Message from a relief team leader (FBR), Toungoo District, Northern Karen
State, Burma. 1 February, 2005.
Courtesy of Steve Gumaer at Partners – www.partnersworld.org
We just completed a relief mission to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
in Toungoo District, Karen State. In addition to the reports and photographs
we have been sending, I wanted to add this message.
I want to write what is on my heart, what I have seen with my eyes and felt
with my hands. We try our best to be objective when we send our reports from
here in the field and we also want to make sure the human element is
apparent. Bad things are being done to fellow human beings now and
oppression and attacks continue. In spite of this, these people still try to
survive and hold on to faith, love and hope.
The Burma Army continues its campaign of oppression in this area; attacking
villages, murdering people, forcing people to carry loads and labor for
them, and building roads. Because of attacks by the Burma Army, Toungoo
District has over 20,000 IDPs.
While our team was in Toungoo District in January 2005, we heard that 440
villagers were in hiding following an attack by the Burma Army on 26
December 2004. We had brought with us medical supplies, clothes,
educational and school supplies, bibles and hymnals for people who asked
for them, toys for children and clothes.
It was night when our team walked into the place where the villagers-now
IDPs- were hiding, and the first thing we noticed was about 50 people
standing in a small clearing under the night sky. Some had candles, some had
lit pine pitch and were holding them up so they could see. When we walked in
there was silence at first and then when we said "Na La Gwey" ("Good
Night"), they suddenly surged forward smiling, laughing, and grabbing our
hands. They kept saying "Da Blu, Da Blu" ("Thank you, Thank you"), and
"Thank you for coming". It was wonderful to be so loved and welcomed but at
the same time I felt sad and worried. Did they think we could save them? Did
they think we were the beginning of a good change in Burma? We could not
save them and as for change , we can only hope that we are a small part of
that positive change.
I felt compassion and a love for these people. I wanted to help them,
protect them, and make sure they could go home. In reality all we could do
was love them, remind them they were not forgotten, give them temporary
relief and tell their story. We could shine a light, however small into
their situation. That night the team went and visited with some of the IDPs
sleeping close to us. None had real shelter; most of the families just lay
on the ground sharing blankets. Some slept under trees with a lean-to of
leaves over them. The scene looked very desperate and pathetic. Fathers and
mothers had been stripped of their ability to take care of their children in
a safe home. The elderly sat around small fires, trying to stay warm.
The next morning we set up a medical and dental clinic and distributed
relief supplies and clothes. I began to take pictures and as soon as I did,
parents came up and thrust their children up to me . They wanted me to take
their pictures and they had a real urgency about them. It was as if their
children would not count if their picture was not taken. I kept taking
pictures.
The team treated patients and conducted surgery on one man who had been
badly beaten by the Burma Army. As the day went on the IDPs became happier
and happier and we all began to feel a closer relationship. Everyone
sleeping together and eating together meant there were no barriers, physical
or mental.
We talked with two villagers who had lost their legs to Burma Army landmines
and to a 13 year old boy, who had been shot in the arm by the Burma Army
when he was 5 years old. His arm was still badly scared.
We talked with the father of one of the two men the Burma Army had captured
and killed when they attacked the village in December 2004. We also met the
sister of the other man taken at the same time. She said she misses her
brother but heard that he is dead and is very sad. She is married to a man
who has two bullet wounds from an earlier SPDC attack that left two of his
friends dead. He smiled at me and said, "I am a farmer, this is our land,
we have to try".
One of the things that struck me most was the positive attitude of the
people and their resiliency. They smiled, joked and tried to give us food
they had been saving.
The local medics were also amazing. This was a group of five young Karen
women who traveled with us while we were in Toungoo District.
They were all in their early twenties, pretty and full of energy.
We had to walk over many mountains (the mountains in Toungoo District go
over 8,000′ and valleys down to 1,000′) and these ladies did this in
rubber slippers. It was cold every night and they all huddled together in
one group, sharing blankets and living no better than the IDPs. While
moving, we were often very close to SPDC outposts and patrols and one
morning I asked the nurses if they were afraid of the Burma Army. "Yes, we
are very afraid", they answered. "But we want to help our people, we want to
help our Karen Nation, so we try". They smiled and said they were happy to
have this chance to serve. We were inspired by these women and their
presence brought a real peace to the IDPs.
Everywhere we went it was the same, the local people were full of energy and
hope and believed that one day change would come. In the mean time they
would work hard, pray and hope people in the outside world would come and
help. But they told me, "We do not put our faith in the world or other
nations, we have our faith in God…so we have hope".
Enroute to this IDP hiding place we stopped at many other hiding places as
well as villages that had been rebuilt after attacks by the Burma army. We
provided relief to as many as we could and treated a total of 3,844
patients.
In spite of the close presence of the Burma Army, every village and IDP site
were full of people who had not given up. They kept their belongings packed
every day and were ready to flee at a moments notice, but they had hope and
have not given up on their homeland.
Thank you to all of you who pray and help. You are real
answers to our prayers and the prayers of the people here. We always tell
them that there are many who love them and enable us to help.
Thank you and God bless you,
A Free Burma Ranger
"de opresso liber"
Questions or comments? Send mail to info@freeburmarangers.org