Teaching OT in faraway places

I must have had a reverse “senior moment”, I remember writing a post about the Burmese Evening at BCNZ put on by the West Auckland Burmese community, with Burmese food and dancing and songs from Karen, Chin and Kachin groups, but when Miriam sent me a notice about it, I can’t find the post anywhere So, here, belatedly, is a link to the invitation, and extracts of the details, it is:

• organised by the Burmese Christian Fellowship,
• on Sunday July 20th from 5pm till 7pm
• $25 per person includes food, entertainment and donation to Cyclone Nargis relief (organised informally through contacts on the spot)
• at Bible College of New Zealand (if it has not changed its name by then 221 Lincoln Rd, Henderson, traffic light entrance opposite Pak N Save, “entrance through the muli-storey brick building at the end of the drive”
• please pay in advance to:
  • Adrienne Coats 837 1507
  • Paul Long 818 3874
  • Khun Aung 630 8975
  • David Thorpe 826 0864

If anyone needs lift from over our way please contact me!

There are two new posts on the Partners blog, both muse on different aspects of providing assistance to cyclone victims. Kath (in the context of underlining how the presence of foreigners can help) tells a heartbreaking story:

What difference could one person like me make? One distraught woman, of a similar age to me, shared how she had heard her mother calling for help from the rice field but both her and her husband were carrying two of their children each trying to keep all heads above the rising water
and were unable to go to her aid. This family lost their home and all of their belongings but fortunately all of their children miraculously survived. However now they are grieving the loss of their mother and grandmother. Who else around her had the strength to listen to her tell
her story over again as if it was the first time, when everyone else had their own tragic story? Instead God supplied the ears of an Australian. I offered reassurance that she had made the right choice as a mother, a gentle squeeze of the hand and a prayer of blessing over their new home and her family. I attempted to instill hope that many on the other side of the world are being moved into action to pray, to give, and to be a voice for the suffering people of Burma.

While Ruth herself, in a longer post mentions the necessarily unsung heros:

those working in Burma, of aid getting through to the survivors despite all the obstacles, and of the brave local community leaders who have been delivering the aid despite the threat of imprisonment or even death at the hand of the military regime.

We may not hear their stories, we certainly won’t know their names, but we should pray for these people, their love and determination in the face of a cruel and powerful “government” is making all the difference in a disaster that has hit the delta region worse than the tsunami did.

If you can bear it, read one man’s account of cyclone Nargis. Great tragedies are composed of many many stories like this one. But in some ways the saddest thing is that out of his suffering the military will gain.

Thbe Burmese Christian Community in West Auckland are putting on a cultural evening and food. Karen, Chin and Kachin groups are involved this is a great chance to hear their singing, see their dances and taste their food. The evening costs $25 and all profits will go to small-scale local cyclone relief:

Sunday 20th July, 5PM to 7PM
Bible College of NZ
221 Lincoln Road
Henderson (traffic light entrance opposite Pak N Save - entrance to dinner through multi-storey carpark building at the end of the drive).

Please reply to:
Adrienne Coats 837 1507
Khun Aung 630 8975
and if possible arrange to pay in advance!

If you can bear it, watch the ITN report from Mae Sot on the Myanmar military dictators and aid to the cyclone victims. The video: Myanmar’s cyclone refugees is available from the CNN site.

It is so sad. I hope it makes you angry too.

The NY Times has a report “Weeks After Cyclone in Myanmar, Even Farmers Wait for Food” in case you do not have time to read it here are a few extracts:

Few of those who wait say they have received anything from the government, other than threats.

“They said if we don’t break our huts and disappear, they will shoot us,” one man in the village of Thee Kone said over the weekend before a police jeep approached. “But as you can see, it’s raining now. We are pleading to the police to give us one more day and we will be gone far, far from the road, as they wish.”

Or again:

Villagers in the region, which previously provided much of the rice for the country of 48 million, now squat along miles of roads, holding out bowls to the occasional passing cars bringing food and other supplies. Children keep a vigil, rushing to the vehicles for handouts, sometimes thrusting their arms inside the cars’ windows.

“I don’t know how the government is helping us,” said [... in ...], a delta town 30 miles south of Yangon, Myanmar’s main city. He said the only aid he had seen was delivered by other Burmese citizens.

“I am no beggar, so I didn’t eat anything in the past two days,” he said, leaning against a roadside palm tree. “Besides, you shouldn’t compete with kids for begged food.”

If you can bear pictures Mizzima has lots.

Today is my 60th birthday. This year the Karen people have been in conflict with the government for 60 years. The military dictators who took power in 1962 (and use the name Myanmar for the country) have exacerbated this conflict into an attempt at genocide. The stories of how their troops act when in Karen state are horrifying. To add to this some 50% of the people in the areas of Burma worst affected by the cyclone are Karen.

One of the existing dorms at the school

So, if you are in Auckland please consider coming to my party on Sunday evening, bring a gift (of money) for a school that educates Karen Displaced People’s children - the school is safely in Thailand, but the children’s families are mainly in Burma.

A donor who was supplying money for the girls’ dorm has pulled out, the roofing on the old one needs replacing, and the rains are starting…

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.