I met Rudy and Bee for lunch and agreed to have them take me out to a border school that Rudy, Jeff and friend, Austin were helping to support. It is called New Blood School and is for children of border families not getting help from any NGO's. Most of the children are from poor farmers living close to the border. They aren't refugees so don't qualify to go to camp schools and aren't Thai so aren't allowed in Thai public schools. They are children who are falling through the cracks. There are 122 students, a principal and 5 teachers. The principal is paid 4000 baht a month or roughly $100.00. Teachers get 1000 baht or $25.00. Most of the children are Po Karen and speak Po Karen and Burmese. They are learning Thai at the school. One of the teachers speaks excellent English and Rudy told me he plays the flute at a Burmese restaurant in Mae Sot.

This is a picture I took of the classroom. They are lucky to have concrete block walls and floor.

I was impressed with the little school and gave them $250.00 to build a roof for their outside activity area and a cover for their drinking water supply.

Winsleigh told me he would take me to Mae Sariang if I could wait till Sunday. He is Seventh Day Adventist and I didn't want him to travel on his Sabbath, so readily agreed to wait 2 more days. That night, Dr. Larry invited me to join him, Winsleigh, and Winston for dinner. Winston is a Karen who has lived in America for 25 years and after retirement just returned to the border to work for the Karen freedom movement. He had shared the little guest house with us at Mu Aye Pu and is a very well educated, interesting man. He offered to translate all the children's letters for me, so as soon as I get them back from him I will be mailing them out to their sponsors.

When I went down to meet Larry in the lobby that night, Winsleigh came in with his wife Ruth and his father, Phu Tah Moo. (Phu Tah Moo with his son, Winsleigh are pictured left)

I was very surprised to see Phu. I had talked to him and his wife, Po Po, on the phone and they had invited me to stay with them while I was in Mae Sariang waiting to get into Mae Rah Moo refugee camp. He had decided to ride down that morning to see Dr. Larry before he left. He is now 89 years old and still as spry as ever and always full of stories.

Dinner that night was a lot of fun, listening to Phu's stories, bringing Winston up to date on what I had observed in the camps and Dr. Larry even did some of his magic tricks for us. There was a guitar player who sang country western music in English, but he didn't speak a word of English! It was interesting listening to him sing "Country Roads" and other old favorites.

We walked the 10 blocks back to our hotel and made plans to leave early the next morning. I talked to Rudy and Bee and Rudy offered to take the jade I had bought back to Bangkok for me so I wouldn't have to take it everywhere I went the next 3 weeks. I was very relieved and made arrangements for them to pick it up.

I met another young Karen man who we had helped through school for breakfast the next morning. It was so great to see him again. We had a great time catching up on each others lives. He is working for UNHCR (United Nations High Commission on Refugees) in their Mae Sot office processing relocation requests. It is so good to see young kids we have helped grow up to be productive citizens. He has come a long ways from being a student soldier so many years ago.

Winsleigh, Ruth, Phu Tah Moo and I left for Mae Sariang in a very nice van they had borrowed. They refused to let me pay for the driver or van. I did insist on paying for the gas. About 2 hours into the trip we stopped at a roadside market so I could buy clothing to take into Mae Rah Moo and Mae La Oo camps. We were able to get dozens of shirts, shorts, blouses and undies for great prices thanks to Phu's haggling. We got to Phu's home late afternoon and after a bath and light dinner, we were all in bed by 8 pm.

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