The Thailand Adventure

I went to Thailand with some friends from my church for about 3 weeks.

We were sort of all over the country working with Karen refugees from Burma. The Karen (pronounced Ka-Rin) people make up about 7% of the population of Burma (officially called Myanmar) but they're persecuted by the corrupt and cruel military government there. Most of them have fled to the jungle on the eastern side of the country and many have immigrated (illegally) to Thailand. They are very much a people without a country. They are constantly in danger of being found and tortured and killed. It's pretty horrible.

These people, however, are wonderful and charming and not at all the tragic cases their situations make them out to be. When we were there we hiked into a tiny jungle village a couple miles from the border of Myanmar to celebrate Christmas and New Years with the people living there and many families who hiked hours or days from their hiding places inside of Myanmar to celebrate the holidays. It was amazing. The group of us went to these people hoping to serve them and bless them but ended up being soooo blessed by these wonderful people, their kind hospitality and their strong spirit.

We spent a lot of time having celebration church services- singing together and sharing our stories of how God has touched or lives and encouraging and praying for one another. It was so amazing to be so so different from these people who live in bamboo huts and eat monkey (yeah. it was so gross.) but to be so similar and drawn together by a love for the same God. I can not begin to explain the deep connection that provided and how amazing and, honestly, how very... I guess... odd it felt at the same time. It is such a big and diverse world we live in, but the God that we serve is so much bigger and is so unifying.

I'm sure much of this is sounding very, like, church-ey, but I don't know how else to put it, so just bear with me :)

After the jungle we spent some time in another village (it felt practically urban after the jungle! They had a paved road! haha) in an orphanage/elderly home/ safe house. This was my favorite part.

I don't even have the words to describe this leg of the trip. I love orpahans. I always have. I have every intention of adopting as many orphan babies from developing countries as I can... so being in this place was so intense for me. It was amazing because it's this wonderful, loving environment and the kids are so happy... and so sad because they all have the most tragic stories of how they came to be there. I could have stayed there so much longer... like months. I fell in LOVE with those kids.

And again it was a situation where we went to serve them and ended up being so so so blessed by them all. We taught English and spoke in church. We all sang together and were encouraged by shared testimonies of God's greatness...

The thing about this trip to Thailand is this: we went to share and love and serve... to give. What happened was we did just that, but we were loved and served so much more.... and our eyes were opened to the plight of the Karen people. The world needs to know about these people. The government of Myanmar needs to be stopped. And I and my friends that had these experiences with me need to do everything in our power, put our spheres of influence to maximum use, to make this happen- to get the ball rolling.

Monks march in central Myanmar

(CNN) -- More than 70 Buddhist monks marched in central Myanmar Wednesday, dissident sources near the Myanmar-Thailand border told CNN.

The march took place in the town of Pakokku, located about 330 miles (530 kilometers) north-northwest of Yangon. The march was the first reported since a government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in September, in which as many as 110 people are believed to have been killed -- including 40 Buddhist monks.

The monks in Pakokku shouted no slogans, but The Associated Press cited one monk who told the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a Norway-based short-wave radio station and Web site run by dissident journalists -- that it was a continuation of protests last month.

"We walked around the town and chanted ... We are continuing our protest from last month as we have not yet achieved any of the demands we asked for," the monk told Democratic Voice of Burma in the AP report.

He said that they had little time to organize the march so it was small but "there will be more organized and bigger protests soon."

Source

Myanmar junta holds talks with Suu Kyi

It is the government's first official meeting with the detained opposition leader in more than 18 years.

By Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 26, 2007

JAKARTA, INDONESIA -- Myanmar's junta Thursday broke its isolation of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and held the first official talks since locking up the pro-democracy advocate more than 18 years ago.

The meeting was broadcast, without audio, by state-run television and showed Suu Kyi and the military regime's labor minister, Aung Kyi, sitting in high-back chairs and having a discussion for more than an hour in a state guest house. Suu Kyi was not allowed to make a public statement.

(Click the post title to read the rest of the article)

Women send panties to Myanmar in protest

Fri Oct 19, 4:54 PM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand - Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.

"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.

To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.

Woo!! I'm so in! Here's the address of the closest embassy (assuming you're reading this in America... if not, go to http://mm.embassyinformation.com/ !)

Union of Myanmar Embassy/High Comission/Consulate For USA
2300 S Street, NW
Washington D.C., 20008

Aung San Suu Kyi