Teaching OT in faraway places

The referendum in Burma (the country whose military dictators choose to call Myanmar) went ahead on Saturday, and thanks to soldiers with guns ensuring that people not only obeyed the law by voting, but could not vote “NO”. The military who rule the country were pleased, their state media which gives little coverage to the cyclone disaster which has already killed tens of thousands reported a “massive turnout” and said that polling stations were kept open longer to deal with the queues.

Meanwhile Radio Netherlands reports:

The relief effort is still facing difficulties, largely because
Myanmar’s military rulers is continuing to bar foreign aid agencies.
Local doctors say the situation is chaotic: hospitals are overcrowded
and medicine is in very short supply.

There are also reports that:

The generals appeared on TV handing out boxes on which, in a clumsy
publicity stunt, they stamped their own names over those of the
original donors.

I guess as Ruth writes the only “good news is that because foreign aid workers are prohibited from helping, the local churches are the ones being resourced to help their own communities.” Which is not only a sensible approach in the circumstances, but a much more development-friendly policy.

Ruth Corlett (Partners) wrote:

Here’s the latest we heard today from one of our colleagues working in Rangoon:

1. Foreign aid workers found helping people in public are being detained and their organisations threatened with being shut down.
2. Foreign aid workers are not allowed to meet planes arriving with aid supplies, instead the Burmese Army are unloading the supplies and taking it off to unknown destinations (some say to sell for profit)
3. The US has apparently threatened to airdrop aid (without waiting for official permission) into affected areas. Burma Army has said they will shoot at planes flying illegally
4. There are already reports of scattered civil unrest and looting in downtown Yangon.
5. We have heard that the main sea port is inaccessible due to the fact that over 20 large ships sank in the channel. This is problematic because this is the primary conduit for fuel. There is concern among relief agencies that fuel and food shortages are real possibilities. However, the general population seems unaware of this potentially grave issue.
6. If food scarcity and shortage does occur, there is a real
   possibility of wide-spread civil unrest. The US embassy is recommending that all non-essential personnel evacuate the country immediately because of this concern.
7. The general population is very angry towards the government and it’s anemic response to the disaster.

As we bring relief assets to the orphanages and churches with whom we partner, we will not only be helping them but also providing them with the necessary resources to help their immediate communities.

May the Power of Good win over the Power of Evil… and soon.

In the circumstances, it seems that aid that reaches Burma by the back door is safer and more effective than aid through normal official channels. From all the evidence it is urgent that aid arrives quickly.

Here’s what Ruth reports that Partners have already been doing:

• Thursday night we sent a truck to Rangoon with 500 boxes of Vitameal (high protein meals) and 100 rolls of plastic sheeting (for shelter)
• Right now, shipping items in by land is the only way we can get relief supplies to those who need them.
• Sent $5,000 and a Satellite phone to Rangoon via a trusted courier on Thursday to an American Dr we are connected with who is able to get help to those who need it, and will be meeting with him in Chiang Mai on Sunday to find out exactly what is needed and how we can respond further.
• Today (Friday) and over the weekend we will be meeting with Karen pastors to assist us in the distribution of resources inside Burma. In the delta region hit worst, half of those effected are Karen, and the church there is very strong so we are keen to provide the resources to the local church leaders to help their own people.
• Also, today we will be meeting with individuals that can assist us with securing rice to send into affected areas as well.

Pray with us that the help and resources these suffering people need will get through…..past the heartless ones in power.

In the circumstances it sounds as if the best thing to do with money raised on Sunday 18th is to send it to cyclone relief via Partners, rather than to try to help the IDP school. We will get books to the school later. So, if you are thinking of inviting friends to the party - and do invite people, they do not need to know me to come to the party! - tell them the money raised will go to cyclone relief, and that it will actually get to the people who need it, rather than getting ripped off like the official aid that goes through Rangoon. (The NZ Herald and other news agencies are reporting that aid was being unloaded by soldiers and transported to unknown destinations, perhaps to be sold by army officers.)

Photos from TZA on Flickr

A statement from the TBBC (Thailand Burma Border Consortium - the organisation that runs the camps) dated the 7th says:

The refugee camps haven’t been directly affected by the cyclone and the damages are minor. TBBC have had reports on a few houses washed away in Mae La camp due to heavy rain. Although Mon and Karen States were declared as disaster areas by SPDC, initial reports from our partners suggest that there have been no significant problems in the conflict areas. This is however subject to confirmation as no reports have yet been received from one or two vulnerable areas.

Tropical cyclone Nargis hit much of Burma on Saturday, at first it sounded as if only Yangon (Rangoon) was badly affected, and the death toll was estimated at 10,000. As time passed it became clear that the cyclone had pushed much further east. Quickly even the Myanmar military government declared the Irrawaddy delta, the Pegu Division and Mon and Karen States disaster zones.

As the biggest city, and the easiest place to get information, most of the coverage has focused on the effects of the storm in the city. The military government is being slow to permit International aid agencies into the country to assess the needs and provide assistance. Meanwhile the official death figures continue to rise, and patchy reports from more distant areas suggest it will be considerably higher than the 22,500 announced yesterday by the government.

I have not so far managed to find any news that directly indicates the impact of the cyclone on the Karen people, though the fact that Karen State was listed by the government as one of the disaster areas does not bode well. It is urgent that aid reach affected areas quickly. However, the situation is complicated by the government’s determination to go ahead with the controversial referendum on Saturday on a new constitution drafted by the military dictators. The 47 areas worst hit by the storms will be exempted from Saturday’s vote, and will vote on 24 May.

As mismanagement and corruption in the administration continue to impact relief efforts there is also a danger that the Junta’s fear of impartial observers may cause further delay in granting visas. The Irrawaddy News reports Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst, as saying that: “The ruling generals don’t want to see many international
agencies, aid workers or rescue teams near the referendum or during the
referendum.”

This is a situation where your prayers are needed!

For my 40th I had a big birthday bash, we were in Congo then, and two ambassadors and a brass band took part! Now I’m hitting 60 and want “something special” to celebrate. However, since we are just back from four weeks in a refugee camp on the Burma/Thailand border, a straight-out party seems wrong somehow…

So, I’m inviting “the world and his aunt” (at least those of you within reach of Auckland) to my Big 60 Rambo *   Feast:

6pm Sunday 18th May, at Balmoral Baptist Church, cnr. Dominion Rd and Queens Ave, Central Auckland

There will be loads of yummy Karen-style food (not too spicy), photos, videos (though not of Sylvester) and stories from the Mae La Refugee Camp and an (Internally Displaced Person) IDP village. Bring a cash present - not for me - but for Bethel Baptist Church in the Karen IDP village, to help their school. It’s for children chased from their homes by the Myanmar army.

If we all give what we’d normally pay for an evening out, we’ll raise enough to give a load of Karen IDP kids a better education, and we’ll have some fun… (for those who can’t make it and will be deprived, there are photos and videos at http://AsiaBible.WordPress.com).

RSVP for catering to 09 526 0344

It would be great if you could be there, and do bring anyone else who might be interested, even if they have never met me they are welcome!

If you are concerned about the rising cost of your grocery bills, spare a thought for the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the charity consortium that runs the refugee camps full of ethnic minorities fleeing genocide in Burma (the military who took control of that country in 1962 call it Myanmar), their annual food bill has risen from US $16 million to 23.5 million since January! What that means is (unless donors can stump up the difference - and $1.2million has been pledged so far by the Netherlands and Ireland) that refugees “food baskets” will be cut, again.

Here are some interesting “Reflections from Mae La refugee camp on the Thailand-Burma border” from June last year that I had not spotted before. Among the bits I would draw your attention to are these:

Over the past 10 years, Burma’s army has destroyed more than 3,000 villages. Forced labor, rape, torture, and summary executions are among the humanitarian atrocities perpetrated by the regime against civilians. As a result, an estimated 500,000 ethnic civilians currently are internally displaced in eastern Burma, and there are believed to be more than 2.5 million Burmese, including migrant workers and refugees, in Thailand.

…

I believe resettlement is the appropriate option for some of the people in the camps. But third-country resettlement will not “clear out” the camps or end the atrocities in Burma. The military regime continues to force tens of thousands more civilians into Thailand every year.

Therein lies the real tragedy of this situation: the failure of the world to stand up against one of the world’s most repressive regimes and most flagrant violators of human rights. Villages are burned, ethnicities are displaced, and innocent people are forced to run or be killed. Yet, how often do we hear about the situation there?

Here’s an article from this month’s NZ Baptist magazine.

Jasmine at work in the kitchen that supplied the visitors with delicious Karen food

A refugee camp seems an odd place for a spiritual retreat. Is a place where food is scarce, people are forbidden jobs, banned from travel, suffering the physical and mental scars of decades of strife against a brutal and unrestrained military dictatorship somewhere to refresh the soul?

It may not seem obvious, but that is what we did. We must admit, some aspects of life in Mae La are not conducive to spiritual renewal: The toilets double as “shower” rooms but have mud floors. We are not used to sleeping through noise, so band practice starting at 5AM, with choir finishing at 9:30PM, followed by chatting and even mobile phones till late into the night just through the partition next to our sleeping mat, left us tired!

Yet our four weeks in the Mae La camp were part of Tim’s sabbatical from teaching at Carey, and “leave of absence” from work as a family therapist for Barbara, and a Big(ger than usual) OE for Sarah (a University student). It is not as daft as it sounds, we learned in Africa that often people who have the least can teach the most about relating to God - Kiwi Christians often look embarrassed giving thanks for a restaurant meal, African Christians will naturally pray over a glass of cool clear water.

Pastor Dr Simon Htoo principal of KKBBSC at the Jubilee. Pastor Simon was the second ever winner of the BWA Human Rights Award after President Jimmy Carter.

Karen refugees certainly don’t have much: a roof over their heads - usually made of leaves since “permanent” materials like corrugated iron are forbidden, some food - because refugees can’t work officially, rice and some fish-paste is provided for each registered refugee family (naturally it’s shared with those who are not yet registered), and safety in Thailand - the army of the Myanmar Government won’t burn their homes down or “recruit” their young men as porters and work them to death here… but they do have faith, hope and love.

Many Karen are Baptists, and have been for nearly 200 years, Christianity is deep-rooted here. We visited a village of IDPs (Internally Displaced People) whose village was burned following an army raid. They had rebuilt not only homes, and a temporary church, but a school that attracts children from villages in Burma and from the refugee camps - all with no help from any government, and only a bit of help from NGOs: one charity gave materials for permanent classrooms another feeds the children with rice everyday, vegetables and fish-paste twice weekly, and meat once a month. We were at the village to celebrate their new permanent church building, with tiles and a bright blue roof. The singing lasted hours, as you can imagine it was a time of great joy.

We went to Mae La to teach (Tim - Old Testament Narratives, Barbara - Human Development, Sarah - English) and to share in the jubilee. The Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Bible School & College was founded 25 years ago in Burma, but 18 years ago moved to Mae La, when the army burned down the school and the village around it. Today, some students were born as refugees, but others have crossed the border recently and do not know the fate of the rest of their family.

The refugees we met are Christian and their faith is in Jesus (who else can a refugee trust?), their hope is in God (humans have tormented them and let them down - they used to hope that Westerners would help against the military dictators, but after years of waiting that hope is less strong now) and their love comes, not only from Karen tradition, but also from the Holy Spirit working in them.

After all, maybe a refugee camp is a good place for spiritual renewal! There’s a popular quote about tourists leaving only footprints and taking only photos. It makes some sense, but it misses the real point of travel. When you go elsewhere and live among a different people you are changed. If you are not then you have failed to really be there no matter how long you stayed!

So, when we visited the refugee camp at Mae La though we went as teachers it was inevitable we’d learn more than we could teach.

For more information:

Karen Konnection an American Baptist site,

Christians Concerned for Burma [warning some pictures are gruesome],

Read this, and look at the pictures, Smiling produces happiness never mind the grammar hear the sense!