MAE HONG SON!!!!

I wrote this four days ago and since then........MANY things have changed! At the end of my last post I mentioned Mae Hong Son. Well, that’s where we've been! I wrote a lot, but in summary – Mae Hong Son is gorgeous, and we’ve finally found volunteer work to do – with two Burmese refugee outreach organization. For details, read on!

First – the drive. Three facts – women can’t touch monks because they’re holy, you can’t kill something in front of a monk because it violates their faith, and there are over 1800 curves in the Mae Hong Son province roads. We almost had to sit next to a monk during the drive up to Mae Hong Son. This would have been tragic given you also can’t fully control your body when hairpin turning for six hours. Awkward! For the first half hour of the trip, a mosquito was buzzing around Flora, but seeing as the monk was just a seat away…..she really couldn’t kill it. It was even more awkward than the songtao (Thai taxi) ride flora and I had through Chiang Mai with five – yes FIVE – monks!

Flora came here a month ago and loved it, and we both felt that it would be easier to get involved in a smaller community.....and that's how we ended up a day's bus ride northwest of Chiang Mai - wher ewe thought we'd be living. Because of the town's proximity to the Burmese border, it is full of NGOs serving Burmese refugees. (The Burmese people refer to their country as Burma. Myanmar is the name given to the country by the oppressive regime in power.) The small community shows - we often run into people we know, we’re already regulars at a fruit-smoothie stand, and we know which food-booths we like at the evening market. Liz, who we stayed with in Chiang Mai, is friends with a woman named Abby who lives and works here. Abby housed Flora on her first trip here, and has tried to help us in any way possible.

The refugee camps were formed when the Burmese government began persecuting minorities in 1989. The refugees can’t return to their country, and leaving the camps is very difficult, so they are in perpetual limbo. Of the two closest camps, one has 4,000 residents and the other 20,000! Entrance passes to the camps are closely regulated by the Thai government, so we haven’t been able to visit, but could possibly in the future.

When we first got here, we took long walks through Mae Hong Son, did yoga and read a LOT. There’s a gorgeous temple complex on the top of a hill overlooking the town, a small lake with several temples at its banks, and a nice market. We called several people and set up some meetings, but even in a place as friendly and open as this, it takes time to break into the community. On one walk we found a leopard print clad Buddha; my first for me!

Last Saturday, we went to a birthday party for three women from Holland (Astra), Burma (Yay), and Israel/the US (Inbal). That may have been a first for everyone; not just us! Flora met Inbal here a month ago. Inbal has boundless social energy, so she made sure we had a good time and met people looking for volunteers. Both Flora and I were awkward and fidgety around all the new - albeit friendly – faces. The language barrier doesn’t alleviate social awkwardness. Nevertheless, the next day we went to a friendly woman’s house for yoga – apparently it’s a weekly affair – Abby runs the classes.

Abby asked us to work in our office whenever we have a chance, so we came by on Monday. Especially for Flora, who spent over a month in Chiang Mai looking for opportunities, it was exciting to have work to do! Abby runs the Gender Based Violence (GBV) office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Mae Hong Son (MHS…..because I’m into acronyms.) The IRC has offices in many countries around the world that serve refugee populations. We spent Monday organizing her library and reference materials. There’s a huge Health section - so we combined both our moms’ professions (Doctor and Librarian)! Abby wants us to come in whenever we can/want, but it still helping us look for other work.

This morning, Astra, the kind Dutch woman, took me and Flora to a memorial ceremony for a Burmese man. A pig was sacrificed. I haven’t been eating non-seafood meat for the last year, but when a group of poor Burmese people offer you the choice pig intestines – you learn to eat meat. The ceremony was at an organization that Flora and I will work for beginning Friday. We’ll also teach conversational English classes to Burmese migrant workers three or four evenings a week. I shouldn’t have trouble coming up with lesson plans after this fall!

All the best. Write to us or leave a comment – we love hearing from friends and family!

Love,
~Alice

PS - in the last few days - after i wrote this - many new things have come up! Exciting, good thigns (don't worry mum). We have another organization to work for and we began writing a full-out grant proposal for the first organization. Something I've never done, is challenging, flexes my mental muscles, and is truly helpful to this organization that has no native Enlgish speakers. I'll write more on it soon! We're moivng in with a Burmese family next week that has three small kids - the parents run one of the organizations we're working for.......Free board and a homestay! Sweetness!