Note: Gordon will be at Laurel Gallery in Ventura for the opening of the show featuring his photos of this trip on Saturday, January 23, 2010, from 7-11 pm. For details, click on the flyer in the resources below. (Prints of the photos may be ordered and a portion of the cost will benefit the Karen people.)

Gordon Griffith will be leaving this Saturday night (August 15) for LAX (flight leaves at 1:30 a.m. on August 16) to begin his journey to Thailand. He will be serving Burmese refugees alongside a missionary who leads multiple ministries in the area. Please pray for his travel. He is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok at 11:05 a.m. on Monday, August 17, Bangkok time (9:05 p.m. on Sunday, August 16, California time). The missionary (unidentified for security reasons) will meet him at the airport and they will travel four hours by van to their ministry destination.

Updates:

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 4:15 p.m. (California Time)
Gordon writes from Taipei, Taiwan...It is very beautiful in Taiwan. It is very green and clean.  I watched the sun rise over Japan from the plane. I tried some local pastries in a gift shop, not bad. I leave here in about an hour and twenty minutes.

THAILAND DAY ONE
So, I'm here in Thailand. I spent most of the first day in the van with Chin (P.C. as some know him) and the missionary (we will call her "S"). Riding in the van gave S and I a great chance to get to know each other. It was a great start to the trip. P.C.'s father had died the day before, so we stopped by his house and met his family and said a prayer for his father and his family. In the evening we made it to the Bible school in Pa La U. Some of the kids learn to play songs on guitar, while others learn their native language of Karen, because in school they are solely taught Thai grammar. I ate traditional Karen food, which consisted of various types of meat, including tiny squid and rice. Then I went to bed on a bamboo mat with a hanging mosquito net surrounding me.

DAY TWO
Today, I woke up to the sound of a rooster, bold singing and the Karen girls sweeping the dirt. S went into Huahin to take some friends to the hospital and is staying there for the night since two of them need surgery. I have been taking in the surroundings full of pineapple fields, banana trees, butterflies, bugs, cats, dogs, chickens and the constant singing of the Karen. Later, Htoowah and I went on an adventure through the jungles on a little moped to a Karen village, South Pa La U. We traversed rivers and muddy roads. It was like I was in "The Jungle Book." At the village I met a blind woman and a man making a bamboo basket and watched him make it while Htoowah and I waited inside for the rain to stop. At night I helped to teach the school kids English. That was entertaining!

DAY THREE
Htoogay and I went to see two girls with cerebral palsy. One had only her grandmother to take care of her, because both parents died of diseases. Just mentioning S's name brings an instant smile to the little girl's face.

The other has both parents, but the dad is blind, missing an arm, and he only has three fingers. The dad was fighting with the KNU when he stepped on a land mine, so the mother is left to care for two kids and the father. The little girl LOVES flowers.

 Later, Htoowah and I went to visit a man who is paralyzed from tumors. He is an elder of the church (which is down a muddy path).

To end the day, we left there and went to visit a lady who is 102 years old. She was very amusing. Her daughter called her pretty, and she just waved her away and turned around, shy. She sang for me and then was amused to hear her own voice on the recording I took of her. She is also paralyzed and longs for death, but there is still much joy in her life.

S is still at the hospital and will be there until next week. One of the patients will need another surgery, but she is sending me off Saturday to spend the night with the Karen soldiers and family toward the border in the jungle. It will be a hike through muddy terrain, which sounds like fun to me!

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 7:00 P.M. (California Time)
Gordon writes...I am at the Hua Hin hospital to pray for patients before we head off to visit the KNU families in the jungle toward the border. We are bringing food for twenty families that will probably feed them for a month. To feed twenty families for a month, and possibly longer, we spent under $300! It doesn't take much. Today was the first time I have see S since I got here.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day with Htoogay. We went to a small Karen village about an hour from the school, crossed three rivers and visited them for what seemed like a very short time. They missed Htoogay and asked him why he hadn't visited sooner. He didn't realize he was missed so much. He learned something. The Karen welcome anyone into their home (or hut) and are very cooperative with pictures. One girl was so amused at seeing her silly face in the first one, she could not stop giggling. We left and ate at Htoogay's favorite place. He said it was the only place around with the ice tea he loves, and the food is great, although my mouth was on fire (thank goodness for the tea!). When I got back, I went with Moser and his family to go to a Macro, which is like Costco, to get the food for today.

On the way back we saw some wild elephants. Crazy. Apparently, they have problems with elephants trampling motorcyclists.

The day before yesterday, Htoowah and I went to visit some other friends, and I got to hear more stories from Karen who came from Burma - people who were forced to do labor and left by the wayside when they could go no further. Another person was captured with his two friends and beaten. His two friends died from the torture, and he escaped when he asked to go to the bathroom. He ran back to his wife. Now he has tuberculosis and is out of medicine. He cannot afford to buy it or feed his five children. That morning he was coughing up handfuls of blood.

Well, we are off to the jungle.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 3:59 a.m. (California Time)

Gordon writes...I am at the hospital again in Hua Hin, dropping off a new patient from the jungle. She had to be carried out via bamboo stick and cloth-like hammock through rivers, up mountains and through the jungle. She had to give birth while fleeing from the Burmese and never properly healed, so for the past three years she has had heart trouble. She ran out of her medication and could not afford more, so she got intense shaking and swelling and can barely move. She keeps passing out as well.

Before all this happened, I'll start with where I left off with my last update. After leaving the hospital yesterday, we drove way south and toward the border. We stopped to meet with Thai intelligence. I met an ex-KNU's son, who was the first leader of the KNU. It was quite the honor. We went deep into the jungle from there, as far as the trucks would go. The IDP's (Internally Displaced People) met us to get the food to carry it to where they are hiding. We only hiked in for an hour and a half through the rivers and up mountains in the pouring rain on the Thai side, along the border.

I was able to interview a KNU soldier/leader and take all of the soldiers' portraits. It was crazy, hearing the stories straight from their mouths, rather than just reading online - stories of Burmese coming in the night and killing, destroying crops and forcing them into labor.

We held two worship services and ate with them. The Karen are incredibly kind people. I heard them up at three in the morning, making us breakfast. These are the people - 165 total - who survive on 20,000 bhat a month (around $600). They are such grateful servants. I don't know what I am doing tomorrow yet. One week down, two to go.

More Children from the Karen Village

IDP Children

 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 8:04 a.m. (California Time)

Gordon writes, I have been in Burma the last four days. Well, I had to hike 30 miles in first - through the rain and the mud and the jungle - to get there. I will give another update soon, but for now, I have to get a lot done. Tonight I'll pack, and then tomorrow I'll hit the road for one more refugee camp. The rest of the trip is for organizing a slide show for missionary, S, returning to Pala U and resting before my flight home. At least, that's the plan!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 9:55 a.m. (California Time)

Gordon writes, I guess it has been awhile since I updated you all. I did not even realize how long it has been and how much I have done since the last one. I guess I will start with after we returned from visiting the IDP's.

Once we returned, S had to get some things done with some patients who had been hospitalized and also get a new patient settled. This was good for me, because I was then able to return to the Bible school in Pala U, rest and catch up on things. While I was at the school I was able to fellowship with the kids. We played volleyball, taught each other our native tongues and played some music.

Once things were settled with patients, S returned for a night's stay. We left in the morning for the hospital one more time, and then hit the road for Tham Hin refugee camp. "Somehow," there were no troubles getting me in. We arrived just in time to see the fish arrive (our reason for coming into the camp). S is involved with getting fish to refugee camps in the South so that they can be distributed to the people living in the camp. We actually had the fish delivery delayed a couple of days so I could be there to take pictures of the delivery. S will send the pictures to the person who is giving the money for the fish.

Also that day, the camp was distributing rice, coal, oil, chili pepper and yellow beans. The camp was very organized for 10,000 people! We took a tour with one of S's adopted sons who showed us around the schools. We also visited directors of various things, the head of the camp and some venerable old friends of S.

It never ceases to amaze me that so many of the important, well-respected people I have met, know S in one way or another. We even saw some old friends in the hospital that have recently had some medical issues come up.One I will not forget had suffered an epileptic seizure and had fallen into a fire. Now she has one and a half arms and burns all over her body. She was still very happy to see us and insisted on shaking our hands with her nub. And we can never go anywhere and leave with only our agenda accomplished. There is always more to do. :) This time we left with someone's leg. An amputee who had stepped on a landmine in Burma needed his prosthetic repaired, so we left with his leg.

Next, we went to stay at one of the mission houses in Kanchanaburi, which happens to be three doors down from the Governor (or Chair Person, depending on who you ask in the South Karen state). He happened to be in town for a couple of days. Things "tend" to work out in the exact time they need to. Who knew things could fall into place when you're not on your time?! I was able to interview him in the spare time he had (He is very busy). Then, we were once again on the road.

S thought I would like to do some touristy things. I was not planning on it, but I thought, "While I'm here..." So, we went to a place to ride elephants, Karen-run, of course. While there I rode an elephant, saw the baby elephant show and fed the baby elephant. The feeding is actually "shopping."  "Shopping" involves the elephant taking your 20 baht to the "store," buying food and bringing it back to you so you can feed her. S thought it would also be nice if the baby elephant "kissed" me. I was not so amused. Slimy elephant nose all over my face was not on my list of, "I have to do that before I die!" Eventually, we made it to S's old Karen teacher's house where a recently arrived missionary is staying, learning Karen and adjusting to the culture. We needed to visit her to encourage her along in her adjustment. It is not easy.

The next day, we did some more touristy things. I saw a couple of beautiful waterfalls that were on the way to our next ministry. We also saw some monkeys on the side of the road, so we stopped to watch them for awhile.

We soon came to the house of Pa Lulu and Na Doe. Pa Lulu was a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. It was easy to see why. She runs a children's home, an elderly home (photo at left), a safe house and works with the refugee camps (and everything outside and in between). The children' home has 29 kids (children worshipping in photo below). Most of the children have no parents. Some do have one parent, but those parents are mentally unstable. That is where the safe house comes into play. The safe house lodges some of the kids' parents and other mentally unstable patients. Two of the kids in the children's home have incredible stories. Well, they all do, but one particular story sticks in my mind.

One 16 year-old girl who has no parents and has cerebral palsy was at one time in a refugee camp. While she was there, her younger cousin saw a movie that he shouldn't have and got the idea to rape her. As a result, she now has an adorable two-year old daughter. They both (pictured at left) live in the children's home. This girl is so full of joy and is getting around better than many other cerebral palsy patients I have seen here. There are so many stories. I can share with those of you who are interested, when I return.

In the morning, Nan Doe and I left for the trailhead that leads into Burma. We backpacked into Burma to a fairly large village. It has been around for over 50 years. The man pictured at right is from the 3rd family to arrive over 50 years ago. We did 30 miles through the mud, the jungle, the rain and the night, all in the first 24 hours. For once, I was moving faster than one of the Karen - granted he is 56 and had fallen through a roof two days before, resulting in some leg injuries. The trip was focused around Nan Doe bringing in school supplies, and straightening out some issues with the medics who were stationed in the village, a plow and some donated money not getting to the right people. The trek back took two days since Nan Doe was a bit sore, but I did not mind. I was also tired! (Below is a photo of a lady sifting rice inside Burma.)

When we returned from the mountaintop, we went directly to give some food to some IDP kids who go to school on the border of Burma. This time we walked 50 FEET into Burma - much easier on the legs! This place is great, because they house the kids of IDP's, teach them about Christ and send them to school. From there, we made it back to the children's home, and I got the pictures I needed there, while tying up loose ends.

Today, we left there with the intention of going to another refugee camp, but the man in charge decided he did not want me to go in, so we went from there and accomplished some other things that S was concerned about. We relaxed the rest of the day while driving and riding the train along the river Kwai and crossing the historic bridge over that river into Kanchanaburi. The next few days are for putting together a slidshow for S's return to the states in a couple of weeks.

FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 4 (California Time)

Gordon phoned from Thailand to say that he will be staying longer in Thailand to finish a project. He is now scheduled to arrive at LAX Thursday, September 10 at 9:10 p.m.

THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 10 (California Time)

Gordon returned home safely.

 Prayer Requests:

• That the Karen people (the refugees escaping atrocities in Burma) would be blessed by Gordon and others who are helping them start a new life - that they would experience and be drawn to the love of Christ, would heal from all they've been through and that their needs would be provided for
• For Gordon's safety, health and stamina
• That Gordon would effectively be able to photograph and document the work that is being done along the Burmese border in the name of Christ - that ultimately people back in the United States would be impacted and motivated to get involved
• For Gordon's travel home on September 6 & 7. (Changed to September 9 & 10) 
• That upon return Gordon would be able to communicate in a powerful way the things happening to the Karen people, the work that is being done in the name of Christ and about his own experiences, so that people would be moved to pray and get involved.