SAW SIMON

IN MEMORIAM Continued

in the passing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, which ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected. Prior to his years with the BJC, Dunn

served for 12 years as executive director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, and also served as a pastor and campus minister at West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M), among other positions. He also held various positions in the

Baptist World Alliance, including as chair of the Commission on Christian Ethics, vice chair of the Study and Research Committee and a member of the Commission on Human rights. After retiring as executive director of

the BJC in 1999, Dunn became professor of Christianity and Public Policy at the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The James and Marilyn Dunn Chair of Baptist Studies was established at the divinity school in 2011. A memorial service for Dunn was held

at Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston- Salem on July 18. He is survived by wife, Marilyn.

live in these camps, most of them Karen, are Christian. A strong Baptist presence has existed

in Karen (also known as Kayin and Kaw Thoo Lei) state in Myanmar since the mid- 1800s in the largely Buddhist country. Simon and his family fled across

the Thai border from Myanmar after government troops attacked and occupied Wallei, the village in Karen state where the school, which was previously in Htee K’Haw, had been relocated in June 1983. The Myanmar troops confiscated and destroyed school facilities. Simon reestablished the school in

Mae La refugee camp in 1989 with four teachers and six students. By June 1990, when construction of new classrooms, dorms and other facilities were completed, there were 40 students and nine teachers. KKBBSC, which offers general education to refugees and training to church leaders, now has an enrollment of more than 400 students. It employs more than 30 faculty and staff, who mainly volunteer their services, each receiving a small stipend of 5,000 Thai baht (US$140) per year. When the school ran out of dormitory

space, the Simon family regularly opened their home to orphans, sometimes up to 50 at a time. KKBBSC was destroyed by fire on

April 28, 2012, but was partially rebuilt in time for the start of the new school year in July of that year. Rebuilding was completed in April 2013, with the BWA providing half the funds toward the reconstruction. Simon also led the way in establishing

Bible schools in the other six refugee and displaced peoples camps in Thailand. He was deeply involved with a closely

Saw Simon, recipient of the Baptist

World Alliance Congress Human Rights Award in 2000, died on August 2, in the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand. He was 66 years old. Simon was principal of the Kawthoolei

Karen Baptist Bible School and College (KKBBSC) in the Mae La camp and was recognized by the BWA in 2000 for his work in the refugee camps in Northern Thailand. The Mae La refugee camp has an estimated 50,000 displaced persons.

It

is the largest of seven refugee camps for approximately 150,000 displaced persons along the Thai/Myanmar border. An estimated 50 percent of the refugees who

30 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

related organization, the Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Churches (KKBC), founded in October 1984. KKBC has since planted more than 240 Baptist churches in the refugee camps. Most of the pastors who serve KKBC churches were trained at KKBBSC and the Bible schools. He was also the first general secretary

of the Global Karen Baptist Fellowship, which was formed in 2010. Simon, along with other Karen leaders,

was instrumental in helping to resettle more than 70,000 Karen refugees in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. During the 1980s, before his association

with KKBBSC, Simon taught at the Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT) in

Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar. He earned diplomas and degrees

from MIT and the Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary in the Philippines. Simon’s great dream was for his people

to return to their homes in Myanmar in peace, praying that “the Lord will open the door and enable us to return to our own beautiful land called Kawthoolei and rebuild our life and live and serve the Lord as human beings created in God’s own image.” He leaves wife Naw Ta Blu Htoo, and daughters, Thaw, Nyaw and Paw.

Our Living Testimony by Saw Simon

They call us a displaced people, But praise God we are not misplaced. They say they see no hope for our future, But praise God our future is as bright as the promises of God.

They say they see the life of our people is a misery,

But praise God our life is a mystery. For what they say is what they see And what they see is temporal, But ours is the eternal. All because we put ourselves In the hands of God we trust.

I am not ashamed to be a refugee, for I know my Lord, my Master, my Saviour was a refugee long, long before me.

I am not afraid to be a refugee, for though I am displaced, I am not misplaced.

I will never feel lonely, for God gives me many friends around the world.

I will never feel helpless, for God gives me many hands for help.

I will never stop doing good things in spite of all the difficulties and hardships, for I know that this is the real purpose of life God has entrusted to each one of us.

I will never feel regret being a refugee, for though life is full of limitations, restrictions and tragedies, it is enriched with meanings and values.

I will never feel hopeless, for my Saviour promised me an eternal home.

I am glad to be a refugee, for I am always reminded that my eternal home is in heaven and not on this earth.

But I know that for the time being, Satan is trying to enslave me, for though I live in my Father’s, my brothers’ and sisters’ world, I am not free to travel.

However, I am strongly convinced that a day will come – and it will be soon – when I will be able to travel freely to visit my brothers and sisters around the world and say “thank you” for what they have done.

I will then see the beauty of my Father’s world. Amen.