LIFE

This week, I was on a few days retreat up in the north.  I went to a place called Chomtong, an hour's drive south of Chiang Mai where my friend Br Anurak has a community development mission at the foot of the mountains.  He has given it an interesting name - CLUMP (Communal Life of Love and Unity of the Mountain People).

The name does not betray how beautiful and rich the country is.  It maybe reflects more how the people up in the mountains live remote and poor lives, seemingly leading nowhere, especially for the youth.  It is to these people that Br A has dedicated his life and mission, working with them together as a community, so as to empower them and better their lives.  It is about moving from dependency and poverty but not simply to being independent and rich.  The latter is not the goal or the answer.  In the midst of all that goes on, being there nourishes one's soul.

One product they grow, produce and market is coffee.  They grow the coffee trees up in the mountains where these Karen people live and where it is cooler.  They then bring the beans down to the CLUMP centre where everything is set up for processing and marketing and then onto sale in their coffee shops in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  It is an amazing operation.  Just as amazing as the operation is to see little insights given by nature as Br A and his community do their business.

For me, a city boy, one such simple but amazing insight is that the coffee trees are planted under already existing big trees.  This means there is no need to pull down trees to make way for your crop and the big trees look after the smaller coffee trees.  So your crop blends into the natural setting with the big trees acting as big brother.   It is like an act of solidarity by nature where all participants give and protect life together. 

This is what Brother's mission is all about - nurturing life - and you do it by adopting and building up and not destroying to make way; by using the resources you have and not imposing from outside.  Life is quality and nourishing like a good cup of coffee. LIFE is his brand name.  Life is about being interdependent.