A moral dilemma

[from Chris]

This week Amy and I hosted a group of American engineers from eMi [Engineering Ministries International]. The group's purpose was to help Thailand Ambassadors of Christ [TAC] establish a master plan for the properties the ministry owns and design a church that could be reproduced in a tribal village. As far as those objectives went, they did a great job. I think the work that they did will help TAC grow into the ministry that Luke and Tutu have envisioned and that the US board of directors will be able to raise support.
Throughout the course of the week, we took the team to different villages to scout out potential church sites. One of these villages was the Karen Long-neck village. This particular section of the Karen tribe sees having a long neck as a sign of beauty, so when the girls are young they begin to wrap wire coils around their necks. Over the years, more coils are added and their necks get longer [actually the collar bones and muscles around the neck are compressed, but it looks like the neck is lengthened]. This village has become a international tourist attraction because of the uniqueness of it. Because of this the villagers have become slaves in their own homes. They are no longer allowed to leave freely for fear that they might not return. The government has condemned any attempts to reach out to these Karen because of the tourist dollars.
Leaving this village, I, along with everyone who was with me, had a feeling that could be most closely described as anger. No one could quite explain it right away, but as the day wore on we began to piece together what it was that we were all feeling. I don't really know how to put it into words, but it is that feeling you get when you know something is extremely wrong and that at some deep level human dignity is being challenged and destroyed. It was one of those experiences that everyone should have, but no one should be allowed to leave with out realizing the gravity of the situation. I think one of the things that was more frustrating than the exploitation from the 'money collectors' was the exploitation from the tourists. I saw more than one tourist ask a villager to 'perform' some act so that they could get just the right picture. Something inside of me wanted to scream "Do you know what you are doing?" but that was quickly tempered by the realization that I too paid to 'see' the show.