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October 17, 2005
Mae Sot Trip: Day One
Last Wednesday Daniel, Ursula, Tai and I jumped into the Child’s Dream Bus and headed for Mae Sot near the Burmese boarder. The itinerary included delivering 100 doses of Coartem donated by Novartis to local doctor, visiting three Child’s Dream sponsored projects for meetings, and delivering clothing and toys to a nursery school and boarding house.
The drive there was a little too exciting for my tastes. Even after popping 5mg of Valium, I was still freaking out in the back of the van while Daniel recklessly yet skillfully maneuvered the old Volkswagen around mountain highway bends at 140+kph. I even had to keep the malaria medication, which was on ice, in between my feet to prevent spillage. Very nerve racking.
Our first stop in town was the Hsa Thoo Lei Orphanage School which we are funding construction of. The foreman, know as ‘the belly man’, was organizing and overseeing the construction of the school by a few dozen migrant (illegal) Burmese construction workers. There was a blot hole in the wall for them to flee if the police showed up, but since the foreman’s (known as “The Belly Man”) brother in a copper himself this should never be a problem. The school’s students will come from the old Hsa Thoo Lei Orphanage down the road which we dropped by next to meet with nice woman who runs everything. She let us choose one card each that was hand made by one of the kids there.
Later on we checked in with The Green Guesthouse, which in located near an immigrant detention facility, a police station, and a swine slaughter house that operates after dark. Very quaint. Next stop was dinner at Casa Mia, a local culinary venue for Mae Sot-based NGO people. The plan was to meet up with an Irish woman who has been teaching for the past year in the refugee camp outside Mae Sot and is extending another two years. Unfortunately, she is still recovering from Dengue fever so we did not speak long. Daniel either knew or was introduced into every single farang group of people there on each occasion we found ourselves at Casa Mia. That first night I had two servings of the Tortellini Pomodoro, a fresh spinach and ricotta cheese delight with a tasty marinara sauce.
After dinner we, much to Ursula’s relief, went to drop the malaria medication at Dr. Elizabiza’s house, an Italian physician . (En route, Daniel backed into and toppled a concrete post leaving a scratch on the Volkswagen.) There Daniel, Dr. Elizabiza and her partner, a British physician, spent an hour or two catching up with each other and discussing Mae Sot NGO politics, the state of the refugee camps, the Burmese and Thai political situation, and other miscellaneous but interesting topics. I didn’t really contribute much, but it was very interesting to observe.
At 2300 we made our way back to the guesthouse, where Ursula later had to put in ear plugs to block out the sound of squealing pigs on their way to slaughter…and Tai’s notoriously load snoring.
Posted by stu at October 17, 2005 09:08 AM