A couple months ago, I was first told about a group of 17 Karen families in a village named Kuita.These 17 families are being led by a trio of traditional, Karen spiritual leaders. Since then, I've received periodic updates from local Karen, and recently one of the major English language newspapers carried a big story about this group.
It seems the three spiritual leaders are discouraged.They live in what has long been a remote area, but now is coming under increasing control of local authorities.They used to be free to use the land in the mountains around them as they wished.Now the area has been declared a national park and there are many restrictions on what they can do.They used to be able to raise rice on the hillsides using slash and burn agriculture.Now that is outlawed.Life has changed dramatically in a relatively short time and it is hard to keep up.
These same problems affect many people in the tribal areas but the response of this particular group has been to just give up and quit.They do have access to some land where they can grow rice in paddy fields but last year, the spiritual leaders told their followers the spirits did not want them to do any more work of any kind.They have put away their tools and have just quit.If someone gives them some food, they will eat it.Otherwise, they will just starve.The news reporter that wrote the article in the English newspaper attributed the reaction to a feeling of hopelessness.With no hope, there is no will to continue.
In contrast, in late March I was at a refugee camp along the Thai/Burma border.These people have lost everything.Most could tell horrific stories of how their villages were destroyed by the Burmese army along with their food supplies and means of making a living.Many would have family members that have been murdered, raped or tortured.They have lost their homes in Burma and have no proof of citizenship there.Thailand doesn't want them, so they are put in refugee camps where they are more or less forced to stay.They have no access to any land and no chance to raise crops. International donors provide a food ration.The same food day after day, month after month, year after year.International donors also supply shelter, but the refugees have no land, no freedom, nothing of their own, no rights and a bleak future.
I was at the refugee camp to attend the graduation worship service of the Bible School there.There were probably a couple thousand people in attendance.Some of the benches have bullet holes from where the Burmese army had shot up the churches across the border in Burma.The benches had been carried to the camp as the refugees have no way to get wood.Some of the roof of the meeting hall is tin, some made of leaves, with the structure held up by posts made of small trees.The floor is dirt.Some of the walls are made from the metal containers that hold the cooking oil ration.It is a rough setting, but packed to the brim with eager people.
But more than eagerness, what is impressive is the feeling of hope and joy that fills the whole meeting hall.Any song the student choir sings rattles the roof, but when they burst into a Karen adaptation of Handel's Halleluiah Chorus I think the stage where I am sitting shakes as well.The addresses made by the three students speak of their hopes and dreams for the future.I am sure they all have their days when they are discouraged, but on this day, the energy, the spirit, the joy and the hopefulness is contagious.
Between the 17 families in Kuita and the refugees, if one of the groups should be feeling hopeless, it should be the refugees.At least some of the 17 families in Kuita have citizenship in Thailand, access to an education, access to land and other rights and privileges.Certainly they have lost much compared to what they had, but they still have more than the refugees who basically have nothing.But the refugees have faith in Christ.And that faith then gives them hope.
Thra Simon who heads the Bible School wrote this poem:
They call is a displaced people,
But praise God; we are not misplaced.
They say they see no hope for our future,
But praise God;
Our future is as bright as the promises of God.
They say the life of our people is a misery,
But praise God; our life is a mystery.
For what they say is what they see,
And what they see is temporal.
But ours is the eternal.
All because we put ourselves
In the hands of God we trust.
The refugees are a living example of Romans 5: 2 – 5, "And we rejoice in the hope and glory of God.Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.And hope does not disappoint us, because God poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Romans 15:13 also has my wish for the people of Kuita and all of us."May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Karen evangelists are working with the group of 17 families in Kuita.They said that even some of the Buddhist local government authorities say that the only real hope for this group is for them to become Christian.Please remember them in your prayers.They are in a largely non-Christian area.If they can come to Christ, perhaps it will open the door for others in the area as well.
Duane and Marcia Binkley