Hometown: Mae Sot

“It would be nice if I can go to the waste dump today” Manou said to me this morning sharing our breakfast and morning coffee. Manou had been there before to play with the children in the Sky Blue school which is basically located on the waste dump, a place where some 200 Burmese refugees try to survive. When she calls to Hannah, another Farang, to arrange a new meeting the answer is: “After the bomb explosion on 24th of February foreigners no longer go there”.

Mae Sot is a special place, a crossroads of cultures. Never before I faced so much suffering but also never before I felt such courage, endurance and friendship. I live here now since one month after my five day visit with the delegation in January.

“Everyday is an adventure” is what Black Town, a Burmese friend told me. I can say the same but our adventures are very different. Black Town is here illegal; he works for the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), every time he leaves his room he is afraid to be arrested, possibly leading to an unhappy ending. For me the adventures are the stories I hear everyday and even more the meetings I have. These adventures open my eyes to the world. Mae Sot is maybe the best school I ever attended. I was never more aware of the luck accompanying me already 28 years. I never felt my freedom so deep inside. Often I am frustrated because I want big changes. However everyday I see the benefit of small things like talking to youngsters or editing an English document and smile again. I learn so much!

Yesterday I drove with my bicycle towards a big red evening sun, I pass a clothe shop where the lady smiles at me. The aerobic lesson is about to start but I tell her I don’t join tonight “I have a meeting”. I wanted to meet with the sun so it was not a real lie I told myself. Two minutes later I stop at Joe’s little house. Joe works everyday with his old sewing machine he brought to live again five years ago. Saying hello and smiling to Joe became my favorite part of my trip to the other side of town where I work. One day I brought him the pants I ruined with the chain of a bike in Burma. We became friends. Yesterday he said something about dinner. “Yes, let’s go” I said, “I have no plans”. His friend Em passes and recommends us to take the motorbike and drive up the mountain to the lake. A beautiful evening with the silence of nature, the red sky and the burning fields. I was at the Lake Manou and I tried to find on Sunday but with the help of the nice people from what we call ‘the nice-people-internet-place’ we ended up at a swimming pool. “Yes, with nature” they had said. Joe had repaired my pants very nice and asked 0,20 euro, the rent of his house is 16 euro a month. Most of the days he does not earn the minimum wage which is about 3 euro in Thailand.

The smiles are plenty here and each one has its own story. The woman selling every evening some fruits or nuts which she carries on her head, the man from a very small bike repair shop/eating place who I asked for help already five times. As a Farang you receive many smiles and I often wonder what would happen if people in Europe would smile to all those who look a bit different.

I feel at home in Mae Sot.