Hey there from Myanmar! Month 7! We arrived early morning on the 31st of January! Instead of heading straight to our ministry (This month we are working at a Bible College teaching English!) but instead of going right there, we are spending a week pioneering! Getting intel on what’s going on in Myanmar, where/what are the needs, what is Jesus doing, places future racers can come to and partner with to be a better help in Myanmar and to be a part of what God is already doing here.
If you don’t know what’s currently going on in Myanmar, here are some facts of what’s currently going on that I got from https://www.rescue.org/country/myanmar. So click the link to read more. But here are some quick little facts about what’s going on!
* Myanmar is currently in a crisis.
Ethnic conflict is raging in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state. In 2012 many members of the minority Muslim community in Rakhine, including Rohingya, were attacked and their villages destroyed, forcing them to shelter in camps. The latest outbreak of violence on Aug. 25 killed at least 6,700 people and pushed hundreds of thousands of Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh, creating the world’s fastest growing humanitarian crisis.
* Myanmar, located in Southeast Asia, has for decades been ruled by a military regime and pummeled by natural disasters.
* A half-century of military control, extreme poverty and frequent natural disasters has left Myanmar (also known as Burma) in a state of crisis. The country hosts some of the most isolated and vulnerable populations in the world. Myanmar has struggled to recover from the devastation of Cyclone Komen, which displaced 1.7 million people in 2015. Meanwhile, 100,000 Muslims forced to flee deadly persecution escaped by boat, many of whom tragically drowned at sea. Renewed fighting in the northern Shan State has forced an estimated 3,500 people–mostly women and children–from their homes.
* Since 2012, clashes between Buddhists and minority Muslims in Rakhine State have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Over 100,000 are still living in camps on the outskirts of Sittwe, the state capital. The majority are Muslims who call themselves Rohingya.
Attacks by militants on police stations on August 25, 2017 led to an outbreak of violence causing hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.
I also stumbled upon this article of interviews from people who have been forced from their homes and are currently living at camps, feeling unsafe and waiting till they can return home, it’s heart breaking. https://www.rescue.org/article/rohingya-crisis-trapped-inside-camps-rakhine
We need to pray for this country and it’s people. I cannot imagine the horror of living this! Since being here I have been met with nothing short of kindness by the people of Myanmar and it’s so sad to know what they are facing as a country.
Story Time:
When we were crossing the border and I had my huge pack and two other backpacks- I lost my balance and tripped in a ditch (when you have all this gear on you- gravity hit’s you like a ton of bricks and there is almost no way to save yourself from falling hahaa I thought I broke my knee in Cambodia when we had to walk down a dirt road in the dark and again I tripped in a shallow ditch in the ground and down I went haha) Anyway, as I was falling I see an older lady rush over and she grabbed my arm to keep me from falling but apparently neither of us were a match for the weight of my gear and gravity so I still fell. She kept trying to pull me up and then a few other locals rushed over to pick me up and make sure I was ok. There was no hesitation to come and help me. The people here are so quick to offer a helping hand and are just so kind.
It’s just heartbreaking to know what’s going on here. But what a humbling thing to be able to be here and do what we can to help. Our teams here aren’t working directly with any of the refugees because we don’t have any current contacts here that are doing that (partially why we are doing a week of pioneering, to find more ways The World Race can send more teams to Myanmar to help), but there’s still a lot we can do now.
Pray, smile at locals, show them kindness, the love of Christ.
Myanmar is a closed country so it’s harder to share the Gospel so freely. They are hungry for it but with the government it’s a bit harder to just freely share with the locals like you can in other countries.
I believe God wants to restore Myanmar and He is at work here. So pray for the teams here that we can effectively find out what exactly God is doing here and what organizations we can partner with for the future!
That’s all for now! Much love, T.
