Xtreme Karen Refugee Hike Day 1

This morning, our leaders came in and excitedly woke us up around 6:15. They informed us that we would have twenty minutes to pack up our stuff and be in the truck. We received a video X-file that told us what to bring. Things like backpacks, mosquito nets, change of clothes, and walking shoes were all included in the list. Because of the Free Burma Rangers DVD X-file that we had gotten last night, we knew that we were going to be doing something that involved Karen refugees. Duane had mentioned that we should be ready to experience a little bit of what a refugee might go through should he or she have to leave to flee their villages at a moment's notice; they are always ready and we should be too.
So after piling into the truck with a few Karen guides, we were ready to go. We rode in the truck for about 15 minutes before they stopped at a fork in the road and told us all to get out. Yes...our 25 mile hike was beginning now. It was a rough trail in some parts...the jungle of Thailand during the rainy season is not always the most conducive to hiking! We all got a lot of leaches and most of us fell at least a few times, but God was so good to keep us safe! The guides that were with us were able to help carry some backpacks and as we saw one another struggling, our team worked together to lighten the load. Someone was always there to help pick us up when we fell and pull off the leaches when we couldn't see them.
Even though, our day was tiring and emotional, our team still worked well together. I was reminded of the passage in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 where it says:
"....For if they fall one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" (vs. 10)
While struggling along this trail, I started to think more and more about the Karen refugees. Some of them carrying everything that they own, their small children, and doing all of this in the cold, dark, and sometimes in rainy conditions. It's also pretty crazy to think that we are hiking like this the same weekend that America is celebrating its independence. Something that we take for granted everyday is the same thing that these people desire so dearly, and are forced to do without.
When we came upon a village during lunch time, we stopped and were served lunch by one of the two Christian families that lived there. It was a great time of rest and re-energizing before we finished our 26 km. for the day. We had planned on camping somewhere along the way but as we were hiking in the evening through what seemed to be the millionth rice paddy, there was a torrential downpour and we ran to find shelter underneath the rice field hut. It was getting dark, the rain continued, and the leaches were in full-force so we decided to sleep right there in the hut. The girls were towards the bottom of the field and the guys were in another hut about 200 meters away. Once abandoned by them, the guides, the Eagle Scout and the only bilingual speaker of the group, we girls were left in an utter state of panic while the men were cooked for, built a fire, enjoyed leach-free walls and smugly slept peacefully while we were freezing cold, wet, no walls, covered in leaches, ants, mosquitos, growling dogs underneath us and strange men smoking and walking circles around our hut while speaking softly in Karen at 4 a.m. We were served dinner about two hours after they left us by two Karen-speaking guides who did not understand the least bit of English, including the words, "Please, wait!" and "We are scared out of our minds!" They came down to our hut and threw in food much like we were prison inmates. After darkness had hit, there was not much left that we could do except to use our one hand-held flashlight to signal SOS in morse code! There was a prompt response from the men of laughing and waving but no tangible help was received.
Suffice it say, we enjoyed our night spent wide awake in the rice field hut in the middle of Thailand. You are welcome!