time making "food" and pretending it was delicious.
It's just such a different life. It reminds me a lot of India. My life here is very comfortable. I have a nice apartment, I get paid, I live in the city where I can find almost anything I want, and my kids come from fairly well off families. I know I'm supposed to be here right now, these kids need Jesus as much as anyone, but I can't help but think... how long will I stay here? At least another year, but then what? Part of me is ready to move on and go live in the slums and the refugee camps, where there seems to be a bigger need. We'll see where life takes me. Until then, here are very few pictures from the trip... we didn't take a whole lot, sorry!