Some preliminary thoughts

I'm definitely feeling a little bit as if I'll be coming full circle on this trip--or, rather, completing a circle.

My parents were very involved in refugee resettlement throughout my growing up years. When I was about 12 or 13, we invited a Vietnamese brother and sister into our home as foster children--I have vivid memories of index cards taped to various objects around the house with the English words written clearly on them: "Clock", "Lamp", "Couch", "toilet"...even including "dog" taped to every canine collar (and there were many of them), although we never got the cats labeled because they wouldn't hold still long enough. My Vietnamese sister tried to teach us how to sing "Jingle Bells" in Vietnamese, but it ended in giggles--hers and ours alike--as we couldn't get the tonal language right and I don't even want to know what lyrics we actually were singing!

In 1998, my father--Dr. Don DeMott--invited me to go to Burma (Myanmar) with him to help teach conflict resolution to Kachin Baptist teachers. We were there under the auspices of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Kachin Baptist Convention. We met with a group of about 30 or so teachers who worked in the schools attached to Baptist churches throughout the Kachin state. Dad had asked me to go along because of my experience in children and youth ministry; in reality, I went along as a translator for Dad. I had taken his conflict resolution courses in college so, in Burma, he would lecture for a few minutes, I would translate some of his terminology into "plain English", and then the translators would put it into Burmese and Kachin. One afternoon, during a rest period, one of the Kachin men pulled out a guitar and they started singing praise songs in Kachin and Burmese. I asked them to teach me one of the songs--it was a thrilling moment. Less thrilling was when they asked me to teach them a song in return. In my sleep-deprived, culture-shocked, unprepared mental state, the first song that popped into my head was "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"! They enjoyed it, and I often heard them singing it the rest of the time we were together, but I commented to my dad later that there were a hundred other songs I would've rather imported had I had my wits about me!

And the circle continues. About a year ago, I had just completed a volunteer commitment and said to my husband one evening later that week, "Maybe when the kids go to college I'll get involved in something like refugee resettlement." Not two days later (what's that saying about God laughing at our plans?), on a Sunday morning my pastor announced that he had gotten a call from our resettlement agency in Rochester--would our church be willing to sponsor a family? To make a long story short, our church--which has a long history with refugee resettlement as well--chose to work with all the refugees that came over without sponsors, which culminated in an interfaith, church-and-community volunteer network that's essentially sponsoring about 200 refugees from Burma resettling in Rochestser.

So by this autumn, I had experienced growing up with refugees as siblings, being in Burma to see how people lived there, and now working with recent refugees from Burma as they relocated in Rochester. I commented to my husband, "The missing piece for me is knowing what the refugee camps themselves are like."

Enter the Binkleys. I had met Duane and Marcia when they came through Rochester last June, and was able to be with them as they met with a number of the Karen who were in Rochester at the time. When I was notified about this trip, Virginia and I had some discussion and we decided it would be a good idea for me to go. This is definitely one of those "We don't know what God has in mind but something is obviously brewing" moments.

As I look forward to this trip I embark on in two days after this writing, I am honored to feel as if I'm carrying on a legacy set out by my parents. I hope to understand better what my own Vietnamese foster sister and brother may have gone through back in the 80s. I hope to learn more about the experience of those refugees from Burma who are now part of my church and city community. I hope to make some connections with women and women's organizations in Thailand and in the camps that will enrich my ministry here in the states as well as our corporate ministry as American Baptist Women's Ministries.

Members of my church and members of the Rochester Karen and Chin community laid hands on me this past Sunday to pray for this trip. I carry those prayers with me and, in return, will blanket the camps and the ministries that I visit with them. I can't wait for the opportunity to share with you through this blog all the wonderful women and men I'll be meeting, and what ministries are happening. It's exciting, not knowing what God has in mind but knowing that something is obviously brewing!