Phop Pra

Wednesday 21^st March

We're catching up here, so make sure you get the story of our journey from Horizon to Mae Sot in the previous post.

After breakfast at Poon Na Gunn we hit the road at nine. The journey was less than an hour through the Thai countryside past fields of maize and banana trees. We practiced the Karen farewell song in the car, with ben in the back playing guitar. At Phop Pra Sarah introduced us to Pastor Peacefully.

He keeps something between a school and an orphanage on land that has been granted to him and his sister by the King of Thailand for refugees from Burma. Term had just ended so some of the children had slipped back across the border to their families. Others were staying for the holidays because their parents were already in refugee camps, or it was too dangerous for them to go. Most of those still there were sitting an exam so it was very quiet when we arrived. The Pastor introduced us to a young lady who was to interpret for us, though she seemed to disappear and a young man took her place.

After the exam was over we spent the morning in the blue-roofed Baptist Church on the site.

We sang some action choruses with the children, then had them sing us some songs. The Karen are very musical and especially love to sing.

Next we acted out the story of David and Goliath. Jay was Goliath of course, and hammed it up to the amusement of all. All the other parts were played by the kids. We rounded off the morning with a game of “find the hat” which everyone enjoyed, especially when it was Pastor Peacefully’s turn to play. After that Susanna took them all outside for some dodgeball.

The afternoon got more serious, with games that allowed the kids to explore emotions. Some heart-rending pictures were drawn showing the violence and dislocation that they have had to live through. Jackie and Hazel looked through the pictures afterwards but had to stop because they got a bit emotional and would have been unable to continue the day.

The last activity was to make musical instruments out of the various bits and pieces that we’d bought in Mae Sot the day before. We started with this:

...and ended up with an extraordinary selection of instruments.

There were the usual shaker-type things, but we also got stringed instruments made from rubber bands, and even oboe-type reed instruments using plastic straws. Ben and Jay were extremely taken with these and started experimenting making their own.

After it was all over Peacefully took us to a weaver’s house where we were shown some traditional Karen cloths and garments, and we bought some to take home.