The Plight of the Karen ...

Does Anyone Care?

They are huddling in the torrential rains with no shelter, exposed to missing limbs and lost lives from jungles full of landmines.....as little children. They are seeing sights of torture and killing, losing father and mother…..as innocent children. This people, persecuted for over 60 years, they are fleeing, running, hungry, sick, dying…..children.

This is the story of the Karen children—each story is different, yet the same.

Does anyone care?

Along the border of Thailand and Burma, there are towering mountains rising above the Moei River, seemingly endless jungles, and small Karen villages dotted here and there. Along the river are leaf-roofed bamboo huts in small settlements—inhabited by peaceable Karen refugees. There are relatively few Thai residents in these parts of Thailand.

This is in the province of Tak, Tha Song Yang district. Last June (2009), sounds of shelling, machine guns, and landmine explosions reverberated from mountain to mountain. Within a couple of weeks, the SPDC (Burmese Army), together with the DKBA, succeeded in causing up to 5,000 displaced villagers to seek refuge in the only safe place they knew of—Thailand. This is the history of the Karen for the past 60 years—running for their lives; running in fear from soldiers who are instructed (not merely allowed) to rape, kill, and steal; pursued by a government who said ten years ago, "In ten years you will only find a Karen in a museum."

There was a small school in Burma just across the river from Mae Salit Luang, Thailand. It provided a home and an education for about 120 boarding students. These were children who otherwise would have no hope for a brighter future. They came from varied backgrounds. Some came from caring parents who were unable to provide either food for the empty stomachs of their growing bodies, nor education for their developing brains. Others came who had been abandoned, orphaned, or rescued from an abusive situation. But they all had one thing in common—their young lives had already encountered suffering, hardship, and privation. And they all were in danger of being deceived into seeking a "brighter future" in the cement jungles of Bangkok.

This school is now in ruins. The Adam's family received the children as they evacuated across the river and provided a safe place for the students and their teachers on Thai soil. Property was purchased for a home and learning center for these children. The children love this place. It is a lime orchard with mango, banana, lychee, papaya, and other fruit trees. A clear, flowing creek meanders through the property, with pools where the children love to swim. The work/study program has already resulted in beautiful vegetable gardens that the teachers and children are growing together. Although the structures are very primitive, measures are being taken to improve that situation. But for children who are used to seeking shelter in the jungle, at best living in a leaf-roofed bamboo hut, and living with no latrines or sanitation, this is a good place.

Does anyone care?

The children were still being pursued—not by the SPDC, but by misguided NGO and government policy-makers and soldiers under orders. They were still living in fear—fear of the unknown, fear of being sent back into a land mined war zone, fear of having no chance for an education and having to spend the rest of their youth herding buffalo, fear of foraging for food and firewood in heavily land mined jungles, fear of dying from this area's killer—hemorrhagic cerebral malaria—because of no access to medicine or hospital.

The Thai government was planning to send these children back into Burma; we were told it might be tomorrow, maybe next week… Children from another school, who evacuated at the same time, was shipped back, several times, returning to what they know as a place of safety and promise, only to be shipped back again.

Our children at this school are family—many of them have attended this school for its 7 years of operation—studying, playing, singing, working, and praying together. The evacuation was the third time the school has had to relocate due to persecution. Was it to happen again?

Does ANYONE care?

We were wondering; where are the children's rights that we talk about, where are the children's advocates, who see what the children's desires are?

How can anyone send children back to landmines, hunger, and fear, especially after they have tasted something else?

Where are the voices, voices to appeal to the Thai government on behalf of little children?

This letter was written as I was keeping a watchful eye on a small girl. She was sick, and we were treating her, with the love and care, medicines and treatment, needed. We were ready at any moment, should she turn for the worse, to take her to the hospital. As I was writing, I was very aware of the fact that many of our students could have died in Burma through this last year had they been sent back to where medical care is unavailable or too expensive for these destitute people.

Does anyone care about the children?

A Thai woman, Phimpa from the Love and Care Foundation came to the children's and school's aid. She intervened with the government and the local authorities, appealing on behalf of the children; we now have the legal right to keep them in what is now called Sunshine Orchard Children's home and Learning Center. This is the place where the children want to be, and where they feel safe. We feed them and care for them, educating them to be honest and industrious. We want them to learn about the love of God, and receive academic and vocational learning.

And by the grace of God, often through the help of generous donations from friends, family and sometimes from those we wish to know … and also through help from Lemon tree Foundation in Singapore we have been able to pay for hundreds of villagers' medical needs and surgeries. Rice, food, baby formula, and medicines were provided for the destitute and hungry in addition to the school. A skilled nurse was available to care for the children when sick. We are so grateful to be able to keep the children in a safe, loving environment, where they can enjoy the labor of their hands in field and garden. This is a place where they are safe from child trafficking and the lure of the cities, and free to play together in the orchard and jungle without fear from enemies and landmines.

Thank you from the Adam's family, to first of all God, but also to those whom have listened to HIS voice and helped make this place a reality.

GOD BLESS