A Glimpse of Mae La Refugee Camp and KKBBSC from the Inside Out
This past July 17th I went from Chiang Mai, Thailand to the town of Mae Sot in order to cross the border into Myanmar and then return into Thailand. This is one way of renewing one’s visa. After the process was complete I headed back into Mae Sot to the Canadian Diner to get breakfast. It just so happened Dr Simon from the Mae La Karen refugee camp (about one and a half hour drive from town) was in town getting supplies and spotted me walking along the street. Within 15 minutes he committed me to come into the camp and teach. Short three teachers he asked me to something in Christian Ethics for the Juniors. I went into the camp on the 18th and stayed 9 days teaching out of a verse in 2 Cori 5:7 “we walk by faith and not by sight” which is the theme of my new book.
The following are a few quotes from some of the papers I received from my students. They are representative comments on various subjects we discussed in light of the text. With difficulty they wrote in English and in doing so their sentences often appear elementary. *Naw indicates female and Saw indicates male.
“Now we live in [Mae La] refugee camp and we have nothing. But we believe in God and God feeds us. God gives us everything what we need. We can walk only by faith in God”
No name on this paper
“The word faith is easy to say but sometimes we fall in our faith – Yes!
“We walk by faith and not by sight because God needs us to do whatever with all our hearts”
(Here the student is thinking about how acting on faith in the unseen exercises not only the mind but heart – true faith stirs up creative stress that summons the heart.)
By Naw Say Paw
“You teach about faith. Before I am not clear about faith. I cannot explain about faith to others. Faith is very important in my life so you teach very clearly. I like that. I have a question what about during the time of Jesus. They see miracle and see Jesus so do they also need faith?
“I never see angle like Abraham, burning bush like Moses, I never see Jesus but when some people talk about God I realize God is true So that is faith. Faith is to believe in reality even you never see…” [“Faith comes by hearing says Romans 10:17].
By Sorasak
“We don’t know what happens tomorrow but we know who hold’s tomorrow”
By Naw En Christ Paw
“By Faith one day our Karen People will get freedom”
No name on this paper
“Like children growing up must learn to make decision so we as Christian must make decisions. Because we cannot depend on other people always. We can make a right decision through trust in God. If we cannot make decisions in our lives we will have many problems. As Christians we need to dare to make decisions through faith”
Saw Eh Kalyaw
“Those who walk by sight never reaches a point where he/she has enough. Those who walk by faith however which kind of situation they happen upon they can stand by faith firmly and they can pass through all difficult situations.”
Naw Eh Christ Paw
“God is spiritual so we cannot see him [John 4:24] we can see him only by our faith. Now we become refugee but we have a chance to study and gain education and can worship God free…”
Saw Ta Eh Poe
“In our journey of life we cannot walk by ourselves. And we cannot walk alone by what we see, touch and knowing. We can walk only by our faith in God. We need to put our faith deeply in God. God will prepare everything for us.”
Saw Billy Shell
existence and faith 