The Karen Village

Wow, where to start. We just got back from the village last night and will be spending 3 nights in Mae Sot, then we will take a bus down to Bangkok for a night, and the next day we are off to India! We just spent an entire week in the Karen village and were successful with our micro-hydro project. The village now has lights in the school, church, and temple. I have learned so much this past week, and cannot even begin to explain everything I saw and experienced. The Karen are a people who have been around for thousands of years and are scattered all around Burma and Thailand, they speak their own language and have very much their own culture. They are the hardest working people I have ever seen in my life, and living amongst them was so powerful. To get to this village it takes about six hours driving, but the drive must be in a vehicle with 4WD and the driver must know the roads well, because at times it is just off roading and other times we drive right through gushing streams. We literally drove up and down mountains for hours and none of us had ever been somewhere so remote in our lives. When we arrived it literally felt like a whole new world, very surreal to say the least. I could write and talk about this place for hours but like usual I am in an internet cafe and do not have much time, so I will do my best.
First of all, all 8 girls stayed in one home and slept on wood floors which were extremely uncomfortable, and there was no glass or anything in the windows so at night we were freezing. The guys were split into two houses and mixed in with our male leaders, and they all lived in very similar ways as us. In order to get anywhere in the village it requires a bit of a hike and it is very hilly, therefore we got tons of exercise. The village is beautiful and in the middle of a jungle so the vegetation is so lush and vibrant. There are animals everywhere, particularaly babies, and sadly many of them looked starving. Cows, chickens, dogs, cats, goats, and pigs surrounded us and every house had a rooster that would wake us starting around 4:00 am without fail. Life is difficult in the village, and was very hard to adapt to. The people are caring, and seem to be working all the time. I was surprised at how young the population was, in fact the majority seemed to be young children. The food was interesting, and I had trouble eating it, as did most of the people in our group, but I hear it was excellant for village food, and anyways who are we to complain? Rice was the main component in every meal, and most dishes were rather mushy and included little dried fish which were not my favorite. During the last couple of days they killed either a cow or some wild jungle animal, we're still not sure, and served it to us which was very generous and courteous of them. Unfortunately, many of us could not eat it because they litereally eat everything including all of the insides.
Anyways, the micro-hydro project was a success and we worked with B-Get, and some ESP students. The students are Burmese refugees living in maillot, the largest Burmese refugee camp in Thailand with 50,000-80,000 people. Luckily they have the opportunity to study engineering but they have no idea what the future holds because they will be arrested if they return to Burma, and are basically prisoners living in the camp. We interviewed them and are going to do a presentation at WWU to raise some money so more of them can attend this engineering program. The conflict in Burma is so multi-fauceted and disheartening, and I am shocked that there is no awareness of it in the states.