Day Six

The human spirit shone through on our trip to Mae La refugee camp to visit the orphanage that was BBP's first funding venture in 2001. The forty children ages about 7-19 gathered around and listened to my greeting, ate cookies as they played with stuffed animals that we brought, and took photos of each other with our cameras. Eventually one of the older boys got up and made a speech of thanks for our continued support. It was hard not to cry in awe and respect. Moe Moe estimates that close to 200 children have lived in the 40 person orphanage in the four years since its construction. After this gathering, four of the older children took us to the site of the construction of the new boarding house for children whose families have been internally displaced by the SPDC inside Burma and have sent their children across the border for safety. These 37 children were sprung on the Karen Women's Organization who appealed to us for funds to build this second facility. Moe Moe told me today that she plans to keep the children from both groups separate, since they have different issues, the former having already lost their parents, the latter in the relative safety of a community of confinement, worrying about the fate of their families inside.

I ended the day by doing consultations on two psychotic women with Akiko Tanaka, a UMinn Ph.D. psychologist who is currently in a public health program at UMinn and spending three months at the Mae Tao Clinic. I think we helped with some problem solving, and came away with respect for the selfless compassion of the caregivers and some appreciation of the extent of the man made pain with which they deal.