more pictures, more thoughts.

da boyz in da klass
Originally uploaded by grammatolatry? photos?

 eh doe say, mu ta gay, maung nay sar, and joseph hla...the cornerstone of the children's male representation.

last class with nan yae aye
Originally uploaded by grammatolatry? photos?

the sadness indeed

all god's chilluns
Originally uploaded by grammatolatry? photos?

all the kids together for say meh's birthday!

Maung Nay Sar and Nan Yae Aye, two kids from my class who have been here since before i came, left last week to go live in Atlanta. All the families eventually leave, most after a period of 2 months. Their family ended up staying a couple weeks extra, and every day was a savored blessing. I miss them so much, and I don't think that feeling will go away ever, maybe just get crowded by other things and emotions that happen while I'm here. Talking to Leslie, we agreed that it would be so hard to live here longterm as a partner, because of the heavy flow of people in and out. How can one person take that kind of emotional beating? Emily, one of the partner kids who grew up here, got very emotionally attached to that family, as it seems she does with all the people who come here, and that's what she's known her whole life...this amazing time to be with people and then to have them ripped away right when you're starting to dig deeper into each other's lives.

And what of the refugees themselves, who come from the country they know and have lived in most of their lives, suddenly thrust into turmoil and forced out, staying in the camps for God knows how long (up to 25 years for some) and then come here to Jubilee--what of them and their emotions? To stay for this time of 2 months, surrounded by people who love them and care about them, only to have their time run out and be placed back in Atlanta big city no time no space to breathe city, where they get jobs in chicken plants and spend their days around the stench of death...I wish they could all just stay here, that we could keep building houses and make a city of Karen and Karenni right here in Comer, a city where everybody knows everybody and nobody gets ignored and nobody has to be alone.

Pray for Mah Chaw, Maung Nay Sar, Nan Yae Aye, and little Kyaw San Lay as they make their way in the metal city.