The Bamboo

Tumbling down the road towards Bankgkok in a blue and white Mercedes bus, under a hot Thai sun partially shrouded by billowy clouds of white. Christmas songs hardly seem suited to my surroundings as “I saw three ships” is piped directly into my ear canals. The people around me are oblivious to my merry music selection and so I feel as if I’m cloistered away for the moment in my own little yuletide bubble of good cheer toward fellow man. The palm trees, green mango, pomello snacks, and 90 degree weather may belie the fact that Christmas is near, but the newly fallen snow of South Lyon Michigan is in my soul along with all the Christmas cheer I can muster. More Christmas cheer updates to come.

We are just completing a visa run to the Cambodian border that had to be made to extend our Thai Visa after 15 days. If, from this information, you deduced that we’ve been in Thailand for 15 days already and therefore must have already traveled through Cambodia to get here, you would be most astutely correct indeed.

Angkor Wat was really our only stop in the venerable Kingdom of Cambodia, but a worthwhile stop it was. Many superlatives are attached to Angkor Wat and for good reason. The temple itself is massive and ornate on a scale only to be equated with the greatest ancient structures on earth (i.e. Great Pyramids, Macchu Picchu etc.) and the surrounding temples each have a charm all their own. Some so intricate it dazzles the mind and some in a seemingly mortal tango with the jungle itself. The latter type of temple was my favorite. There are a few temples that the Cambodians have left untouched for the most part and these structures have an ethos all their own as the power of the jungle is displayed in raw form. Enormous fig trees sending massive root systems over and through ancient stone, crafted to last forever. It is perhaps the slowest ongoing property dispute, and it’s a surreal site to behold.

Being a part of the most prolific media culture in the world, I could not help but think of such movies as Tarzan and Indian Jones as I wandered through these ancient ruins. One interesting fact is that the Ta Prohm temple was even featured in one of the Tomb Raider movies if you care about such things. As we rode our rented bikes from temple to temple and ascended each ancient staircase to pace the summit of these mighty structures a growing sense of wonder assaulted my eyes and mind. What must the people who built these temples have been like and what drove them to build such structures? Interesting things to think about.

And then… there was Thailand. Land of Smiles, delicious curry, sticky rice, Buddist relics, chili peppers, elephants, hippie tourists, lady men, Muy Thai boxing, the bridge over the river Kwai, and many other notable if not noble nuances. I am enjoying this country almost as much as Vietnam and I’m not even riding a motorbike. I have been doing a lot of Toyota truck driving though and this has been happening at a place known appropriately as The Bamboo School.

Catherine Riley, or Momo Cat as she is lovingly referred to by her kids, started this do-all mission project quite a few years ago on the border of Thailand and Burma because she saw a need. That need came from a Burmese hill tribe called the Karen that was displaced from Burma after the war and resulting government oversight. They are persecuted by the Burmese government and many have been pushed into a narrow strip of land between Thailand and Burma. However, Thailand won’t take then without going through an expensive and time consuming patriation process that isn’t even possible in every case. The result is a large group of people with large needs without a government to go to for help. This is where Momo comes in.

She pioneered ,and now runs, an orphanage/school/clinic/ambulance service/ church/ daycare/mentor program/ community outreach center…THING that cannot be defined or categorized, but which gives kids a stab at a stable life and a future and is of indispensible importance to the community. She is a livewire herself and has more energy and drive than any senior citizen should. I can’t be sure, but I suspect she runs primarily on baby-hugs and Holy Spirit juice (the non-alcoholic spirit). It’s hard to say where she gets the gumption to take on all that she does, but if you asked her I’m sure she would say it’s all God.

A typical day at the bamboo school for the 50 some children that live there goes something like this: Up at 5:30 am (4:00 if you’re on the cooking team) and getting ready for morning worship which starts at 5:45 and consists of a lot of singing and a brief devotional thought. After worship the kids enjoy a breakfast of rice and vegetables, tofu, greens etc. and then it’s morning chores straight away. After chores are done the kids get ready to pile onto to school bus (thirty-some kids ride in and on one Toyota hilux, hence my driving alot) at 7:00 am for the 15 minute drive to school. (If you’re late, you walk) The babies and baby watchers resign themselves to a day of feeding, changing diapers, and playing at the Bamboo school. At 3:45 p.m. the school kids are picked up and pile once again into the Hilux for the return for the bamboo school where there is a couple hours of tumultuous playing, river swimming, and other fun before supper and evening worship with evening chores sandwiched in between. Then it’s getting ready for bed and off to dreamland.

The whole thing is amazing to watch. Each kid has a responsibility, the older ones mentor the younger, they cook and clean, lead out in worships and are generally remarkably capable. Momo Cat orchestrates the whole charade besides doing middle- of- the- night ambulance runs, delivering babies when the ambulance is too late, paying bills, overseeing construction projects, keeping up with the children’s sponsors and a myriad of other tasks. She is mother, father and grandmother to these kids and it’s a humbling act to see it all performed with such grace. Like any family there are rebellious children now and then, and the Bamboo family has its share or bumps and lumps, but these kids are growing up in an incredible, healthy, Christ-centered, loving environment and most would not be able to say that if it weren’t for Momo and the Bamboo School. It’s a hodge-podge family to be sure, but family it is, and I feel honored for having had the opportunity to have been adopted into it for a week and a half.

-Weaveroftales