Walking the llama trail - The North Star Monthly

6 NOVEMBER 2009 THE NORTH STAR MONTHLYA man can lose everything, but he can’t lose his mind’John Sayarath’s life story is an inspiration to more than just his studentsBY JUSTIN LAVELYake something of yourselves.“MDon’t waste your lives.”Dr. John Sayarath often finds himselfimparting this message to his teenage students.He teaches science at St. JohnsburyAcademy and his own life story is enoughto inspire the uninspired.Despite not setting foot in the U.S. untilhe was 15 years old, he has a Bachelor’s Degreefrom Harvard University, a PhD fromthe St. Matthews University School of Medicine,a Masters in Education from LyndonState College, he speaks five languages andis a superb tennis player. It’s hard to imagine,but these accomplishments pale in comparisonto what he overcame before he evengot here.As he prepares to tell the story of hischildhood, he grabs two plastic chairs fromlab tables in his Streeter Hall classroom andsets them invitingly beside his desk. As hebegins his story, he almost sounds surprisedthat local readers may find it interesting. Heis very unassuming and everything he saysseems profoundly genuine.He was born in Laos in 1960, just beforethe Vietnam War erupted, as a member ofthe Kmhmu tribe. The Kmhmu, much likeNative Americans, are the indigenous inhabitantsof Laos. Growing up in a small village,John was treated with a great deal ofrespect as the son of a shaman. Shamans aremedicine men, using their connection withthe spirit world to care for others, but whenthe French colonized Laos many nativesswitched to Catholicism and the religiousshift led to less activity by the shaman. Earlyon, it was clear that John was destined to followin his father’s footsteps.“I was born feet first,” he says. “To theKmhmu, that is a sign.” Maybe so, but thebest fortune teller would have had a hardtimeforecasting the bright future that layahead of him.Laos was dragged into the Vietnam Warin the mid 1960s, and the eastern parts ofthe country were invaded and occupied bythe North Vietnamese Army (NVA). In response,the United States initiated a bombingcampaign against the North Vietnamese.It was reported that Laos was hit by an averageof one B-52 bomb load every eightminutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and1973. U.S. bombers dropped more ordinanceon Laos in this period than wasdropped during the World War II. Laosholds the dubious distinction of being themost bombed country in the world.When John was very young, his fatherwas killed during one of the raids. John meta French priest who first introduced him towestern medicine. The two would travel togetheron foot or by horse from village tovillage treating locals and foreigners. Theymade stops everywhere from leper coloniesto military barracks. One day, while thepriest walked around his church reciting theBible, he was shot by a communist soldier.John was taken away to an orphanage.His first few years in the orphanage werehis most trying. Because he was a memberof Kmhmu, regarded by many in Laos assecond class citizens, he was treated “verybadly” by the other children. When thingsseemed to be at their worst, John met anAmerican couple, the Levys, working in theorphanage. They would become hisguardians and eventually take him out of theorphanage to live in their home. Theyworked with him on his English. This reprievewas short lived as the invading communistseventually exiled all foreigners,including John’s guardians.John fled the country as well, headingeast to central Thailand where he was placedin a refugee camp for the next two years.The camp was a series of open fields wherethousands of fleeing Laotians were confinedby the Thai soldiers. While he wasthere, John discovered that the Levys hadsettled in northern Thailand. He beganthinking of a way to escape the camp andreconnect with his guardians in hopes ofleaving the region completely.Camp guards would only allow him toleave during the day so he could work for alocal sugar cane and rice farmer earning $2a week. He became friendly with thefarmer’s son and decided to disguise himselfas a Thai student and use his friend’sstudent identification to escape. One day heand another refugee asked the guards if theycould leave the camp to visit the library. Theother man was told no because he had asuitcase. John, with just the clothes on hisback, was allowed to leave. He caught a seriesof buses across the country as he triedto reach the Levys. Occasionally, his bus wasboarded by Thai soldiers who would askhim for his identification. With shakinghands he remembers handing them the borrowedID and hoping they didn’t ask himany questions.“All they had to do was ask me questionsand they would have been able to tell by myaccent that I’m not Thai,” he says. “I wasvery lucky. If they caught me they wouldthrow me in jail and do who knows whatwith me.”“The first time the bus stopped in atown and a soldier came into the bus, hewalked around checking all of the IDs.There was an old man sitting by me, and Iwas closest to the window. I was so nervous,and when the soldier asked me for my ID Ijust handed it over through the old man. Henever asked me a question.”After being reunited with the Levys, theydecided to return to the U.S. after a 27-yearabsence because of Mr. Levy’s failing health.Since they wanted to stop in Israel on theway back, they asked John to travel with afellow professor to Hazleton, Penn., andwait there for their return. One month afterthe Levy’s returned, Mr. Levy died at the ageof 50, and Mrs. Levy became very ill. Theyasked John to continue staying in Hazleton.Mrs. Levy died a year later.John was put into 11th grade, and he