For a former fighter with a rebel group in Myanmar, a landmine explosion that resulted in the loss of a leg had at least one positive effect. It made him re-embrace his Catholic faith.

Louisi, 33, is staying at the Mae Tao Clinic run by Doctor Cynthia Maung in Mae Sot, Thailand. He recently shared with UCA News how the tragedy led to his return to a faith that he said used to "sit on his shoulders lightly."

Mae Sot, located along the Thailand-Myanmar border area, is about 450 kilometers northwest of Bangkok. Camps here house Myanmar villagers and students who fled fighting, persecution and poverty in their homeland. Doctor Cynthia fled with students during the military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in 1988. Her work at the clinic she set up in Mae Sot earned her the 2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

Louisi, who goes by one name, comes from Mobye parish in the southern part of Shan state. "As a young man, I thought that I could do what I liked," he said. In his early teens, after the military government closed schools in 1988, he got involved in some criminal activity. Then, after a business deal went awry and his life was threatened, he joined the Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), which had taken up arms to fight for independence for the Karenni ethnic group in Kayah state, just south of Shan state.

He got married in church at the age of 18, one of the few occasions for which he attended church, he told UCA News. "I was a Catholic without God in my heart," he admitted.

Louisi recalled that just before the landmine explosion that changed his life, he was in a KNPLF forest camp. On Sept. 25, 2004, "I went to carry water early in the morning for cooking and then returned to my bed," he said. As he was getting off his bed and was placing his left foot on the ground, "there was a massive explosion." He fell unconscious and his friends carried him to a clinic.

"After emergency treatment for two months in Loikaw (the Kayah capital), I was sent over the border to Mae Tao clinic for treatment, and for training in making artificial legs," he said.

Physically and spiritually, Louisi changed. He said he started thinking about his wife and five children in Myanmar. "Now, I have to face the future with one leg," he said with tears in his eyes.

Every night, after he takes off his artificial leg, he sits on his bed and prays. "I thought religion would never give me a meaningful life," he said, but "now I look toward living a peaceful life with my family and doing something with my life."

Meanwhile, at the clinic he has made Catholic, Baptist and Muslim friends who also were injured by mines.

Although it is difficult to leave the clinic because of his injury, let alone visit a faraway church, he said he now feels a greater sense of peace and a need to practice his faith.

"I will go back home next year" to work on making artificial limbs, he said, adding that he plans to train other people in the skill.

Mine injuries are common in some border areas of Myanmar.

On June 24, a priest from Myanmar celebrated Mass in a Myanmar Catholic family's house in Mae Sot for 30 displaced compatriots including Louisi. Some shared their difficulties and spoke of their gratitude to the Church for occasionally sending priests from Myanmar to minister to them.

After Mass, the host family served an ethnic Kayan, or Karenni, traditional meal. The Kayan are a main ethnic group in Kayah state.

The host, who requested anonymity, said the visit of a priest "strengthens us and unites us, as we are far from home."

Louisi added, "I know that God loves me still and his grace is great, even though I was bad before."

Source: UCAN
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