waiting...and waiting...and more waiting

Last night Dr. Simon and his wife let us know that we would be leaving for the Thai Karen village sometime this morning. Since their day usually begins before 6am with devotional time and worship, we were up well before dawn to pack and get ready to leave. We didn't want them to have to wait for us (we've been trying REALLY hard to make the impression of Americans a good one for the people here), so we were out front waiting with our backpacks by 7am. 

Josh playing cane ball with some of the boys...they had mad skills, and were very polite and let him play once in a while. :)

Kyle and Josh checking out the map of Thailand, trying to figure out where we were heading...all we knew was it was 'north' and 'up in the mountains'. Turns out, that could have been a LOT of places. ;)

While we were standing outside (like school kids waiting for their ride when their parents forgot them), one of the American missionaries (Kyle) we had met at the youth conference drove up with a truck full of about 20 soccer players from Pho Pra--big tournament in the camp today. We chatted with him for about an hour, but no one from the Karen mission party came outside to leave. 

Four hours later, a small group came out and said that they would be leaving soon…but for Mae Sot (the nearest town to the south of Mae La camp). They needed to get supplies for the construction projects, and would be taking the only vehicle the school had left. They assured us that we would leave just as soon as they returned, so we kept waiting. And waiting. By this time, it was hot, and would only get hotter. And it did. We sweat a LOT here. 

most of the children wear traditional Karen face powder

precious little ones

sweet specs made out of some leftovers from the construction project next door

Once the sun started to go down, some of the nearby kids came out to see why we were just sitting by the road. We were able to assure them (and their watchful mothers) that contrary to the popular myth, we white people were NOT going to eat them. A relief to everyone. We played some hopscotch, wrote names and the alphabet in the dirt and got schooled at a few of their games with rocks. It was fun, and a great way to spend another couple of hours or so. Beautiful children with the hope for a better future.

practicing names and the ABCs in the dirt

more and more joined the fun once they decided we wouldn't eat them. ;)

Here's a link to a video of some of the fun. 
After about 12 hours from when we first started waiting, the pastor and his group came back from Mae Sot…and went to eat dinner and pack. Being totally dependent on them as our only means of transportation out of camp, we did some more waiting. :) As people used to being able to get up and go wherever, whenever, it has been eye-opening to be so dependent on others for EVERYTHING here. We can only imagine what this must feel like to the thousands of refugees as they wait and wait for years, hoping to get picked up to come to another country, most not being able to leave the camp, and all being completely dependent on the little bit of rice, oil, and water they receive from the officials. By the end of the end of the 5 days that we were there in camp, without the ability to go very far from the bible school, Josh was starting to feel pretty antsy. And everyone knows that an antsy Josh usually leads to trouble. :)