A 4 am wake-up, then shower, shave, and all that jazz. Some last minute packing and two cups of coffee before I grab my mini-backpack, and go downstairs to put on my ‘Good Will’ purchased hiking boots where COP’s Ms. Yari, Ms. Hockie, and Mr. Chanta join me. At first light we load our personal gear, food and cooking implements into 2 Tuk Tuks. 20 minutes we arrive with the dawn at the Peace Bridges [1] office with 140 other ‘forest activists,’ all of different faiths, including some Buddhist monks in saffron robes. Peace Bridges and Danmission supported and organized this 3rd Annual Tree Planting Event.
About 30 Onyx students from 4 different years came along and we all squeezed into 3 buses. Having shoved off, the forest activists dozed, relaxed, chatted, and/or played with their smart phones. We stopped in the village of Skun (The Spider Village) to pick up Ms. Sarady (Dove coordinator) then again in K.Thom City to pick up Mr. Chumno and his ONYX Students. An hour or two later, we arrived at the trailhead at the edge of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. This was the end of air-conditioning, dryness, fresh smelling laundry, ice, and cushioned anything.
20 mechanical cows waited for us (rototiller pulled carts), and we threw in our gear and climbed in after it. The dreaded journey began that would take us 5 Kilometers to the base camp over narrow rutted, and too often muddy, and slippery trails. There was no first class seating here. Everyone equally was spattered with mud, slapped in the face with thorny branches and vines, had insects dropped down their necks, and had their lower backs jarred out of shape. Appendages fell asleep having been contorted in unnatural ways to fit the jigsaw puzzle of people and gear in back of each narrow cart. When the ‘cows’ couldn’t make it up steep hills, we got out and walked. The same when we came upon rotten log bridges over streams.When we arrived at the campsite we were happy to discover tents had already been set up. There was one building with a large open area where some of the women were assigned to sleep. I would have paid to sleep there, as the tents were literally ovens until about 8:30 p.m. or when it began to rain sometime in the evening. From the time we left the air-conditioned bus, it was constant sweating, twenty-four/seven. “Humid and steamy” are not just not adequate enough to describe what it is like in a jungle.
There was water available for dip baths but was it was very cloudy and full of fine bits of sand. After awhile, it didn’t much matter. People just needed to get cool.
The first night it rained and the COP girls got wet rumps, and migrated from tent to tent to find a dry spot until they landed in the building where room was made for them. Others of us slept on and off with jarred lower backs and sore hips throbbing on the hard ground in some state of sogginess or another. My tent with Mr. Lay and two others was especially blessed with an unusual spirit of dryness through three nights of rain.
On the 3rd morning we split up into groups and hiked in opposite directions to visit illegal logging sites and areas slashed and burned illegally for agricultural purposes. It was an incredibly beautiful hike where we could see some real triple-canopy jungle, pristine streams, grasses, exotic plants, etc. While the other groups encountered large scorpions and poisonous snakes, and were bitten by leeches, ants and bees, my group was unscathed.
At night we listened to commune elders talk about their way of life and the experience of the forest patrols confronting illegal loggers and confiscating their saws in non-violent ways, and how the government treats them as antagonists, as they can’t be bought off or intimidated (at this point) to turn a blind eye.
Since there was no cell phone connection, forging bonds by people just talking to people was the main past time, as they sat on stumps, stretched out in hammocks next to each other, or lounged in the doors of their tents squatting on their haunches. I was the only one who seemed to be complaining about being sweaty, ripe and damp the whole time. No one else to seemed to notice this was a notch above extreme camping and literal hardship! I had sweated through all 6 of my t-shirts by day 3, and had to wash them all by hand without out soap. I was now drinking well water that had been boiled, and that burnt water taste could not even be disguised with Royal D (dehydration mix). Bophal’s yoga mat had hardly alleviated the soreness in my jarred tailbone and wrenched hips. At least I had Starbucks Via packets to clear my foggy head in the morning.
In summary, it was hard to explain just how God was working in all this. All I know is that He was working in great ways. Did you ever know when you just know something, but you can’t explain it adequately to someone else? I mean- you just know that you know? We were connected to each other, people of different countries, traditions and faiths, and connected to something way bigger than ourselves. We plugged in to God’s creative energy and love for 4 days together and I doubt few of us will never be the same.
Peace and Grace,
Brian
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[1] Peace Bridges is a Christian Organization that hosts this annual interfaith Tree Planting Event.
July 8, 2017
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