Report on Myanmar

Hope Shines

Burmese Girl, 2009 by Sara Chu Papier Mache

Save one in a million

Huge changes have taken place since the last time I wrote in Aspire about orphans and abandoned children in Myanmar. At that time few people knew much about Myanmar, but now enormous environmental disasters are occurring on a regular basis in Asia and S.E.Asia: earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis, land slides, and floods of ever increasing magnitude. Myanmar and the surrounding region have been catapulted into the headlines of world news. Starvation stalks the Irrawaddy river valley as little arable land remains after the flooding.

As if ecological disasters were not enough, the political actions of several neighbouring countries who covet Myanmar's natural resources have had catastrophic results for the governance of the country. There is much suppression of freedom. We hear about the well-known political prisoner, but we do not hear much about the unimaginable numbers of refugees surrounding the country's borders. Many are orphans or abandoned children and most are poor people from the low lands. We do not hear about the vast numbers of orphans within Myanmar itself. Those in orphanages are the fortunate ones for they have temporary refuge; yet even they are ultimately slated for a life in foreign armies or in brothels. Still worse, they become human mine sweepers or organ donors. We do not hear about the recent decisions to eliminate even the orphanages in some areas of Myanmar. March 12, 2009, Khonumthung News reports that “the Burmese military has shut down at least 50 Chin orphanages in Rangoon, the former capital of Burma, leading to problems for children.”

We are Christians. What does that mean when we look at Sara Chu's sculpture depicting a beautiful little Burmese orphan girl? We are surely reminded of the things Jesus said about children. He said, “Be careful that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels always look upon the face of my Father which is in heaven.” We are admonished to love our neighbours, but we sometimes feel overwhelmed and lose heart at the number and magnitude of the requests for help. Currently some 80% of the western world's charity is directed toward Africa. The needs there are legitimate and vast. Yet it seems that the misery of the little children of Myanmar is virtually unknown to the wider world, partly because of the difficulty of getting such information.

Now that we know the truth, what is our response? Can we take on responsibility for the whole world? Do we retreat into denial because the situation seems so dire? We cannot do anything by ourselves. Jesus reminds us that with God all things are possible. As in the story of the feeding of the five thousand, we can achieve miracles if we all work together. We can make changes to save our planet. We can begin to be more informed about what is happening in the world. We can pool our small resources with those of others and achieve miracles. The political situation in Myanmar requires that those who wish to travel there to bring help must exercise great discretion and extreme caution. This presents certain difficulties in fund raising. Those who want more information can write to burmachildinternational@gmail.com.