I went to Burma this weekend. One of my life-time goals has been to go to Burma. I may have only spent about 15 minutes there--but I was definitely there. Jane and I left Phuket for Bangkok and then took a night train to Chiang Mai. Jane has friends that are church planters in Chiang Mai who have been working with Hmong (sounds like "mung") minority people about six hours southwest of Chiang Mai. After a quick shower we piled into three trucks and took the long journey through the mountains to Mae Sot. It we spent three days in the tiny village that the government has set up for Burmese refugees.
The village was having its church-opening ceremony and a Hmong wedding. I loved it because we traveled with Hmong, Thai and Laotian students from Chiang Mai to Mae Sot and once we were there, they helped us meet the villagers and tour the village. The village (called "village 9) is located about 2 kilometers from the Burma boarder and you can see the majestic Burmese mountains towering in the not-so-far distance. It is saturated with Burmese, Hmong and Karen people who have fled the terror of the "State Peace and Development Council" ruling party. On Saturday, I piled in the back of a pick-up truck with 15 other Hmong and Thai students and we headed to the amazing waterfalls in surrounding mountains. We spend the day wading through the cold water, splashing each other and climbing the falls. (Thankfully, a 12 year-old Hmong girl attached herself to me and saved me from tumbling down the rocky falls to my watery grave multiple times.) Saturday, I also went to Burma with two other Americans who needed to renew their visas by re-entering the country.
On the day of the ceremonies, the village men slaughtered to cows for the communal lunch (I refrained), and over 400 people gathered to witness the goings-on. It was an absurdly wonderful trip, but also sickeningly difficult. It is hard for me to imagine the terror and suffering under which these people must have lived in Burma, their courage to slip over the boarder, and now the hardships which they deal with in their village (horrible water sources, rampant disease, exposure to the elements, discrimination by the Thai government...) We held a 2 hour "clinic" in the afternoon. Seeing villagers with health problems. There is a nurse from America who has also been working closely with Village 9. It just seemed so ridiculous. Malnourished children being giving 10 multivitamins. Women with wrists swollen with arthritis being given 5 Tylenol. The people here are doing everything in their power to relieve what suffering they can, but the options are so limited and temporary. Just a band-aid on a deep, festering wound. I am so overwhelmed with the futility of humanitarian efforts that I could scream....or just take a nap.
I was further frustrated by the ingrained sexism in the village. I don't know what my problem is. I consider myself an open-minded person...but when I see others' differences that I don't agree with I get so angry. So so angry. In Thailand men have a higher status, but in the village, the breach in status between women and men is extraordinary. Men get to sit while women stand. Men eat first always while women watch. Men are permitted to have multiple wives. I don't know if I feel frustrated because I am a women and therefore feel sympathetic, but if you could just see how hard these women work in these villages. Perhaps they marry at 16 or 17 and start having children right off (no birth control of course) until they have 8-10 children. They will carry one on their back, one on their front, one on their hip and have the hand of another. In this position,they will assist their husbands in the fields, be responsible for the sewing, cooking and cleaning as well as their millions of children. I am not saying the men don't work hard. I just feel frustrated that these amazingly capable, intelligent and gentle women see themselves as second-class...their value only seated in their childbearing capabilities.....I could just dig a hole and climb down in it--frustrated with people and myself; I don't know where the line is between tolerant and taking a moral stand.
check out http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107808.html for little summary-roo of Burma's government and geo-political relations
Happy Birthday Dad!!!!
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