Goodbye Mary On

Posted on May 31, 2007
Filed Under Burma news, Mae Sot |

Mary On died last Friday. She was 74. Better known as Major Mary, she dedicated her life to the Karen cause. She was only the second woman soldier in the Karen army and a former Chairman of the Karen Refugee Committee.

In her younger years, Mary had regularly risked her life on intelligence gathering missions and later by taking supplies to soldiers on the front lines.

But, more than that, I’ll remember her for her good humour and graciousness; in short, she personified so much of what I admire in the Karen people.

She died from kidney failure coupled with complications brought on by old age, but Mary had been in poor health for some time, and was regularly in hospital being treated for various aliments.

I first met Mary late last year, just after she had been released from her latest stay in hospital. Since then, I would often see her when I went for my Karen lesson at the home of her neighbour Lydia Tamlawah.

The Karen have lost so much in the last year, in terms of territory, homes, livestock and now to lose another one of their leaders.

Sometimes, one cannot help but wonder how much longer they can continue their struggle. Of course, as a Christian, I can take comfort in knowing that Mary’s pain and suffering is over, and that this good and faithful servant will spend the rest of eternity with her Father in heaven.

But, I also know, it is a great loss for the rest of us and she will be missed. But, He is faithful and I am thankful that Mary’s spirit lives on in so many of the Karen people that I meet here in Thailand.

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