Departing soon...

In a couple of days, I leave for a two-week trip to Thailand. It's funny (funny-ironic, not funny-ha-ha) how much time I've spent preparing for this trip when you put it side-by-side with how long I'll actually be there. But shopping, doctor's visits, and pharmaceutical supplies aside, I think I'm now ready.

I couldn't resist--I spent a little time today googling "Thailand fabric". I've seen some of the traditional tribal weaving, but I wasn't as sure about what other fabrics may be considered specialties in Thailand. And of course, it's silk. Hadn't really thought about that but it makes a certain amount of sense. I'm not sure how much time I'll have for shopping--I'm on a mission trip, after all, not a tourist jaunt--but I'm definitely going to be keeping my eye out for some authentically Thai fabric while I'm there.

The reason for my trip is that our city, like many others around the country, has received a sizeable number of refugees from Burma; those refugees come here after living (sometimes for many years) in camps in Thailand spreading up the long border between the two countries. In addition, my denomination has historical ties to Baptists in Burma, so many of the Baptist refugees are seeking out our sister churches in the cities where they're being relocated--my church among them. Over the summer, our church's attendance increased by about 100 in a few short months, and we now collectively sing hymns in English, Karen, and Chin every Sunday.

I have been volunteering with the families who have located in my city--working with a large network of volunteers like me who are all hoping to make the refugee community's transition here to the chilly northeast as comfortable as possible. Because of my denominational and professional ties as well, I am going on this trip wearing a couple of different hats and will be listening with a couple of different sets of ears!

In any case, one connection I made with some members of the refugee community was when I received the first request for a sewing machine. As I asked around, it turned out that the Karen Women's Organization--active in the refugee camps--ran sewing classes in some of the camps to help teach marketable skills to the refugees. Women and men both avail themselves of these classes. Once they're here in the U.S., some of them are then able to work in tailor shops or clothing manufacturers to earn their living. (A little background: The Karen are one of the ethnic groups in Burma--it's pronounced "kah-RYN". Although there are many different ethnic groups from Burma in the refugee camps, the Karen are disproportionately represented because they've been historically oppressed in Burma.)

Several women and a couple of men had asked if we could find them sewing machines, so I put the word out on my quilt guild's newsgroup and on our local Craig's List, and within a few weeks I had received 7 machines, yards and yards of donated fabric, reams of thread, and passels of zippers and other notions. After having distributed a few machines to people I knew had specifically requested them, I brought the rest to church this past Sunday and invited members of the community to take what they needed. Within ten minutes, it was all gone.

I was struck once again by the connections we can make with one another in the most unlikely of ways. Those quilters who donated machines and fabric were thrilled to be able to help out fellow sewers. Those who were the recipients were thankful for the ability to practice their art and have another possible avenue to self-sufficiency. I am very much looking forward to perhaps meeting leaders in the Karen Women's Organization while in Thailand so I can know more about their sewing classes, as well as all the other work they do.

In fact, much of my trip to Thailand will be awash with meeting women who work hard to help other women and girls find self-sufficiency. Poverty, war, lack of education, and health issues all work together to force women and girls (especially) out onto the streets--forced to beg, work in strip clubs, or sell themselves to earn enough to support themselves and their families. I am looking forward to the opportunity I'm going to have to meet some of the incredible people who have devoted their lives to eradicating human trafficking, to ministering to women and girls coming off the streets, out of the bars, and away from situations of abuse, and to helping to provide education, health care, and job training so that all might have the opportunities to support themselves with dignity.

It's just two short weeks. It's taken me several weeks of preparation to get ready to go. I imagine it'll be years before I have an inkling of what it all means once I return.