Next stop, Mae Sot
Have you watched Tarzan, the movie? Tuttu asked. I said yes, not understanding what she was getting at. “That’s my life,” she explained.
“My friend and I used to swing from branches in a forest with a deep valley underneath. The trick,” she said, “is not to look down, to keep looking up at the tree. Then it’s fun!”
Tuttu belongs to the karen tribe, one of the four hill-tribes native to northern Thailand and parts of Myanmar. As far as I can tell, she must have gotten where she is by truly following that rule, because she has had to leap across several deep valleys in her own life.
What began as merely a scenic drive from Chiang Mai to Mae Sot, a border town between Thailand and Myanmar soon turned into a lively conversation with her about her life and her work with Burmese refugees who are neither in their homeland nor in the refugee camps.
Our family, including our two little girls have made a five hour journey with Tuttu to this remote town in northern Thailand today. Tomorrow we will be visiting two of the four learning centers that Tuttu and her husband have set up for the refugee kids. The Thai government does not classify them as schools but instead recognises them as places for refugee kids to learn.
Yet, the shocking truth is that these places are a crucial tool to keep the children safe and engaged meaningfully during the time their parents work in sugarcane or corn fields. In fact, that is how Tuttu was moved to do something for these people. She came across a young girl who became victim of assault from a random alcoholic when her parents were at work. This girl was not alone, Tuttu shared. Many such refugee girls cannot even report these crimes to the police because they have no legal status or identification. Saddened by such incidents, creating these learning centers became a personal project for Tuttu and her husband, which has now grown into four centres catering to nearly 700 children.
Tomorrow we will be going to two such learning centers to meet with the children during school hours. If we are lucky we may even get a chance to participate in some singing and dancing activities with them. Looking forward to this journey…
