Good Bye!

Leaving is always a bit difficult, because on one hand I am always a bit anxious to get back to technology and the joys of the outside world, but leaving always makes me acutely aware of just that privilege: the ability to leave and return at my leisure. After saying my goodbyes to the Head of the Camp and the 2nd in Charge I was heartened to see them already start work on the next batch of bricks. Whenever I leave and know I will return in a few months I never know what I am going to return to, but I am positive that at least when I return in May there will be many many more mud bricks awaiting my arrival.

Mud Brick Day

Some pretty good looking bricks!

Finally the day has come to make mud bricks! YAY! I was not able to sleep at all last night due to the anticipation and the anxiety over doing an actual mud brick training, but now that the morning is finally here I am more than ready to do this.

The head of the camp has asked that representatives from all of the different sectors come to participate in the trainings and then help to make all of the bricks for the final building. Hopefully the same people who helped to make the bricks will be back in May when we build the final structure so they can see the whole process.

The day started by 19 volunteers, the 2nd in Charge, the TB lab tech, Mweh Paw, and myself gathering around our large mud pit. There I started by explaining how to decide on what soil to use and how you know when the soil you have picked is appropriate to use.  I suggested that three tests of visual, smell, and touch can help you identify the basic properties of if a soil can be used for mud brick making. Simply put the visual test helps you to see the homogeneity of the soil you have, the smell test helps you decide if there is organic material that could possibly corrupt your mud brick mixture integrity, and the touch test helps you decide if the mixture is mostly sand or clay, which then effects what additives are necessary.

On top of these three basic tests there are two more tests that can help with the understanding of the soil you are working with and most importantly what might need to be added to make the final mud brick mixture stronger. The first test involves getting the soil sample slightly wet and then rolling into a palm sized ball. Once the ball is rolled you then smash the ball against the palm of your hand and see how much water leaks out and how the flattened ball looks when deformed. If little to no water comes out that means that the mixture is mostly clay, unlike with sand where the water would freely leak out, it also tells you how the soil will act when the water in the mud brick mixture starts to evaporate. Will it crumple into small pieces or bind together? These are important things to know especially for the next test which is where you roll the hydrated soil sample into a long skinny log, and by holding it only on one end, see how far you can cantilever the other end before it breaks. If the piece breaks between 5cm and 15cm then the soil you have is good soil to use for mud brick making. These were the main tenants that I put out there as easy ways to see if you have suitable soil.

Here in the camp the soil is mostly clay and very homogenous, we then talked about what you might need to add to a clay type soil in order to make it stronger. Clay type soils are great for making mud bricks, since they are very cohesive and do not shrink much when drying, however they do need to have an additive of some sort to give the bricks tensile strength. For this training session I decided to show the volunteers how to make bricks using both bamboo and straw to try to reinforce the idea that almost any type of organic fiberus material can be used as an additive. This project is not only about teaching how to make and build with mud bricks, but also showing how it is a cheap way to build with all local materials.

So after a little tea and overly sweet coffee break it was finally time to get dirty! I started by showing them how to make a bamboo brick, since we were doing bamboo bricks in the morning and straw bricks in the evening. I started by lining the bottom of the hole with bamboo cuttings and then adding the soil that I had already previously prepared. The soil preparation that I had done earlier was simply taking out any large rocks and plants and then making sure that there were no large clumps of soil that would not become fully saturated with water when I was mixing it with the bamboo and therefore weaken the final mud bricks. I then slowly stated to add water and need the mixture until the bamboo pieces were spread out evening in the soil. I constantly kept making the mud into a ball form and then breaking open the middle of that ball to check that the mixture was wet all the way through, that there were no soil clumps that were still dry, and that the mixture had become a cohesive combination of both soil and bamboo.

Preparing the soil by breaking up the large soil pieces so they will mix better

It was finally time for the mold. After soaking the mold in water and then lining it with sand to help with the release I started to pack the mud mixture inside, taking extra care to get fully into the corners and explain that the bricks cannot have various striations of mud that are not bound together, but instead need to me one solid piece. Then it was time for the release- if I thought it was going to be embarrassing before for the brick to not come out this was going to be ten times worse if I failed during my own training! – luckily it came out with the bamboo mixture, but when it came to releasing the straw mixture no go. I had to finally push it out with my hand and then do a little post-mold by hand

Mud Brick tests the brick on the left is a bamboo mixture and the brick on the right is the straw mixture

After my short little how to’s it was time for them to try. Happily mud brick making isn’t an exact process where everything needs to measured perfectly. As long as the final mud brick mixture has the fiberous materials evenly spread throughout the mixture you are pretty good to go. At first everyone kept asking me to look at the amount of bamboo they were putting in or the amount of water being use or if it was well mixed, but pretty quickly people got the hang of it and intuitively knew what to do.

Mixing the bamboo and mud by hand, because bamboo is too sharp to mix with your feet

Most importantly soon the 2nd in Charge was taking over and giving out instructions to add more bamboo or mix more in that area; for me that is a sign that everything was going to be ok. Since I wasn’t going to be there for when they made all of the bricks I needed to know that I could leave it in the hands of someone that would feel confident taking charge of the process.

Placing the bamboo mud brick mixture into the molds and making sure to get way into the corners

After a large batch of the mixture was ready it was time to bring it over to where we were going to be making the bricks and leaving them to dry for about 30 days. We had made 4 large brick molds and after soaking them in the river we then liberally coated with sand. Each mold could make either 4 or 5 bricks and we started to load in the mixture before it became too desiccated from being in the sun. After loading the first mold it was time for the release.

Our first mold done and ready to try the release

It quickly became clear that a simple shaking motion used in my smaller molds was not going to do it, but the 2nd in Charge knew exactly what to do; grabbing a bamboo stick he started to tap the mold until the bricks released! Low and behold we had our first bricks and they were beautiful! I was like a proud mama seeing those first beauties come out.

Our first bricks and don’t they look oh so perfect?

After the first 5 bricks were made everyone knew what to do and went to it. There were enough molds to go around with each having a few people work on filling them with the mud brick mixture and soon we were cranking out bricks. Since we were working in the direct sun and once the bricks come out of the mold they must not be moved for 30 days it was important that we covered our newly made bricks with banana leaves so that the sun did not dry the bricks unevenly and therefore lead to cracking.

Mold release sequence

At around noon we decided to take a 1 hour lunch break and meet back to start the straw bricks. By 1pm the sun had already moved behind most of the mountains so we were now working in the shade which was much nicer! Now it was time for the straw bricks, which are much faster to make because you can use your feet to mix the straw with the mud instead of your hands. When I jumped into the mud pit and started stamping around to mix the straw and mud together they all nearly died laughing, but after a while finally I got someone to join me! The straw is also much easier to fit into the molds and therefore forming the bricks goes much faster.

Mixing the straw and mud with our feet

By 3pm we had managed to make 102 bricks and were happy to call it a day. After a cold bucket shower it was then off to a meeting with the Head of the Camp and the 2nd in Charge to go over the final details before I left the camp tomorrow. Going over the exact site for the new lab, its dimensions, the timber that needed to be bought and how to care for the mud bricks left me feeling confident that when I return in May we will be ready to start the building phase of this project.

The straw mixture goes about twice as fast when placing into the molds because it is much more malleable than the bamboo mixture

By dinner time both Mweh Paw and myself were pretty tired, but we were both excited by what we had accomplished today. Not only had we successfully made 102 bricks and taught 19 people from all the different sectors how to pick good mud brick soil and care for the bricks, but by the end of the day it was not myself who was in charge of the process but the 2nd in Charge and Mweh Paw. As far as an effort to build capacity on how to make mud bricks I am happy to report that that goal was definitely accomplished!

Church

Today was a day for all-day prayer, luckily Mweh Paw is not the overly religious type so instead of the typical church from 7am to 9am, 10am to 12pm, and again at 3pm to 5pm, we only had to attend the 10am to 12pm. Which is good because I can only listen to services in Karen for so many hours!

What was even better though was that after church we went to lunch at the house of someone Mweh Paw considers a mother to her and there we were able to just relax, drink tea, and catch up Karen gossip after months of them not seeing each other.

Two visitors during lunch

A way better way to be spending a Sunday in my view 

Mweh Paw and “Mother”

Karen New Year!

Waiting to enter the playing field and start Karen New Year

I thought that rising with the sun was early trying rising for Karen New Year! Everyone in the camp us up by 4:30am and getting dressed in their Karen finest, I have never had an opportunity to wear my full Karen gear: longi, Karen shirt, and bag before, but I am glad that I came prepared! When I stepped out of my hut everyone was waiting for the call to come down to the playing field to raise the Karen Flag and start the day’s festivities. We waited by the bridge until the sun had finally crested over the tops of trees and was shining foggily down on to the playing field, at this point the Heads of the Camp implored everyone wearing traditional Karen dress to come down to the field to raise the Karen Flag.

Waiting on the playing field and listening to speeches

The Karen Flag was not to be raised on a silly ol’ traditional flag pole, no- for Karen New Year they had cut down a very large bamboo pole and carefully decorated it all along its length. At the top held the Karen Flag with numerous festive balloons. At a given signal special members of the Karen community used bamboo sticks to slowly prop-up the flag while a gun salute was being fired. It was quite a sight and at certain times I thought it was all going to topple over, but eventually it made it up right and stable.

Waiting to raise the Karen Flag

Up it goes!

After there was a combination of speeches by the Heads of the Camps and praying. The Karen that live in the camps tend to be a majority of various Christian religions and praying is a large part of every social gathering. Impressively though not only did they have Christian religious leaders there, but a Buddhist monk was also present for those of the Karen in the camp who are Buddhist. After two hours of prayer there were a series of Karen traditional dances that highlighted the Pwo and Sgaw Karen traditions, even though most of the camp’s Karen identify as Sgaw Karen. All in all it was a wonderful way to ring in the New Year a second time!

Moo Wah Paw dancing a traditonal Pwo Karen Dance

At around 10am everyone dispersed and Mweh Paw and I went to visit her Pastor and attend church. It was a very cute bamboo church where we all sat on the floor and mostly sang prayers in Karen. For me, not speaking Karen nor being Christian, it was a bit of time to day dream and reflect about the previous year and the one to come.

All of the teams that competed during Karen New Years lining up to receive prizes

Then it was finally time for the big final soccer game between the camp’s highschool and Karen players from outside of the camp. Nearly everyone was at attendance for the game, which was tied and ended with penalty shoot outs! Talk about nerve racking! But the highschool team won and that meant big celebrations were to be had throughout the camp. The team decided to celebrate by killing a pig for dinner and because our dear friend Moo Wah Paw had been feeding the pig for all of these months we got a 1 ½ kilos of delicious pig for dinner! YAY no fish paste tonight! After we watched the pig being killed Mweh Paw took me off to the side and whispered, “Do you want to drink some beer tonight?” Not knowing that the camp leaders had prohibited the selling of alcohol in the camp I agree and a few hours later a man I had never see before shows up at our hut asking for money. Mweh Paw quickly explains that if I give him the money we will get us the beer and once he had left I asked,

“Who was that man?”

“Oh, the Camp Head of Health”

So not only is alcohol illegal to sell in the camps, but we just bought prohibition style alcohol from the health head of the whole camp! Go figure only in Karen culture would the health head be the one with access to the booze!

Raw pig in a bag never looked so good!

Straw, Straw, & More Straw

Straw gathering in Sector 6

Who knew there was so much straw around? Only Thala Lili!

I can’t believe that by 7am everyday people are on the field playing soccer, volleyball, and caneball! These games generally go through the morning until around 10am where they stop and are picked up again at 3pm until around 5pm. After the Clinic in Charge was finished with his morning volleyball game off he went with the rest of the TB team to gather straw in Sector 6. Sector 6 is a boat ride away from the rest of the camp and I was not able to go with them for fear that if I left the camp I wouldn’t be allowed back in. So sadly, I had to wait for everyone to return.

Bring back our precious straw

After a few hours they all returned with large amounts of already dry straw so all we simply had to go was cut it into smaller pieces for the mud bricks. Happily, cutting straw took about ¼ of the time that cutting the bamboo did, so by 3pm we were already done with the huge pile of straw that they had brought back. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the 2nd in Charge of the Camp asked various households to each cut a small amount of bamboo for the mud brick making tutorial that was going to happen on the 14th! I was very impressed by the amount of initiative and interest the 2nd in Charge was taking in this project, especially since I am sure he has many other duties to attend to. So it looks like by the 14th we will have lots of straw and bamboo to make bricks with!

Cutting straw at a MUCH faster rate than we were when making the bamboo pieces

Also, the small handmade test bricks were coming along really well and drying nicely. There didn’t seem to be any amount of shrinkage at all when they were drying, which makes me very happy.

Baby mud bricks happily being dried by the sun

After 3pm it was all relaxing until dinner time, where a terrible realization hit me: I had finally come to the point of no return with fish paste. After eating one bite at dinner I realized that I could eat no more, so that pretty much means a diet of white rice and a few little bits of vegetables from here on out! That however did not spoil the meal since now that Andrew has gone I have been able to really spent time getting to know Mweh Paw and what a diverse and intelligent woman she is. Having grown up in Thailand and being Karen has given her a rare opportunity to be both part of her culture and also able to see it as an outsider would, and has made conversing with her about Karen issues extremely insightful. I am more than lucky to have someone who is so smart and eager to learn on my team!

The Elusive Straw

Due to Karen New Year on the 12th and the 13th being a Sunday so no work was going to be done and a whole day of praying at church was in order due to the holiday, prep for the mud brick making demonstration needed to be done well in advance.

Waking up this morning I was finally warm during the night for the first time; it only took wearing ALL the clothes that I brought with me to finally be warm at night! I was wearing long pants and TWO longis, plus a shirt, a vest, a sweatshirt, a wool hat, the hood of the sweatshirt, and thick socks. It felt silly bringing all of this to Thailand where it is normally very warm, but I am glad that I did! At this point Andrew and I had completely given up on trying to help make breakfast and instead just watched it happen. After a brief stopover in the clinic we started to dig the large whole that would be used to mix the soil with either the bamboo or straw to make the mud brick mixture. Andrew was more than happy to be doing some actual work, so I left the digging to him as Mweh Paw and I started to chop bamboo and make the final molds for the bricks.

Making the large hole that will eventually be used to mix the bamboo and straw with the soil

I must say I am very impressed by Mweh Paw and her exuberance for the project. Not only has she turned out to be a great manager by helping to facilitate all of the meetings, but is also interested in being hands on with the project. She genuinely wants to learn how to make the mud bricks and I am thrilled! I also am feeling a bit less guilty because in July when I came with Wah Paw it was clearly she really did NOT want to be in the camp, but bringing Mweh Paw over Karen New Year allowed her to have an actual New Years celebration with her Karen friends, which otherwise would not have happened.

As we were cutting the bamboo, which was taking a lot longer than anticipated, Thala LiLi comes over and asks “wouldn’t it be easier to use straw?”

“Yes, but there is no straw, so I figured that it would be best to make it with local bamboo”

“We have straw in Sector 5 and 6”

“There is?”

Turning to Mweh Paw she exclaims “I didn’t know we had straw!”

And so the magical appearance of straw in the camp was made known. Straw would make MUCH better additives to the mud bricks than the bamboo, since it is easier to cut, much lighter, and the mixing can be down with the feet instead of the hands. So now a new plan has been made to go and collect straw from Sector 6 tomorrow for the mud bricks! And during the mud brick making tutorial examples with both bamboo and straw will be made to show how the same techniques are used regardless of the binding component.

The laborous process of bamboo chopping

At around 11am it was time for Andrew to head for the boat to take him back to Mae Sot. The Karen really never show many forms of endearment in public, but since Andrew and I are not Karen, a quick kiss goodbye was in order. Of course when I turn around two girls were there and now were giggling because they saw me give Andrew a quick kiss. Oh wait did I say that girls were giggling I meant 20 year old adults… sigh, different cultures.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying camp-time. I had definitely entered phase b. of camp-time and the ability to enjoying reading for hours on end my totally awesome fantasy novels. At this point in tie life was pretty good: enjoying the downtime, not sick of fish paste, and my mud brick test had come out looking pretty good. All was well

Sample Mud Brick Making

After waking up an attempt to help cook breakfast was made, it is really hard to get the Karen to let Andrew and I help with the cooking! The most we got to do today was peel garlic.

Andrew attempting to help with breakfast

We gathered at 9am today to cut some bamboo and so I could make a test brick. Since there is no rice husks in the camp, because they do not grow their own rice, and no straw it seems that using bamboo will be the best additive to the clay to give it binding qualities. I had the 2nd in Charge help to cut some bamboo for me and also make a small mold. I was hoping to try my first brick attempt in private, just in case it failed, but no such luck! The Karen are a surprising mixture of super shy and not shy at all. Certain things like singing and dancing in public hold no embarrassment for them, but getting one of them to eat dinner with you is almost impossible!

Cutting the bamboo for my test mud brick

Soon a whole crowd was watching me make a test brick. This test brick was made of bamboo pieces and soil from the chosen site. I started by mixing the soil and bamboo in a ratio close to 3:2 in a small whole that I dug in the area I was using the soil. After adding water and making the mixture as homogenous as possible it was ready for the mold. I took the mold to the river to wet it and then lined the interior with sand to enable with the release. After packing the mold with the mud mixture it was ready to shake the brick out. I hoped to god that this brick would come out of the mold or else it was going to be REALLY embarrassing! To my good fortune it came out perfectly! Phew!

Tomorrow Andrew is going back to Mae Sot and since there is no phone service in the camp, Mweh Paw had to go across the river to make the phone call. I am pretty sad that Andrew is going to be leaving me tomorrow, it’s hard to be here without another foreigner around. Since Mweh Paw was gone we decided to take a short walk around just the two of us, but a few steps into our walk Moo Wah Paw, one of Mweh Paw’s friends, steps in to join us. It seems like we were left with a babysitter while Mweh Paw was away! After telling her that we were just going on a short walk, and her joining us clearly out of duty not enjoyment, Andrew and I decided to cut our walk short. On the way we ran into an old man making a bamboo basket, since we had nothing better to do we decided to stop and watch – I figured now was as good a time as any to get my long overdue degree in basket weaving! Clearly Moo Wah Paw was not even remotely interested in watching this man make a basket and after a while Andrew and I were just watching as a way to torture her a bit for babysitting us!

Basket Weaving 101

During the night time for Karen New Years singing and traditional dancing was done up on stage for the whole camp. It was open to anyone that wanted to get up and sing. Most of the singing was a bit lack luster to say the least. At least once it got dark Andrew and I could sneak into my bamboo hut to hangout and listen to the music just the two of us. A pretty chaste last night together, but what can you do it’s the Karen way!

Soil Sample Analysis Day

The little kitchen in our bamboo hut

Awaken damn ass early, as per usual when the culture you are living with rises with the sun and there are no doors or real walls to keep out the sound and all. So the morning starts at 5:30am and a meeting is scheduled for 8am to look over the site and talk more about the TB lab building. Usually the time in the States between 5:30am and 8am would be filled with email checking, breakfasting, and maybe even reading the news on the computer, but not in a place that has barely any electricity and definitely no internet service! After the usual bathroom time, Andrew and I try to help cook breakfast, which is extremely amusing to Mweh Paw since men don’t usually cook in Karen cultures when there is a woman around to do it.

Karen Breakfast: lots of rice, like every meal, with fish paste, also like every meal

That only takes us until 6:30am and then there is just nothing to do until the 8am meeting. This is what I like to call camp-time, which is filled with lots of nothingness. Usually it involves people just sitting around, but now since it is Karen New Year official games of soccer and volleyball started at 7am so at least we get to look out of our window and watch the games taking place. Since we are in Sector 1, we are in essence in the “downtown” of the camp and are right by all of the official KNU offices, the clinic, the TB lab, and the large sports field area.

A view of the main thoroughfare of Sector 1 from our bamboo hut

Apart of me feared that I would show up and they could have just decided to go ahead and rebuild the TB lab without me, since such things can accidently occur here. Luckily that was not the issue and in fact the lab became even more dilapidated since my last visit in July! So fear not, nothing was attempted in my absence!

Visiting the site with the 2nd in Charge, the Clinic in Charge, the TB lab tech, and Mweh Paw was extremely helpful. When I was first there in July I was pushing for a change of location for the new TB lab since the current one is located on a very steep hill and there was no attempt at making any sort of barricade to stop the hill from sliding on to the back wall of the lab. Also since I was last there in July it seems that the earth has totally eroded from under the concrete foundation of the lab, so the foundation has cracked and is being held up by purely the wire inside of the concrete – not good. Luckily now that I have the heads of the camp involved I was able to suggest the idea of a new site and it was actually taken into account after showing them my observations. The new site will be just down the hillside from the current one, on flat ground, and will allow for the new structure to be much bigger – which is good for the fact that they wanted storage space and a washing area to be included. We were also able to look at the different places where they think that suitable soil can be used and picked an area where they wanted me to try to use the soil from. Luckily making mud bricks is pretty forgiving and almost all types of soil can be used.

Site of the soil used in the mud brick making

After the meeting it was time to do some soil sample testing to see if I could really use the soil in the area they wanted me to. I start with three simple tests: a visual test, a smell test, and a touch test. The visual test involved me digging into the soil about 1 foot and seeing what the soil looked like, which was homogenous and devoid of any plant growth or large rocks. A more homogenous soil is best since large rocks or plants would need to be taken out if we were to use that soil so that it would not interfere with the mixture once it was made for the mud bricks.

Soil sample

The smell test was to see if there was a musty or moldy smell to the soil indicating that there is organic material in the soil that might be problematic once the mud bricks were made. You don’t want to make all the bricks and then have something start growing in the middle of them! The smell of the soil was happily completely neutral.

The last test was a touch test which I did by rolling a piece of dry soil in my hands to see if it was lumpy or grainy. The lumpiness would indicate a clay soil and the graininess would indicate a sand soil. From those three tests I gathered that this soil could be used for my mid brick making.

After those tests a series of other tests were conducted to see what type of soil it actually was: clay, silt, or sand. The first test was to wet a small piece of the mud, not so wet that the soil started to come off on my hands, but wet enough to work into a ball. I then cut it with a knife to see the interior of the ball. The interior was slightly greasy looking, indicating that it was probably a clay soil. I then took that ball and smacked it against my palm and when no water leaked out that was also a sign that it was a clay soil.

Soil slightly saturated with water

The last test I did was to make a long and narrow strip of slightly wet soil and holding only one end see at what distance it breaks off. A break between 5cm and 15cm is a good indication that the soil will be strong enough to make bricks out of- this soil broke off right at the 10cm mark- perfect!

Test piece breaking off at 10cm

So I decided that the soil in that area can be used for making mud bricks and that it is most likely a clay soil type, meaning that it will work really well in compression (much time concrete), but need something to help it deal with tension, such as straw, bamboo, grasses or the like. I made a few very small handmade bricks with and without bamboo additives to see how they would dry and how much shrinkage would occur.

Little test bricks, the Xs have bamboo added to them for tensile strength

Afternoon there is nothing to do, but enjoy camp-time. It is always an adjustment coming from my very time and task driven lifestyle back in the states to just doing nothing here in the camp. There is always a few things that I can work on when I am here, but for the most part one needs to either learn how to just sit and do nothing or find something to fill the time with. Usually with camp-time there is a cycle of a. getting used to doing nothing, b. loving the fact that I don’t have anything that I could possibly be doing, c. going insane because there is nothing to do. Right now I am in part a., happily though at 3pm the games start back up so there is at least something to watch.

The sun sets at 6pm here so that means either read by headlamp light or go to bed. Luckily I have prepared so such lack of light when reading so I requested a new Nook glow for X-mas and have installed at least 6 fantasy novels on it just for this occasion! It is going to be a life saver. I also remembered that sleeping on a bamboo floor is a bitch and just gave into being that lame-ass foreigner that can’t sleep on bamboo floors like the rest of the Karen and brought a sleeping mat. I might feel a bit lame now, but in a few days when I don’t have back pain I will be glad I brought it! Not surprisingly buildings without any insulation in them get pretty damn cold at nights, and even though it is only getting down to the 50’s I definitely need to wear at least 3 layers of clothes, a hat, and socks since I only get a few blankets to sleep with.

Camp Day 1

The camp

6am comes mighty fast- especially when you have been traveling since the 26th of December! Honestly I don’t think that the backpacker life is for me, I couldn’t do this for months on end. After getting picked up and buying some rice for our stay, we were on the way. It’s a 5+ hour ride to the river depending on the state of the roads and what season you are traveling in. Luckily it is the dry season right now, so Thailand is fixing all of its back country roads in prep for the rainy season, so we should have newly paved roads and no mud slides to contend with. After the car ride it is a 2 hour boat ride north to arrive at the camp. Both Andrew and I were pretty tired, but I was lucky enough of get some sleep in in the first 2 hours of the ride when the roads are fairly straight and smooth. Sadly Andrew didn’t fare as well and by the time we were off roading on an insanely windy and pothole filled road he wasn’t able to get any sleep. Our driver – no crazier than any other driver in Asia- was taking the turns so fast even Andrew and I were feeling a bit queasy – and we were once the only two people not sea sick on a tiny ass boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean during a storm. Eventually we arrived at the river and were on a boat without any hitches occurring. You can never tell with the Thai authorities how things will go until they happen.

The boat ride North

Arriving in the camp there was an energy and flurry of people that just wasn’t there when I first arrived in July. There were food stands alone the river, and people playing very official games of soccer and volleyball, not to mention just way more people than I have ever seen in Sector 1 of the camp. Thinking it was at first due to the season- January is the mildest of all the months, so no oppressive heat or rain – Mweh Paw turns to me and says,

“Oh, I forget it is Karen New Year”

“Today?”

“No on 12”

“It’s the 7th now… this will continue until the 12th?”

“Yes, it maybe a problem for you”

Ha! Go figure we would arrive during a week-long celebration in the camp and that no one thougTBht to mention it beforehand! Well we will have to wait and see what happens with the project now, in the meantime it is nice to see the camp thriving with activity. Sometimes it can be a very depressing place, for all of the obvious reasons, but now it was a completely changed atmosphere. They even managed to get a loud speaker and have someone announcing the soccer game plays in real time just like on TV! Which is quite a feat for a place that barely has any electricity. Dead tired Andrew and I took a nap on the bamboo floor of the place I will be staying in. To only be told by Mweh Paw that Andrew will be staying somewhere else, by insistence of the First Clinic in Charge. Well at least we didn’t expect anything different!

See, the Karen aren’t really into privacy even if Andrew and I could stay in the same hut

After a brief nap and some fried chicken Mweh Paw surprised me by saying that there will be a TB meeting tonight at 6pm to talk about the project. I am stunned! It took me 3 days last time to have a meeting about this project and now I get one within a few hours of arrival with the First in Charge of the camp none-the-less! 6pm rolls around and it is time for the meeting, the First in Charge of the camp, the Second in Charge of the camp, the Clinic in Charge, the TB lab tech, and 3 other TB workers are all there plus, Andrew, Mweh Paw, and myself! Thankfully Andrew kicks off the meeting, since he has done this way more times than I have.

“I want to start by thanking you for having us here. My name is Andrew Lim and I lived on the border for 1 year and have worked with GHAP and KDHW…” he starts into this incredibly formal speech introducing himself, his Burma work, and medical school work all the while Mweh Paw is dutifully translating away as he is talking. I’m not sure what shocked me the most; the formalness of Andrew’s speech in contrast to the meetings situation, which was being conducted while sitting on the floor of someone’s bamboo house by the light of two candles, or  Mweh Paw’s amazing translational skills! I had no idea her English was so good, having not really spoken to her much as of yet. When Andrew was done he just looked to me, and in response to what must have been total horror and shock on my face he says, “They like things formal” and I’m thinking how do I follow that amazing speech on all of his Burma work and medical school resume?! I totally should have gone first!

So doing my best to try to introduce myself and the project. From there we delve into the nitty gritty of the project. It turns out to be THE most helpful meeting I have ever had about the project. Maybe there is hope for this whole thing happening after all!

Back to Mae Sot

So I’m back in Mae Sot again, but this time Andrew and I flew in for the first time! It was definitely strange to arriving via plane and not at 7am groggy after a 9 hour night bus ride. The flight was only about 1,300B and was total worth it! I might never be able to go back to a VIP night buses again – especially since I’m pretty sure Mo Chit bus station is a level in Dante’s hell…

After managing to get a tuk tuk to Baan Tung Guesthouse we set off immediately to buy some presents for the Burmese Migrant Trade School that Andrew was going to visit. Then to KDHW for some long overdue hellos. It’s been at least 2 years since Andrew has been back to Mae Sot and visited his friends from KDHW and it was really great to catch up with everyone, even though many people have left. Eventually Thala See Lu wanders down and we get to start our meeting early! Unlike the last time in July it seems that we can go to the refugee camp starting bright and early tomorrow morning! Only one, issue Wah Paw was supposed to come back yesterday, but she has yet to show up for work today. Since she is the head of the TB program for KDHW and went with me last time I was hoping that she would be able to come again, but it seems that if we are to go tomorrow I will have to go without her, since no one can get in touch with her! Only a momentary set back however since Thala See Lu suggests that Mweh Paw take her place since Wah Paw had suggested that she become involved in the TB program any ways. At first I was a bit worried since Wah  Paw was a bit older and therefore able to help make meetings happen once we were in the camps, but if leaving tomorrow would only happen with Mweh Paw I am sure we will figure it out. We decided to meet at 7am the next day to start out on the 5 hour drive to the river, which left only a few hours to get things ready for the trip!

Baan Tung Guesthouse- home away from home in Mae Sot

Since I would be in the camp for 10 days this time I thought it would be important to bring food with me to help feed the workers helping me and so that I do not need to eat the limited amount of food in the camp. So with Mweh Paw as my trusty motor bike driver off we went to Mae Sot’s equivalent of a super market to buy food for our trip. The food stuffs mostly consisted of 2 boxes of mama noodles (read instant noodle, but way better), cans of tomatoes and sardines (sounds gross, but is actually pretty good, until you’ve eaten it for every meal 6 days in a row in some fashion or another – then it’s not so good), and extra creamy instant coffee which she assures me the Karen will prefer, and knowing that it is 47% sugar, 46% powered milk, and 6 % coffee I believe her! The Thais and Karen do love their stuff sweet! We also picked up some dried fish, a large bag of rice, and enough onions and garlic to keep a horde of vampires away for all of eternity!

Finally done with our chores it’s off to the guesthouse for a little rest and then meeting up with Tha Wah at “The Shrimp Place”. If you’ve ever been to Mae Sot than you know the place I mean, if not than let me say you’re missing out on the best and biggest prawns ever!

Eating 2 kilos of tiger prawns is harder than it looks!

Catching up over TWO kilos worth of prawns – we had to hold Andrew back from ordering more, insisting that two kilos would be more than enough- was wonderful and sad. Tha Wah has grown so much since when we first all lived together in Mae Sot back in 2008 – he’s down right responsible now! And sad because I wish we could all see each other more, but maybe one day he’ll take us up on our offer to visit the states.

After it was an insane packing session, which was a mix between camping – head lamp and REI quick drying towel-, traditional Karen clothes with all my borrowed KDHW polo’s (Thanks Jade!), and toilet paper- they don’t have that there! Since it would be the last night of just me and Andrew until I return to SF of the 18th (Andrew and I will have to stay in different houses because we are not married, plus it’s not like there is any privacy any ways in a bamboo hut with only 4’ walls and no door…) I probably shouldn’t have gotten into bed and immediately passed out… Oh well, it’s how they say ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’