Jaime and I had the privilege of helping out a friend on Saturday with a Christmas party for 200 Karen children that live at a migrant camp. The Karen people come from the Karen state in Burma, which lies in the Eastern Region and also along the Irrawaddy Delta. The Karen have fought for independence from Burma since 1949. They are a strong people and many of the men are either soldiers or farmers in their hill region.
Most of these kids will not have their parents around to raise them, let alone a meaningful Christmas. Their parents are stuck back in Burma, while these kids have a chance at a better life. We split the group into two 100 people teams and Jaime covered crafts, while I lead games for the kids. It was an amazing day and the children had so much respect and appreciation for us that we walked away feeling as though their laughter and loud singing voices were enough of a gift for us to last many Christmases (okay...that sounds cheesy...but you could only understand if you were there in the moment).
The end of the party included singing and Jaime and I, along with two others, handing out over 200 presents to kids, and other Karen caregivers. It was exhausting, yet extremely fulfilling and it was amazing seeing how excited the children were to receive a gift for the holidays. These kids, along with many others in Mae Sot that evening, sang songs so loud to God as though He were sitting in the back balcony row of a huge auditorium....no microphone was needed...all we could do was smile.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That sounds so awesome!
ReplyDelete