So much has happened since I published my first CAPI blog while abroad. It’s been an eventful three months filled with unique insights into the Karenni community, a visa trip to Vietnam, and, as per usual, the ephemeral passage of time. The months of July and August came and went at KSDC just as anywhere else in the world, but here time moves differently. Not necessarily faster, not necessarily slower, but somewhere right in the middle of this paradigm of time lies KSDC. You might be a little curious as to what that means, and I will do my best to explain it, but it’s a rather hard concept to grasp if you aren’t here day in and day out experiencing the loophole that is KSDC.
Every day here brings something new, whether it’s the students unexpectedly leaving class to go to the refugee camp (Camp One) for a reason still partly unknown to the teachers or a funeral of a beloved member of the community that gets turned into a four-day fiasco. The reason behind these continuous miscommunications is not due to poor planning but is more so based on what can only be described as the ‘Karenni way.’ The ‘Karenni way’ is not only the reason so much gets decided within the last nanosecond of split-second planning but also a genuine way of life. I stopped trying to figure out what my day-to-day would look like a month ago, but despite that, it is still an active hurdle I am trying to jump over. Because of this never-ending cycle of spontaneity, there is no sense of schedule, routine, or planned activities. Everything here at KSDC happens within five minutes of the idea coming to fruition and when it starts. This means the days feel LONG. And I mean really long. You’ll wake up with the silly little thought in your head that you will be teaching, but by the time you’re up and out of bed, they’ll already be off to the Bamboo Forest to cut down some fresh bamboo shoots for lunch. Despite this, I truly do appreciate it for what it is. This has been a never-ending adventure in a community filled with so much beauty and sincerity.
Now that I have established the long and unstructured days that rule over the way of life here at KSDC, I now want to talk about the unrelenting passage of time I face as each month passes by. I believe with every bone in my body that one of the many curses humans face is how life moves quicker the older you get. Let me explain. A year feels shorter as you get older because it represents a smaller fraction of your total life. For example, in the eyes of a five-year-old, one year takes up 20% of their life, but for someone who is 50, that is a mere 2% of their total time on this planet. Unfortunately, this unspoken rule of the universe does apply to my time here at KSDC, and it has been apparent as ever for the past few months. As I stated earlier, the days move slowly, and the dichotomy it creates is quite interesting. It feels as if the days last a month, but the month only lasts a few days, and that allows KSDC to fall into a unique part of my life that will remain so different from anything else.
I would like to talk about one more thing before I finish up this blog. I want to talk about the idea of family. To be human is to love, and to share that love with humans (blood-related or not) is to have family. I have been lucky enough in life to say I have many people who care about me, and I, for them. My biological family is the most important stepping stone in my life; anything I do and experience is because they helped me get up there. On top of that, I have the family I have created through the ups and downs of adolescence and growing up, whether it’s my roommates, my best friends, or the people I once knew and had in my life but no longer, who have helped foster me into who I am today. Finally, I have possibly the third iteration of family in my life, which is KSDC. Perhaps the most fleeting of the bunch, my three months at KSDC with my students and the community have been the most impactful of my entire life. Despite being THEIR teacher, I’m not so sure they realize the insurmountable amount of good they have taught me. From seeing their resilience by fleeing their home and being forced to adjust to life on the border of Thailand and Myanmar to the simple act of fishing with nothing but a long stick and some rope. The impact they have made thus far, and will continue to do so, is one of the most special relationships I am lucky enough to experience.
The flow of time and the concept of family are two themes I’ve kept close to my heart through my time here at KSDC and will continue to do so for the next three months. Both ideas are ones that I felt whilst at home, albeit completely differently than how I am experiencing them here, and I think there’s an immense amount of beauty in that. To have the opportunity to feel so deeply in two distinct parts of this world that we live in is a type of gratitude I cannot put into words. So, cheers to another special three months and cheers to the ones that have been had.
