| Up to Speed # 6 |
[Dec. 9th, 2006|12:23 pm] |
Up to Speed # 6
Umphiem Camp Install # 2
With one installation under our belts, we felt more confident leaving for Umphiem camp. Umphiem camp is in the mountains about 80 km south of Mae Sot. The drive is beautiful for the eyes and terrible for the head and stomach. This installation and training took two weeks. Chris, the BGET founder, arrived the second week to help with the most technical things.
This installation and training was special for several reasons:
1) The 5 engineering students who joined us from Mae La camp received permission to leave Mae La (albeit to another refugee camp), drive through Mae Sot, experience car sickness, see some of Thailand and temporarily have their barbed wire, military patrolled boundary somewhat figuratively and literally lifted. Naw Shaw Ney Moo, a female student from ESP and a natural leader, was born in Mae La camp 18 years ago. This was her first trip outside Mae La.
2) We, meaning Angie, me, E Maw Lay, the 5 Engineering students and our driver (nickname Karen Burt Reynolds) would go alone. This autonomy was warmly welcomed.
3) My best friend Max, a student at University of Washington Business School, joined us in Umphiem for the 1st of two weeks. Max has spent the last 3 months on a business school exchange program in Shanghai, China. He stopped through Thailand on his way back to Seattle.
Max arrived in Mae Sot at 4:00 am on the overnight bus from Bangkok. In typical Max form, he got to know an attorney from Australia on the overnight ride. I arrived at the bus station at 4:15 am to Max’s huge smile and an introduction to his new friend. Soon after which we took off towards home on the motorscooter. A brief little history about the motorscooter…If we need to leave Mae Sot, have friends in town or just have a ton of around town things to do, we rent a scooter for US $ 4 per day. The night before Max arrived I went to my usual spot to rent my usual scooter. It had a flat tire. The Thais we have met have an incredible gift to find a way to get you what you need. In stride, the “rentor,” a young Burmese man walked next door and found me a little mini scooter. The owner of the mini scooter, a older man who speaks fluent English from Singapore, tells me the bike is a little small but runs like it’s new. The oversized Dutchman zooms off on his undersized bike. That night, while leaving soccer, I notice when scooter is not moving or moving very slowly it “revs” very high when you turn to the right, which means it gives itself a lot of gas without the driver giving any gas. I was in neutral so the bike didn’t go anywhere and I didn’t think twice about this loud revving the scooter was doing. That night, after a nice shower, I get on the bike in my driveway to go off to watch English Soccer with my Thai buddies. I am backing the bike up in 1st gear and turn the bike to the right so I can get out of my driveway. Since the bike is in gear, it flies out from under me. I hold on. Next thing I know the bike and I slam into the side of my house. The bike is broken and I am moaning in agony on the ground. Within 10 seconds, Angie and my Thai neighbors were huddled around me frantically asking me if I needed to go to the hospital. Besides a deep pelvic bruise, a smashed pinkie fingernail, some surface level scratches and a bruised ego, I told them I was fine. I call the owner and ask him if he is aware of any problems with the bike and he casually mentions I shouldn’t make any hard “rights” while in gear because it is having some “revving” problems. Blah, blah, blah, they brought me a new bike, the one I ultimately picked Max up with the next morning. My experience supported the contention a Thai newspaper author recently made… foreigners who have never ridden scooters come to Thailand and rent these “one way tickets to the hospital.” In their swimsuits and sandals, they galavant around Thailand thinking they have been riding them for years. Many find themselves with their vacations cut short with extended stays in the hospital. Foreigners should not rent motorbikes, period. My co-worker hear at BGET supports this contention, but counters that “Damn, they’re fun.”
We arrived to Umphiem Refugee Camp. The computer center, which we will power with the solar system sits at the highest point in the Umphiem boundary, about 100 – 200 vertical meters above the rest of the camp. The views from the computer center are breathtaking, with Umphiem camp below in the valley and grass / forested hills around all sides. On the hill with the Computer Center are the agricultural school, music school, 1 year management school and English Immersion Program (EIP). All are funded (although I am not certain about EIP funding) by ZOA Refugee Care (NGO that BGET is working for on the solar project) as part of their vocational training program. Along with the beautiful environmental backdrop, we worked to the sounds of Karen and Burmese guitarists and vocalists. Music breaks all language barriers.
The installation, training and capacity building went very well. We had the opportunity as well as responsibility to successfully complete the project. We tried, learned, failed, learned more and succeeded on a daily basis. Every decision and action done by other BGET members at the previous camp now had to be made by us. Well, actually this is not completely true. With each passing day E Maw Lay, the Engineering Student from Mae La who has been hired by BGET as BGET staff for the duration of the project is getting more and more independent, competent and confident. He can do more and more on his own, which is ultimately one of the main goals of the project. E Maw Lay (which is a significant name in Karen history as well) is a natural leader. The students respect, admire and look up to him. Also, he is a complete entertainer, captivator and comedian. He keeps individuals as well as entire groups of Karen people in stitches laughing for hours at a time. He has a powerful voice and the most beautiful smile and contagious laugh. There are so many times when Angie, Max or me comment on how special of a gift he has to interact with people. I find myself disappearing into timeless periods of just watching him operate. He really is the younger brother I never had and I love him.
The ESP students slept in the boarding room next door to the computer center and music school. During the two weeks we were in Umphiem, a small community formed within the greater Umphiem community. Our project budget pays for the food for the students while we are at a camp doing an installation. At Umphiem, the students wanted to buy the food at the market and cook for themselves breakfast and dinner. The director of the management school had much more free time than the ESP students. His name is “Go To” (how it sounds). He ended up preparing all of the dinners for the ESP students, us (some nights), some music students, and some agricultural students, etc. We stayed for dinner two nights. Go To (the head chef) and his team would not let these two nights go uncelebrated. All day he prepared a feast of fruit, cooked vegetables, many meat stews, rice, many sauces…. Truly gourmet. In the small wooden, thatched roof kitchen 10 – 30 of us would eat under candle light, talk, laugh, pray. Immediately after dinner the guitars would surface and Karen music was played into the night. Everyone in the room knew the lyrics to all the Karen songs. If you know Max, this story will not surprise you at all. If you don’t know Max, among his many many gifts is his ability to dance, get other people to dance and really just get others to find an inner comfort and release themselves physically and emotionally. By the end of the first song, Max had his arms around three students, ten students were following his dancing lead, and the whole group was ear to ear smiling. This is something Max does effortlessly everywhere he goes. He is deeply comfortable with himself. The ultimate irony reminded me exactly where I was. Several songs into the night, I got talking to Go To. He is Burmese and in his early thirties. His English and humor are fantastic. He and I had several long conversations. In the Kitchen, while the others were singing and dancing, Go To and I got to talking. He said he doesn’t have this sub-community when the ESP students are not there, that he loved having them and it made him so homesick. I asked him how he felt in Umphiem and described it as being under “house arrest” comparing his feeling to that of the famed Noble Prize winning Burmese Freedom and Democracy fighter Aung San Suu Kyi. He was essentially locked in Umphiem, with no state and stripped of his identity. We spent a fabulous thanksgiving with this group. Angie explained the significance of Thanksgiving and Angie and I shared individual reasons why we were thankful for each of the people at the table, people we had worked with, played soccer with, talked with and gotten to know over the previous two weeks.
Max, Angie and I stayed less than 1 kilometer from Umphiem. There is a Department of Transportation highway rest station and an Ethnic minority group Mon village close to Umphiem. Other than these, there is nothing in the way of civilization near Umphiem. We asked the local Department of Transportation folks if we could stay above the restrooms in an area that is basically an octagon floor with a small perimeter wall, no windows and a corrugated metal roof. The locals said it was not safe. So, in consistent Thai fashion, instead of sending us on our merry way, they said we could sleep in their little satellite government office and use their shower and anything we needed. They even found us a couple of extra pillows and blankets. And the strange thing is, I knew this would happen, because the experience towards us has been consistent with this treatment the entire time.
There are a few other people Angie and I would like to introduce you to. The first is Ke Doh and his sister Mie Chaw. They are half Karen / half Shan (The Shan are another Ethnic group in Burma). Both are quite tall for Karen. They are the computer center trainers at Umphiem and arrived from Burma less than 1 year ago. Ke Doh is a born student of life. He has family who provide him newspapers and magazines. This access to outside world information makes him capable to discuss a wide range of world events and issues. By the end of the second day, he and Max were already having long discussions about US politics. Something was different though about Ke Doh. I say this in a good way. He voiced what he did and did not want. If he disagreed, he said so. If he had an idea, he voiced it. If he was asked a question, he answered it. His sister Mie Chaw was priceless…tall, beautiful, wouldn’t let Angie lift a finger and willing to do any job. I vividly remember the look of pure frustration when we wouldn’t let Mie Chaw and Angie carry 75 lb bags of cement up the 200 meter climb to the computer center. Angie and Mie Chaw connected, a bond that can be better explained by Angie but something between two women that they understand and I do not. Ke Doh and Mie Chaw gave Angie and me beautiful scarves as a token of their appreciation.
The installation and training were successful. Umphiem now has a 1 kilowatt hour solar system and outside of the rainy season may not have to use diesel to power their computer needs in the future.
Thanksgiving this year reminded us to think about and be grateful for what we have. So, during this time, we are thankful for being born in America. We thank those who have fought for our freedom. We thank our parents for making possible and supporting all of our opportunities. We thank the writers of our constitution for the Bill of Rights and those who have fight and continue to fight to uphold it. We thank our family and friends for your loyalty and support. We thank the Karen, Burmese, Thai and other Ethnic groups we have encountered for allowing us to work with you, for opening up to us, for your beyond the call of duty generosity and your persistent curiosity. And we thank God or whoever you believe in for the luck to be born free.
Thank you to all who have sent books and care packages. Your support keeps us going.
All our best,
Arie and Angie |
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