Today we visited the villages on the route to the Burmese border, Mae Khi, Piang Luang, Huai Khi, Ton Nun and Pratu Muang. Coming off the main road we entered an area where rogue elements of the Burmese Army and armed bandits occasionally cross the border to cause mischief! Salahae warned me against straying from the village because of the risk from these marauders as well as from unexploded mines, a legacy of the Thai/Burmese conflict.
The road changed from twin lane tarmac to single, from single to overgrown, to gravel, to mud and then into a river. Funny how driving up a river makes you feel like you have, at last, ‘gone remote’. The 4 by 4 made it, no problem, but there was no question that in the rain the road would be impossible.
Salahae did a good job of negotiating the narrow track, especially when bordered by almost sheer drops with no guard rail. We stopped to take a few pictures en route for the journal, no hero pics yet!
We ended up in a remote village near the border where the charity is running its next water project in November. Meeting the head man and his colleagues was an adventure in sign language but nonetheless the welcome was as pleasant as I am getting used to, warm and very jolly. We drank green tea and shared a few smokes, the universal currency.
Salahae showed me around the project site and we spent some time discussing rice banks, irrigation, rice production and the government water systems. He told me a great story of how the Karen people perceive us Farang [foreigners]. The story of the ‘Youngsters’.
Millennium ago when the villages were the world, God asked the people to visit him. The adult villagers were burning the rice straw. They were already brown from working outdoors, the soot and smoke had made them darker still.
They were too ashamed to go to visit their God, so they sent the youngest in the village who were clean and with paler skins. The youngsters visited God and he was pleased and gave them wisdom and fortune as gifts.
The youngsters decided to take these gifts and go out into the world to make their lives. When the youngsters returned to the villages, before leaving for their new lives, the people were upset that the youngsters alone had received these gifts from God.
Being wise and kind, the youngsters promised that one day they would return and help the Karen people. The Karen believe that the youngsters became Europeans, they believe that missionaries and volunteers are the youngsters fulfilling their promise.
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