Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
of ropy necklaces made of glass beads from the old traders and
Chinese beads that had been in their families for hundreds of years.
Others had only plastic.
Grease heard Black Spot’s whistle, a signal that he had crossed the
bridge. He returned the call with two shrill blasts. Half a minute
later, Black Spot rushed in and his friends surrounded him. They
spoke rapidly in the Karen language, unable to contain their happy
disbelief. “You got so many to come!” one man said. “God is great!”
said another. “Which one is the Younger White Brother?” And Black
Spot replied that it was clear, if they used their eyes. They looked at
their approaching saviors, my friends, lifting one heavy foot after the
other, all of them exhausted, except for Rupert, who could have run
circles around them, and was now striding forward, yelling, “Come
on! We’re almost there.”
A thin little girl of three ran forward and grabbed Black Spot by
his legs. He lifted her in the air and examined her face, before con­
cluding that her laughter and smiles were signs that she was well, the
malaria gone. He set her atop his shoulders and walked farther into
the camp. Black Spot’s wife watched this, but did not smile. With
every reunion, she would think, Will we remember this as the last?
Black Spot was the headman of this small tribe of people, the sur­
vivors of other villages. He guided them toward consensus by pro­
viding them with sound reasoning to solve squabbles. He often
reminded them of their tradition to remain unified. Like all Karen,
they stuck together, no matter what.
My friends entered the encampment and were instantly sur­
rounded by a dozen tribal people who pushed and jumped to get a
glimpse. They heard the natives uttering a pretty garble of sounds.
Some of the old women had their hands clasped and were bowing
rapidly. “It’s like we’re rock stars or something,” Rupert said.
Bennie saw that some of the men had slung their arms around
Black Spot and were offering him a cheroot. Others jumped on the
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