Refugees in the Mae La camp view the damage caused by the fi re that destroyed the Baptist school on April 28


BWA General Secretary Neville


Callam assured Baptist leaders in the refugee camp that “all of your friends in the Baptist World Alliance will stand by your side as you... proceed with the work to renew the structures for life, training and service at Mae La.” Representatives of the BWA have


We lost everything, but we still have everything because God is our everything.


Gone with the fi re are our sins and transgressions, not His mercy and grace.


Gone with the fi re are the buildings and material things that can be replaced even with better ones, but praise the Lord that no life was lost.


Gone with the fi re are the four visitor note books that contained best wishes, prayers, promises, and words of encouragements written by friends and brothers and sisters around the world, but not their love, care, and concern expressed in their words and deeds.


Gone with the fi re are our fears and doubts, not our hope and faith in Almighty God.


Thank you all for helping in the rebuilding of our KKBBSC.


God bless, Saw Simon


visited the Mae La camp several times, most recently in June 2011 with a delegation that included BWA President John Upton and Women’s Department Director Patsy Davis. Upton said that despite the dedication and strength he saw in the camp, the eyes of the refugees, particularly those of youth and children, betrayed loss and sadness. He said what worries refugees the most is that they will be forgotten, and he appealed to Baptist leaders around the world not to forget the refugees, a signifi cant number of whom are Baptists. Mae La houses an estimated 50,000


displaced persons and is one of the largest


of several refugee camps for


displaced persons from Myanmar who fl ed confl icts in the South Asian country. The Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Bible School and College was founded by Saw Simon, the recipient of the BWA Human Rights Award in 2000. Simon and his family fl ed across the Thai border after the school, which was originally located in Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital of Myanmar, was destroyed. He later restarted it at the Mae La camp in 1984.


26 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE


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