Is she British or Karenni
Opening Note
These are my recollections about a young British girl named Stephanie Claire Lee, who sacrificed her life for Karenni people in 2001. She was a young girl that meant so much and touched me a lot. However, this recollection is only about small pieces of her life and mainly concentrates on her charity work for our Karenni students and IDPs. Her charity work has greatly influenced students who are unable to afford to study on their own, and vulnerable IDPs in hideout areas.
The aim of this recollection is to encourage young people to try hard and to liberate people from the hands of successive Burmese regimes as well as to reflect on the work of individuals and organizations, who are not related to us, but who still work for the Karenni people.
My sincere thanks go to Mr and Mrs Steve and Beryl Lee for their courteous contribution and Ms Dominique for her careful editing of this recollection. Without their help, this recollection would be incomplete and would remain solely a dream that had never come true.
Tamawtjar
October 30, 2003
Letter of Condolence
Date: November 4, 2001
Dear Steve and Beryl Lee
The sudden and sad demise of your daughter is a great shock to all of us in our community. The cruel hand of death has abruptly terminated a life full of so much promise and beauty. The only comfort left is the sweet recollection of all that she meat to you. I hope time will ease your sorrow and leave only cherished memories of your dear daughter.
She was a candle, emitting the light of education for our Karenni children. Memories of her benevolence towards Karenni people will eternally dwell in our hearts. She was to me like my own sister. Words of sympathy can hardly lessen your grief. However, please accept my sincere condolences and write if there is anything I can do.
Yours sincerely
Khu Oo Reh
Mobile: 061894932
Email: homealone432@hotmail.com
tinyland@ksc.th.com
Is she British or Karenni
My dear sister
You came from far away without invitation and are now leaving us again without saying 'Bye'. We are from different countries with different culture and languages, but from the same world. We met each other at an unexpected time in a foreign land and parted from each other at the inevitable time. No one knows how long we can survive on this earth. There are many evil things happening in the world, but there are only a few good things that we can see. At your funeral ceremony, the Catholic Priest said that God created "mankind on earth to help each other". You followed God's commands and did your best for Karenni people as well as people that you had never seen before on the street that seemed poor. But it is still puzzling for me why those who are good to the people have a very short time on earth. You not only helped this tiny suffering people, but also sacrificed your life for them. You showed us love from the bottom of your heart, even though you had no Karenni blood. Is there any Karenni who can do for their people as much as you did? Perhaps, not really. I am ready to sacrifice my life for my own people but not as much as you did. I can only do very little for my people.
Who is she
As usual, one summer evening of 1999, I went to bed at about 20:15 (local time) and laid down to listen the news on the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Burmese section program. I lifted my tiny 10-year-old Japanese made Sony short wave radio near to my pillow and turned on to finding the meter band., then placed down near the pillow again. Firstly, the programmer announced the news headlines as usual and other programs followed. When the news began in brief, I didn't hear anything special but when the program went on in detail, I suddenly took my tiny Sonny and put nearer to my ear. I couldn't believe my ears. A nineteen-year-old British girl named Stephanie Claire Lee visited one of the Karenni Refugee Camps and learned about the living condition of these war victims. All these war refugees are living in tiny bamboo huts and sleep on the bare floor. She didn't see much property or personal belongings. She saw the very few things that they received from NGOs. She was very shocked and compared to her life with these refugees. Their situations were so different from hers. She had everything at her home. She was able to buy everything that she wanted. She felt so sad for this poor nation. After she left the camp, she started to think about what she could do for them. The radio news then moved on to another subject. I started thinking about this little British girl - who was she? I had met many foreigners, including some government officials and human rights organizations, visiting the camps. But I hadn't seen anyone express their feelings after witnessing the situation in camps. Only a few authors wrote short articles relevant to refugees. I was keen to know who she was. The following morning, I rushed to wash my face and took 3 coins then went out to the phone box to make a call. I pressed 6 digits and immediately found Saw Doh Say who I wanted to speak to. I explained to him about the news that I heard last night and asked him whether he knew the British girl or not. He answered me right away and repeated her name and how one of our closest friends, Dr Carl Grundy, a British professor from Singapore University, told her about the camp.
How I came to know her
Several months passed. One day when I was at foreign office in Mae Hong Son, Saw Doh Say told me that the British girl who was going to help our refugees would arrive today with a huge package for refugees in the camps. That evening, she came into compound where the office is located with Saw Doh Say. Saw Doh Say introduced me to her and said this was the girl I had asked about. We sat down and I started to thanks her for what she was going to do for our people. I then recalled what I had heard about her on the BBC some months before. "You look very young but you do a great job for our people. I have never seen anyone who can do like you," I said. "Thank you" she responded to me without delay. She then started explaining me how she managed to help Karenni people. After her first visit to camp No. #3, she learned about Karenni suffering and how the Karenni people helped the British alliance forces during the Second World War from Saw Doh Say. Therefore, as soon as she got back home, she began to find some still-living British veteran soldiers who participated during the war. She found some of them and asked them about the Karenni people. They all agreed with her that Karenni people were good and loyal to the British during the wars, even during WWI and they all promised to help her to raise money in order to help Karenni refugees. The British veteran soldiers themselves donated some pounds. She organized fundraising activities in London, talking about Karenni to the people there for months. Her dad is a British Airway officer and he helped arrange to transport the humanitarian aid packages to Bangkok by plane. British Airways agreed not to charge for transporting these packages. "Many people in London are very happy to help Karenni people" she repeated. She was very simple and spoke frankly. I was very proud of what she had done for our people. I repeated this word to her again. "I'm not really that sort of person," she said.
What is her charity work for Karenni People
"I decided to teach English at school this time. So I'll stay longer," she said on her third trip. "But you have not yet finished your school. So you should care about this" I responded to her with a reluctant voice. "I know, in our western countries, graduation is our life. Without graduation from school, we cannot get any job" she replied. Camp residents prepared to build another small hut for her to stay in. But it was difficult to find a suitable location and space to build the house for her. One day, she visited my house together with three of her students. We spoke almost two hours about general situation of Karenni. I preferred to share with her our political background and the suffering of Karenni people. But she doesn't show any interest in politics. She just made a short comment about how the Burmese regime is so bad to the Karenni people. She tried to learn the Burmese language rather than learning Karenni. I suggested her to learn only Karenni at first during her period in camp. She asked me to organize two Karenni teachers to teach Karenni. She and one of her friends started learning Karenni together after the class in the evening. After two months of her life in camp, she told me that her mum asked her to come home to get ready for her study at University. But she said she didn't want to go home. She was enjoying this quiet place with these poor people. "I understand well how much you love our people, but this is not the right time for you to spend your time with our people. I'd like to suggest that you finish school and come back to us later" I persuaded her. She agreed to my suggestion but she said that she just didn't want to go home. Not long after that meeting, I asked her "Are you ready to go home?" "Don't ask me when I'm going home. I don't want to hear about this," she shouted without looking at me. I felt so unhappy and regretted on my question. From then on, I dared not ask her anymore about her trip back home. I told Saw Doh Say, I made a big mistake. I'm so sorry on this wrong question. But one week later, she told me, "Oo Reh, I am about to go home to study. My mum shouted at me, saying, "No, you must come back. The school is to open." This time I didn't say anything to her because I was very scared of making another mistake.
Before she left, she said that she would like to open a Boarder for parentless students and those who have come from far away to study in the camp. But she didn't want to cooperate with the Education Department from the very beginning. She would cooperate with some teachers and parents in camp because she didn't know how to run this Boarder property, since she didn't have any experience before. So I started to consult with the education officials, but they didn't agree with me since they had been facing many problems in two different camps regarding the boarders, especially social and financial problems. At the same time, they clarified their concerns about ongoing problems. They finally said that if she really wanted to run this program, she could manage and handle all upcoming problems on her own. As a result, Kyi Shwin and I organized a meeting and invited all schoolteachers, camp committee and some parents for boarder project. I gave a long speech to all teachers, camp leaders and parents to understand and to participate in this project. Stephanie also explained what she planned to do and promised to take full responsibility as a whole. Finally they all agreed and elected the committee members and assigned duties to build boarders as well as financial management, She agreed to accept about 45-50 students to house at the boarders. She spent a lot of money for boarder students. She was always back and forth between Mae Hong Son and camp to finish her work properly before she left for home.
She also asked me whether she could talk with me about Internally Displaced Persons within two or three days before she left. I said, "Yes" and was ready to talk with her. But she seemed so hectic with her boarder project. I just heard she had already left two days ago. Anyway, she sent a message through E-mail and asked me to pardon her lacking to come and talk before she left, as she had promised. The reason that she wanted to talk me is she would like to help the Karenni IDPs and thought I was the most suitable person to talk about the IDPs issue, she said. At the same time, she asked me four questions regarding the trip inside Karenni to help the IDPs; do you have permanent organization, which provide financial support to IDPs? How much money do you need for one trip? How long can one trip last? What sort of help do the IDPs need most? I shared all the information that she wanted right away through e-mail and she said she could guess how she could manage the financial support for the Karenni IDPs. She would go to school and at the same time organize two or three of her friends to help fund-raising to support the Karenni hideout dwellers. I heard all this information regarding her fund raising activities from Saw Doh Say. I was greatly concerned about her school and suggested to her to take care of her own study only. But she said to me, "Don't worry, I can do this entire thing on my own. Now I've got friend and they help me in fund raising. But this is not a big organization like others." She was also taking Burmese major at the University for two years.
She sent some money for IDPs in the summer of 2001. As I was assigned to lead the IDP committee by the Karenni National Progressive Party central committee meeting in order to help the IDPs, we bought medicines for two mobile clinics in District No. 2 (Lopwakoh District) where the IDPs normally come to receive medical treatment.
Not long after the reopening of the camp #3 high school after the summer, the headmaster invited all teachers and parents' committee members and held a meeting. At the meeting, we discussed about the previous school year and new academic year plans as well as a special ceremony to honor Stephanie in the agenda when we learned that she was about to come and teach at school again during her school holidays. The school headmaster also raised a proposal to name the library hall as Stephanie Hall. But everybody was reluctant to use her name since we've learned that she always want to keep her activities in low profile. Another reason is the Thai authorities. When we heard she had arrived in BKK, the high school master prepared to hold the meeting and ceremony for her. He invited all students in middle and high school classes and some KNPP leaders to join the ceremony and meeting. But the leaders are invited to attend the ceremony only, not at the meeting. As soon as she arrived at foreign office in Mae Hong Son, she complained that "Doh Say just called me to leave for Mae Hong Son in no time. He didn't say anything why he wants to me to hurry to Mae Hong Son. He only said, you'll know tomorrow morning why we want you to be here today.
On 2nd of August morning, we all arrived at school just in time and saw some guests from JRS and IRC were also invited. The school headmaster asked me to give the opening speech and also to give speech of thanks at the honoring ceremony for Stephanie. After the headmaster announced the agenda, I was invited to give opening speech covering the whole education situation in camps in previous years and the current education process. We then began the honoring ceremony for her. We invited her to get on stage and the District education officer gave a speech. Later on, on behalf of Karenni people and children I was invited to thank to her. In my speech, I had not only mentioned what she has done for our people and children, but I also compared her with so many people who came to us as well as encouraged students to copy her example and to study harder. She had never expected to see this kind of special ceremony for her, she said. This ceremony made her so surprised. She promised to do more work for Karenni students and decided to stay till the end of the academic year to teach at the school. One day, I met her at the foreign office and said she wanted to see the school headmaster from camp #5 about the boarder, because she had already given some money for this boarder. On the following morning, I met someone from camp #5, and asked him to pass the message on to headmaster by herself. After that, I didn't get any opportunity to see her again for months.
Fund Raising in her hometown
Stephanie would visit schools in the London area and show slides and talk about the Karenni refugees and how Karenni Student Development Program (KSDP) could help them if she had more funds. In turn the schools would then undertake fund-raising activities to support KSDP. The school ranged from very small ones with under 100 pupils to very large ones with around 1000 pupils. They were all very motivated by the fact that a person as young as Stephanie was able to do so much to help and the pupils all became very enthusiastic. They are all very still continuing to support KSDP, and in the case of Stephanie's old school - North London Collegiate School, they hold many events at the school in the name of KSDP, raising around £7,000 each year. Another "old girl" of the school - Jo Lee Morrison has recently been in the border region helping and supporting KSDP with their work.
Stephanie also spoke at her collage - SOAS - The school of Oriental & African Studies - about the Karenni and displayed notices and photos there.
By the time of her death and after just two years of running KSDP, Stephanie had managed to raise £30,000 for the Karenni. Since her death, 19 months ago, and her parents have raised another £65,000, making a total of £105,000 for KSDP in just 4 years.
Awareness Rising
Stephanie wrote to many newspapers in the UK, telling the story of the Karenni. She wanted everyone in the UK to know about the Karenni. She felt that very few people in the UK knew anything about the problems of Burma and the Karenni in particular. She held meetings with Government officials and worked alongside UK charities and NGO's interested in the Burma situation, passing on the detailed knowledge that she had gained through her visits to the Karenni camps. Some of the organizations were: The Burma campaign (UK); Christians Aware; Christian Solidarity UK. Even though Stephanie held no religious beliefs, she spoke to churches and other religious organizations because she knew they would support her.
Learning with Burmese friends
Stephanie was very interested in all things to do with Burma, and she mixed with the Burmese community in London all the time. Most of her friends in London were Burmese. Her family often had them to stay at their house, when her family would hear all about their problems. Every Sunday evening she would attend a Burmese Buddhist monastery in London to help teach the monks English, and they in turn helped her to perfect her Burmese. She wanted very much to become fluent in Burmese and Karenni. She went to all the Burmese festivals in London, and in many ways, she was accepted as one of them. On the day of her death, the Burmese community in London held a special Buddhist service in her honor.
On the last moment of meeting
On November 2nd evening, just before the day of her death, I was invited to the teachers' meeting; I met her again there together with Rhena, another (American- Thai) teacher in camp. I noticed that she always took some notes whenever I gave speeches at the school meetings. I didn't know or expect that would be my last meeting with her.
Her sudden death shocked me
Saturday, the 3rd of November was a normal day for me as a whole. I didn't see any special sign or bad omen on that day. I had a good dream that night. However, at about 04:00 am of November 4, Ah Mu Doh, chairperson of the Karenni National Women's Organization, came to my house and woke my wife. I suddenly woke up but didn't get up. My wife got up and opened the door and let her in. She said to my wife in low voice,"................." died just a few hours ago." I didn't hear well whom she meant. I thought that she probably talking about one of her staff was in a bike accident and died. She went on in detail and repeated the name again, "Stephanie". That name shook my heart and my blood ran cold. I got up immediately and asked her again how the accident occurred and where it took place. I went back to my bedroom and took 5 coins and went out to the street in the dark to make a phone call. I got in touch with Doh Say right away and asked him about Stephanie. He told me that he just got back from hospital and called her parents and let them know about her death. He said it was very difficult for him to phone her parents and explain what happened to their daughter. We just paused for a few moments, and I told him I would be at the office in a few minutes. I woke one of my neighbors and asked him to come with me to Mae Hong Son, but he said that it was too early to go and asked me to go at about 6 am. However, I couldn't wait for him and left by myself. I got to the office at about 5 am and asked Doh Say how this accident occurred. He recalled in detail and after I learned the story from him, I dared not to go and see her body at hospital. Because I knew she would definitely be different for me and I couldn't be in control. Anyway, at 7 am, I asked Doh Say to go and have a look, but he said that they kept her body in the morgue and didn't allow anyone to see her body. We discussed it and decided to bring her body to camp and wait for her parents since we didn't hear any decision from them. But finally, we decided to keep her body at the hospital till her parents had arrived in Thailand. I came back to the camp at that morning and let the camp committee and headmaster know about her death and to prepare a prayer for her. At that evening, Doh Say called me and said that her parents decided to bury her body with us since she was a Karenni already. On the following morning, Doh Say and I went to the camp and called the camp leaders and schoolteachers to form a funeral ceremony committee. At the same time, we raised funds for the funeral ceremony at the meeting. We got almost 40,000 Bath right away at the meeting and expected more funds to come. All the JRS staff had also come to the meeting and donated some money too. We all agreed that we'd do our best as much as we could and also to open space for all camp residents to participate. The discussion went in detail as the funeral ceremony to be done well. We also decided to film her funeral for her parents they could show all her friends and relatives in UK when they went back there. The next day, I went to MHS and waited for her parents together with Doh Say. We firstly understood that as soon as they landed at the MHS airport, they'd go to the guesthouse and come to the office, and then we would go to the hospital together. Even 30 minutes after the plane had landed, I still didn't get any call from Doh Say. Finally, I decided to go to hospital by bike. When I got to hospital, I rushed to the OPD counter and looked around. And when I looked in the parking lot, the JRS truck was already leaving at the gate. So, I just decided to go back to the office and wait till 8 o'clock. However, we didn't receive any phone call from Doh Say and therefore we were wondering what to do. I decided to go to the guesthouse and asked the lady at the counter. She said they had all gone for dinner a couple of minutes ago. I then just came back to the office. After 30 minutes, I again decided to go to the guesthouse. This time I met with her dad and big brother. I didn't know how I could greet them. Words hardly came from my mouth. I just simply asked him, "You are Stephanie's Dad?" he said yes! I then just told him I was looking for Doh Say. There were many phone calls to the office after we released the information about her death. At the funeral ceremony, some church leaders and the Catholic priest gave speeches, which were mainly relevant to Stephanie's work. The most notable speech is the speech given by the Catholic priest. He included most important words that all Karenni people, included the KNPP leaders, should learn. (Especially about the driving after having drunk whisky) I do not want to input this word because this word is very sensitive and could easily effect to her parents. However, I finally did it as a note. All camp residents from camp #3 and #2 joined the burial ceremony. A huge group marched along the way from camp #3 to the graveyard. I believe that her funeral ceremony is done well as we expected. After the funeral ceremony was over, I went to MHS to see her parents again before they left. But I heard that her mum and brother weren't felling well. Therefore, I just came back to Nai Soi since I didn't want to embarrass them.
Is it a great loss for Karenni Education
This is a big question that we've received from many people. How will her death affect our future education schedule?
Yes, this is a great loss for Karenni people, because she wasn't only assisting our students in refugee camps but also the Karenni people whom are fleeing and hiding in the jungle: so-called Internally Displaced Persons inside the state. To be honest, I had never seen anybody who could do such kind of job like she did for Karenni people in life. She also gave hope for the future of students.
What could we say to her parents
This question is still a puzzle for me, what should we say to her parents, because now her parents have decided to continue her charity work in refugee camps. I feel that we owe a great debt to them. We are people with empty hands, homeless and with nothing at this moment. We are falling into a lean time. We claimed that we are the free nation, but we do not have the opportunity to live in our country. We are fleeing and sheltering in a foreign land as illegal persons. After having heard the words from her parents, all camp residents couldn't believe themselves how we should understand this family who are so good to us even though they are from far away and a different nation. All this makes us very surprised and it's very difficult for us to open our hearts in this situation. Anyway, we all realize that one day we will be privileged to return something special to her family. How did we come to know one another? By chance or because of god's will? Many questions are still persisting from the bottom of my heart. We will take all her remains with us when we go back to our home and place them in a suitable location where we can all gather in her honor.
What her parents say
I have been preparing this writing for years since her death as well as working on other things. However, I felt that there was some information needed and I did not know exactly how to finish my writing. I was reluctant to share and ask for help from her parents. Because her parents said "we will continue her charity work for Karenni" on the day after her death, I hesitated to ask them to do more. Eventually, I did contact her parents for more information to complete my writing. Among the information shared by her parents, there is one paragraph that reverberates in me day and night: "there is so much to say about her. She was so young, but so full of life, and energetic in all her work for the Karenni. We will miss her very, very much for the rest of our lives, but we feel honored to have been introduced to the wonderful Karenni people by her and we are privileged to be able to continue her dream and help the Karenni through KSDP ( Karenni Students Development Program). She may no longer be here with us in her body, but we feel that her spirit will live on forever through KSDP."
End Note:
My writing may not cover all her charity work as a whole since I wasn't much close to her activities. However, I gave it everything I've got to have all the making of a good recollection. This is not an article or stories that talking about people, but one of my short notes about Ms Stephanie Claire Lee, who put her life on the line in the last moment for Karenni people. She was one of our family members and brought her family into our community to put her dream on the map.