Written for my honored hosts at Mae Ra Moe Refugee Camp:You might have seen a golawa around Mae Ra Moe the past five months, speaking really bad Karen language. That golawa would be me. My name is Scott. I was a high school teacher in America for 15 years. In 2005, I taught two years in China with the U.S. Peace Corps. After my time in China I decided that I wanted to work with refugee families who resettle in America. But I needed some experience. Mae Ra Moe was one of the few refugee camps that accept native English speakers as teachers to live and work within the camp. So I came to Mae Ra Moe last October to gain experience, teach English, and learn about the Karen refugee situation, as more Karen families are resettling in America.
Though I came to Mae Ra Moe camp to teach English, I felt each day that I was a student of everyone in MRM, as I learned more and more about Karen culture, language. Above all, camp residents have taught and inspired me. They have taught me a profound sense resiliency, hospitality and welcome, and hope – qualities people all over the world need, and certainly that my country needs. In short, I have found the camp to be a school for learning what it means to be human.
I have learned from Mae Ra Moe the value of resiliency. From the students who study by candle light for hours each evening, to the dedication of teachers at Number One High School who work long hours and for little available money to educate future generations, to families who use every resource they can and never waste these, I believe the people of Mae Ra Moe are models of a resilient spirit for the rest of the world. Camp residents have taught me that though SPDC may force you out of your Karen homeland, no one can ever take the Karen homeland out of your spirit.
I have learned from Mae Ra Moe residents the value of hospitality and welcome. Every day, I have been greeted my smiles, children who want to shake hands, and have been asked by residents who ask, “Will you visit me?” Every day, I have been invited to enter someone’s house as if I were a family member where I always found an open door, kindness, a sense of trust, and a gracious cup of tea. Through a deep welcoming spirit, the residents of Mae Ra Moe have taught me about the power of love that builds trust, builds community, and ends to fear and suspicion. It is that power of love that camp residents know that will one day replace the ‘love of power’ that poisons many places and governments in the world.
Finally, I have learned from Mae Ra Moe residents the value of hope. When I arrived on first night in the camp last October, I remember I couldn’t see anything. I simply followed the person in front of me. I trusted their direction as I walked over the bridge leading to the FEC dormitory. There are bridges in Mae Ra Moe, but not just bridges that pass over the river. Residents have taught me that there are also bridges symbolized in a hopeful spirit. There are bridges of celebration, of hope, where life will lead us, across voids of despair, doubt and uncertainty. In their faithful and patient hope, camp residents have taught me that God creates bridges for us, bridges of promise that we will continue to move towards home, if we will only keep moving forward.
Resiliency. Hospitality. Hope. These are three gifts I know that the Karen people I have met in Mae Ra Moe treasure and can continue to share with the world, whether they are shared in the camp, in Karen state, or in future life in a resettled third country. Camp residents of Mae Ra Moe have taught me that whatever we may do, we know that we will do it for good in the world. And because and through us, God’s love may be known.
"It began in mystery,
and it will end in mystery,
but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between." - Diane Ackerman
