Have You Heard of Burma?

We took a four hour drive yesterday from Chiang Mai, Thailand west to a small town called Mae Sot. Mae Sot is unique because it serves host to Thailands largest legal border crossing with Burma, also known as Myanmar. We will be here for about five days working construction at a children’s home here in Mae Sot. Here’s why this is significant: 

A few quick facts about Burma (who?)… first, it is a nation of around 60 million people, 7 million of which are an indigenous group known as the Karen. The Karen are why Burma is relevant to Thailand right now – Burma is home to the longest currently occuring civil war at over 60 years, dating back to its start in 1948. Currently, the Burmese government spends 70% of the revenue it gets from taxation on military expenditures… with no external enemies! Cutting to the chase, this civil war is largely centered around the attempted genocide of the Karen people  by the military regime ruling Burma. Karen regugess have fled to Thailand by the masses – currently there are over 450, 000 living in Thailand. The military pilages Karen villages, rapes their women and children, tortures them, and ultimately destroys their way of life. Border crossings into Thailand are major trafficking points for human slavery, especially for young Burmese children. This persecution has been endured and resisted by the Karen for decades with little to no concern from the outside world. The United Nations and the United States government have levied sanctions, but have done little else to put an end to this atrocity .

This is not ok. I’m going to say it again. This. Is. Not. Ok. 

There are people that are finally stepping up and helping. Outpour Movement, started by Ray Ward, is the ministry we are working with this month. Their aim is to step in and make a differnce in the lives of the Karen refugees coming accross the border with literally nothing – no money, no food, no family, no options – and giving them hope. Hope comes in the form of a children’s home that Ray has partnered with, Life Impact MInistries, which gives the children a place to live and an opportunity to be raised by Thai women in a stable home. The kids here have incredible, and extremely sad, stories. I met a little boy today named Moses who was rescued from his drug addicted mother right as she was about to throw him off a bridge into the river because she couldn’t care for him and was so messed up on the drugs (the name Moses is certainly fitting). I saw this boy today and couldn’t comprehend the joy I saw on his face in contrast with the horrible story I knew of his past. The guys on my team sanded and stained wood today to help renovate one of the buildings at this incredible orphanage. Our impact pales in comparison to what this home has meant to the Mae Sot community. 

On Sunday we have a chance to go into Burma. We are only allowed to go in 5 kilometres and will likely have some sort of military escort watching us. We won’t be able to see the truth of what is actually going on but we will get a glimpse. There is something going on in me right now that I can’t explain. I’m gonna try though. For some reason I have this crazy excitement in me right now. It is an excitement that I haven’t had yet on the race. Maybe part of it is all the adrenaline rushing through me doing tons of manly things as men but I think there is more. I haven’t even done any ministry yet but I feel this connection to Thailand and specifically to Burma and the Burmese people. They have endured so much hurt, so much rejection, so many things that are just not ok. And I am here in Thailand, five minutes from Burma, right now, at this time, for a reason. On April 1st Burma has it’s first democratic elections in over 60 years. This is a turning point for the Burmese people – the tide is rushing forward in a way that once it spills over cannot be stopped. And I am here to be a part of it. 

For now, this means loving every person I come into contact with, it means contributing in a small way with construction, and it means going into this country with an open mind and ears attentive to the Lord’s quiet voice. Am I coming back here… Am I supporting someone who is coming back here?… Is my only experience with Burma right now, this month, and do I just need to give it everything I have now and not look back? I don’t know, and I likely won’t have all the answers anytime soon. But I am going to trust, I am going to respond to this gut feeling I have inside me right now and pay attention to it. The Lord is working here, right now.