I’m here with Dr. Saw Simon the founder & principle of KKBBSC –the college inside the Mae La Refugee Camp at the Thai Burma border. He’s been in the camp for 22yrs. His work on behalf of the Karen People is now known far and wide. Madeleine Albright has been to see his work as well as Aung Sang Sui Kyi Burma’s rising prophet of hope. Prominent UN & religious leaders have made their way to his humble abode where he lives with his wife along with 50,000 other refugees in small thatch and bamboo dwellings. The school (now 450 students) is Baptist (as are most Karen).  Because of the plight of the Karen people, the shape and fabric of their religion has been woven into many fine social strands – justice, hope, equality, human dignity, peace and reconciliation. One must wait for Dr Simon to speak. His brevity and quiet way tests almost all visitors and is sometimes misunderstood. But if a guest is patient, lets the bucket down into the well and waits, wonderful tales and stories are forthcoming. Hidden away in the remote mountains, ostensibly removed from the world Dr Simon has his fingers on political and religious movements far and wide. He remembers dates, events and personalities and their histories with uncanny precision. And he is testing the winds for the Karen whether the times of change they have prayed and waited for are now emerging. At his invitation, I taught for 2 weeks at the school.