A Day in the Life
My name is Saw Htoo, and Saw is not exactly a name, it is what every Karen boy is called, the way your language says mister. I am eleven, and I live in the hills where Thailand and Myanmar lean against each other, in a bamboo house that stands on legs.
Our house is on stilts because of the rainy season, when the paths turn to rivers and the rice paddies fill like cups. Underneath the house live the chickens and the loom. My mother weaves our clothes in red and white, the patterns of our people, and I wear a woven shirt for festivals that my grandmother made before I was born.
I was born in a refugee camp. Many Karen were. My family fled the fighting in Myanmar before I can remember, and the camp is the only town some of my friends have ever seen. My father says we are a people of two countries and of neither.
But here is what you should know about the Karen. Long ago, our old stories said we had lost a golden book of truth, and that one day a younger brother would bring it back across the water. When teachers came two hundred years ago carrying the Bible, many of our great-great-grandparents wept and said, the book has come home. My family follows Jesus, and on Sunday our bamboo church sings in Karen so loudly the valley hears. Not all Karen believe. My cousin’s village keeps the spirits and the old ways. Pray for them, my grandmother says, the book came home for them too.
Fun Facts
- The Karen number several million across Myanmar and Thailand, one of the largest hill peoples of Southeast Asia.
- Many Karen in Thailand were born in refugee camps along the border, after decades of conflict in Myanmar.
- Karen tradition told of a lost golden book of truth, a story that prepared many to receive the Bible in the 1800s.
- The Karen church traces back to the mission of Adoniram Judson’s Burma team, and Karen evangelists carried the gospel onward themselves.
- Traditional Karen clothing is handwoven, with patterns that tell which community the wearer belongs to.
- While many Sgaw Karen are Christians, most Pwo Karen and Buddhist Karen communities remain unreached.
How to Pray for the Karen
Thank God for the Karen church, one of the great mission stories of Asia, and pray it stays strong through displacement and hardship. Pray for Karen refugees, especially children who have never seen their homeland, for schooling, safety, and a future. Pray for the Karen communities still unreached, the Pwo Karen and Buddhist Karen villages where the golden book has not yet been opened. And pray for peace in Myanmar, so that a scattered people can go home.
How Kids Can Help
Find the long border between Thailand and Myanmar on a map and trace the hills with a finger. Pray for the children in the refugee camps along it. Read the story of Adoniram Judson together, the missionary whose work first reached the Karen. The July 2025 Wonder Letter was written from the perspective of a Karen refugee child in Thailand, with a map and vocabulary for your family.
Scripture to Remember
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
The Karen waited centuries for a lost book. Pray that every Karen village opens it, and that your family never leaves yours closed.