Thoughts on Burma
After having spent a month in Thailand and Burma, the Lord has allowed us to have been exposed to a situation that is quite possibly one of the most unjust and hate-filled conflicts of our time, certainly ranking high on the list along with the Cambodian Pol-Pot regime in the 1990s, and the Nazi Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s.
As Kingdom people, we know that for every impossibility we face, God's commitment to us is to give us access to the solution and keys to seeing these impossibilities bow to His name. This situation is no different, though its magnitude is immensely greater than anything I've ever faced in my lifetime, even as compared with the suffering and injustice that I witnessed and observed in Africa.
We know that the Lord carries this situation deeply in His heart. It is too complex for one human being to figure out. Nevertheless, in our time on the Thai-Burma border, we had the opportunity to talk to numerous people who are intimately involved with providing solutions and aid to this problem. In our many conversations, we learned a great deal about what is happening, what is not happening, and why. As with any conflict, there are always two sides.
The general gist of what is happening is this: For 60 years, there has been a civil war between the ethnic Burmese and the ethnic minority people groups of Burma, particularly the Karen, who are native to the Karen State in eastern Burma, which borders Thailand. Burma was colonized by the British in the early and mid 1900s, but since independence has been gained, the nation has come under the ruthless, dictatorship of a military junta government which is known to commit horrific atrocities against anyone or any group who attempts to think or act differently than their regime. It's unknown how many thousands of civilians have been murdered by the junta government.
It is known fact now that the junta has systematically been pursuing an ethnic cleansing policy, which is particularly heated and ruthless in eastern Burma, in Karen State, near Thailand. Entire villages have been burned and overrun by Burmese military or its puppet counterpart, the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army). This is a military faction of Karen that once was aligned with the KNU (Karen National Union) until the mid-1990s, when it decided to align with the Burmese SPDC (State Peace Development Council), which is essentially the junta's military wing. In plain terms, what this means is: The DKBA is a military entity of Karen people who take orders from the Burmese SPDC to carry out offensive attacks on the KNU, in an effort to gain control of the entire Karen State. The KNU and the KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) are seen as threats and as rebels to the Burmese junta. To date, it is the only group that has not yet surrendered to the Burmese SPDC.
Militarily speaking, in the ongoing battles between the DKBA and KNU/KNLA, it appears that many have lost touch with the reason that they're actually fighting to begin with. Nevertheless, the bare facts remain that innocent civilian villagers, mainly women and children, are being raped, killed, and forced out of their villages by the DKBA. Many of these Karen have fled just across the border into Thailand, where there are several refugee camps where roughly 100,000 Karen refugees live. The United Nations and the Thai-Burma Border Consortium (a coalition of several NGOs) provide food and health care to these refugees inside the camps. The largest camp is Mae La, which is home to an estimated 50,000 people, though it's difficult to pinpoint exact numbers.
Our time along the Thai-Burma border was anchored in Mae Sot, a border town of about 100,000 people, as well as No Boh, a small Karen village about 2 hours north of Mae Sot, which sits within sight of the Moei River, which is the border. In this village is where Blessed Homes has its main orphanage, home to 43 children and 11 staff who are all Karen except for the orphanage's founder, Ole Jorgen Edna, a 23 year old young man from Norway. In the midst of this massive international crisis and war, we found ourselves loving on the kids and nurturing them, which seemed to bring life back into perspective. We were able to lead these kids on encounters with Jesus so they could experience His love.
Meanwhile, just across the border, the DKBA was gearing up for a full-on assault on the KNU outposts Brigades 7 and 22. We heard rumors that June 5th was to be the big day of attack. Sure enough, that weekend saw the most intense series of military attacks from the DKBA in 5 years. The Internally Displaced Persons Camp Lep Per Her, just inside Burma, very near No Boh, was attacked. As many as 7,000 Karen people fled the fighting and crossed the river into Thailand to seek safety. Historically, the Thai government has not been too favorable in welcoming the Karen into their country. Often, the Karen are not allowed in and are told they must return to Burma.
Fortunately, this time proved somewhat different. The Thai officer in charge of the No Boh area coordinated with the Buddhist monks of No Boh's monastery to allow 1,500 Karen refugees to seek shelter on their grounds. We were privileged to deliver a couple truckloads of rice to the monastery to provide food for the people. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) brought in tents and makeshift structures so that the refugees could find shelter from the heavy rains.
We also had the opportunity to pray for numerous sick people who were hospitalized at a rudimentary clinic that provides healthcare to people without citizenship in either Burma or Thailand.
One of the more encouraging things we observed was the response of the international community to this crisis. We met and saw quite a few westerners who have relocated to Mae Sot to help make a difference in what is going on with the Karen people. Some were believers, others were not. There is quite a large network in the border area of people who have decided to give their lives for the betterment of the people of that region. This takes the form of many different things: orphanages, safe houses, churches, secret missions inside Burma to bring healthcare, supplies, and the gospel to the Burmese and Karen, refugee and relief work, schools, government advocates, etc.
It is becoming more and more known to the world that Burma is a place of opportunity. It is a nation rich with natural resource and culture. I believe that we have the potential to see a whole nation saved in a day. What will it take for this to happen?
I don't know. But what we need are God-sized solutions to God-sized problems. We have access to the solutions that will bring true and lasting transformation to Burma.