{"id":66814,"date":"2012-07-25T03:39:04","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T03:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/?p=57602"},"modified":"2012-07-26T15:54:27","modified_gmt":"2012-07-26T15:54:27","slug":"new-relief-teams-graduate-go-on-relief-missions-in-kachin-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2012\/07\/25\/new-relief-teams-graduate-go-on-relief-missions-in-kachin-state\/","title":{"rendered":"New Relief Teams Graduate, Go on Relief Missions in Kachin State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
FBR REPORT: New Relief Teams Graduate, Go on Relief Missions in Kachin State <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kachin State, Burma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13 July, 2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
KEY DEVELOPMENTS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • 12 New Teams Graduate from Relief Team Training<\/li>\n
  • Good Life Club Mission Report<\/li>\n
  • First Run for Relief held in Kachin State<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kachin State Leadership and Relief Team Training – 12 New Relief Teams Graduate<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
12 New FBR teams graduate in Kachin State<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 22 May 2012, 12 new teams graduated from Free Burma Rangers Leadership and
\nRelief Team training, held in Kachin State. There were Kachin teams, an Arakan
\nteam, a Ta\u2019ang (Palaung) team and an All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABSDF)
\nteam. The teams were trained in many topics, including leadership, basic medical
\ncare, reporting, human rights documentation, video and digital camera use, land
\nnavigation and GPS use, landmine removal, Good Life Club and counseling, physical
\ntraining, and rappelling. They then went on a follow-on mission in which they
\nput on Good Life Club programs, treated patients, documented human rights violations
\nand did reconnaissance missions of Burma Army activity in the mission area.
\nOverall, they saw some 12,000 people, helped over 2,000 children, and recorded
\nBurma Army activity at 15 different camps. We would like to thank the Kachin
\nIndependence Organization (KIO), the Kachin National Organization (KNO), WPN,
\nthe Morse family and Partners Relief and Development (PRAD) for their help and
\nsupport of this training.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Explaining the Gobal Day of Prayer for Burma to Kachin IDPs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Good Life Club in Kachin State<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
GLC team teaches health and anatomy at a program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Arakan team member hands out beads during a GLC program in Kachin State<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 30 November 2011, the families in Zin Lu Ka Gi Village quickly packed what
\nbelongings they could carry and fled their village. The oncoming Burma Army
\ntroops, from Division 88, had 600 soldiers, with horses and mules for carrying
\nsupplies. The six houses of Zin Lu Ka Gi Village would not be an obstacle for
\nthis unit, which had already pushed through the defending Kachin Independence
\nArmy (KIA \u2013 pro-democracy resistance) soldiers. One resident interviewed by
\nour teams, Nam Bauk, together with her husband, Ma La Mai Zau Tu, packed what
\nshe could. However, they were limited by also having to carry the youngest of
\ntheir seven children, only one year old. They walked for an hour until they
\nreached a road and then were able to make their way by foot and motorcycle close
\nto Maija Yang where camps had been set up for people fleeing attacks. But November
\nis cold and they realized they needed clothing and other things, especially
\nfor the baby. Ma La Mai Zau Tu decided to go back and see if he could safely
\nretrieve some of their belongings. At some point after he left, his wife called
\nhim \u2013 only to have the phone answered by a strange voice, a man\u2019s voice, a voice
\nthat spoke Burmese. The man laughed; he said he was having a drink with her
\nhusband. He hung up. After several days of hearing nothing more, she called
\nagain. This time there was no joking on the other end: \u201cYour husband is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later Ma La Mai Zau Tu\u2019s father went back to see what he could find, to look
\nfor any final sign of \u2013 or maybe from \u2013 his son. All he found was a pile of
\nthe baby\u2019s clothes strewn by the side of the road, where they had been dropped.
\nNam Bauk is now left with questions: \u201cWhy did they kill him? He wasn\u2019t a soldier
\n\u2013 he was a pastor.\u201d She lives now in an IDP camp, in a 3-by-3 meter cubicle,
\nseparated from her neighbors on three sides only by a thin sheet of plywood.
\nNew to this situation, she is disbelieving that it can last long – she says,
\n\u201cThis cannot happen in the future. The future will be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
IDP girl looks out over IDP camp, built in the last several months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A Ranger videos the remains of a villager’s house, burned to the ground by Burma Army troops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nam Bauk was just one of thousands of people who came to eight Good Life Club
\nprograms conducted by the new FBR teams on this, their first mission. She and
\nthe many others like her whom we met and interviewed both challenged us in our
\nmission and also deepened it as we were forced to go beyond simply providing
\nhelp and consider what it really meant to give hope and love. Psalm 69 says
\nwe should praise and give thanks to the Lord, and that that act of worship is
\nmore to Him than things we have to offer \u2013 and it says that the poor also see
\nthis and are glad. What does this look like for us as we are confronted with
\nthe poor, and those \u2018things\u2019 seem like the best answer? The Psalm assures us
\nthe God hears the needy, and that in seeking God our hearts will live \u2013 but
\nthis was a question that each team member had to ask and answer in their own
\nhearts on this mission.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
FBR medic treating IDP woman with baby at a GLC program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mission began with a program at a small Lisu village with around 20 children;
\nthe programs grew progressively until the largest program in Je Yang IDP Camp,
\nwith over 6000 people and around 800 children. By the arrival of the larger
\nprograms we were out of many of the gifts we usually give to the children, including
\nbead bracelets and t-shirts. The big IDP camps provided a logistics and coordination
\nchallenge that seemed to grow with each succeeding program. As the team met
\nto discuss the lack of supplies before the biggest program, at Je Yang Camp,
\nit was a time of assessment. Many other groups are helping in the camps. Many
\nof them have lots of supplies. Church groups also are helping \u2013 the Kachin are
\nmostly Christian \u2013 and these were very experienced in programs and singing.
\nWhat did our teams have to offer?<\/p>\n

The team leaders talked, sharing frustration at a lack of supplies, concern
\nthat we couldn\u2019t give something to everyone, questions about how to manage so
\nmany children; they considered only giving the gifts of sports equipment that
\nwe had brought for the schools and not doing a program. And then, even with
\nthe prospect of facing, empty-handed, 800 children the next day, they decided,
\n\u201cWe are bringing hope and love, we can do this without supplies, we only need
\nto give what we have, give ourselves, give our love.\u201d This was the hard choice,
\nas many of them came to realize – in their final mission debrief many wrote
\nthat the mission was good, the programs were good \u2013 but that they required more
\nunity, more participation, from the rangers. It was more difficult to give themselves,
\nto give time, to engage, than to give a shirt or a toy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are told to let God go before us and that He wants to lead us to abundant
\nlife. And I know that for the finale program, at Je Yang Camp, many things came
\ntogether to make it a good day. The electricity from the nearby town was connected
\nfor the first time and we were able to use a sound system. We were able to do
\na run for relief. The team was able to find enough juices and snacks to feed
\nall the children \u2013 twice! The children were encouraged \u2013 something of hope and
\njoy had been passed on \u2013 and the team had a renewed faith in all aspects of
\ntheir mission.<\/p>\n

Kachin State Run for Relief<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/dt>\n
Racing to the finish in the Run for Relief<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Kachin State, 6 June 2012: The crowd lining the rocky dirt road, mostly small
\nchildren and their mothers, cheered as the young first place runner, flip-flops
\nin hand, sprinted to the finish. The other runners, girls and boys, followed;
\nthe small children, who had just run their own race, spilled into the road,
\nand mothers with umbrellas to protect them from the afternoon sun milled around.
\nThe children of Je Yang IDP camp had just completed the first ever Kachin State
\nRun for Relief.<\/p>\n

The Je Yang camp is one of the largest in Kachin State, with an IDP population
\nof over 6000 people, with over 1000 children. On this day the Free Burma Rangers
\nstarted the day with a Good Life Club program that included singing, a health
\nand anatomy lesson and spiritual teaching. Before the run all the children were
\ngiven a snack and drink.<\/p>\n

The children were divided by age into two groups, pre-school and primary school.
\nMost of the high-school\u2013aged students here go to boarding school in a nearby
\ncity and were not present. The FBR teams laid out two courses, one around 400
\nmeters and one three kilometers. We explained the history of the race and how
\npeople from all over the world run to support freedom in Burma.<\/p>\n

The older children lined the road to cheer on the younger children for the
\nfirst event, then traded places with them and ran their own race. Afterward,
\nwe trooped them back into the shade of the church and handed out prizes to the
\nfirst ten finishers.<\/p>\n

The Run for Relief started in 2004 in Gig Harbor, WA, in the U.S., in response
\nto thousands of Karen villagers fleeing attacks of the Burma Army. Since that
\ntime, the races have grown and spread all over the world as the crisis of IDPs
\nhas continued in Burma. The first race in Burma was held in Karen State in 2008
\nwhen children from Tha Dah Der Village raced around their rice fields.<\/p>\n

On this day we raced with IDP children whose lives as IDPs are new \u2013 attacks
\nin this area are only one year old following the breaking of a 17-year cease-fire
\nagreement with the Burma Army. They are new to this life and the camps have
\nsprung up quickly; households are packed together almost on top of each other
\nand whole families are given a 3 meter by 3 meter space to live in. But in this
\nrace, on this day, despite their current situation, the smiles and enthusiasm
\nof the children were strong as they pounded over the rocky dirt road, often
\nbarefoot, to celebrate some momentum for fun and freedom and the push of hope
\nfor a better future.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your part in this and God bless you,<\/p>\n

The Free Burma Rangers<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
FBR teams on reconnaissance of Burma Army camps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n