{"id":67236,"date":"2013-02-24T21:38:27","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T21:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/?p=58672"},"modified":"2013-05-23T02:17:48","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T02:17:48","slug":"attacks-against-the-kachin-are-sporadic-but-displacement-is-constant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2013\/02\/24\/attacks-against-the-kachin-are-sporadic-but-displacement-is-constant\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacks Against the Kachin Are Sporadic but Displacement Is Constant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attacks Against the Kachin Are Sporadic but Displacement Is Constant<\/h1>\n
24 February 2012<\/address>\n
Kachin State Burma<\/address>\n

Dear friends,<\/p>\n

Thanks for all the help all over Burma and up here in Kachin state. Here\u00a0there is sporadic fighting and shelling, but the Burma army is strengthening\u00a0its positions and for the IDPs there is constant displacement. The Burma\u00a0army is resupplying after two months of airstrikes and ground assaults. On\u00a0this mission the Burma army has been close all the time and have built more\u00a0camps and crept closer to Kachin positions and communities since we have\u00a0been here. We have reconned them in many places and they look well supplied,\u00a0well fed, well armed and motivated. They look like they are ready to attack\u00a0again. In spite of this God is our hope and we feel reinforced by your\u00a0prayers and help.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Burma army in new position 250 yards away<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are now high up in the mountains and the Kachin and Lisu families here\u00a0live in cold, brutal squalor with little sanitation. I feel sad and angry\u00a0when I see this. People are not supposed to live this way. In the IDP site we are in
\nnow at over 7,000 feet, I stepped into a plywood and tarp hut to pray with a\u00a0sick woman. She had an IV in her and was very feeble and coughing. When I\u00a0prayed with her she grabbed my hand and said, “Thank you, thank you.” I
\nwalked out into the windy, dusty pathway and felt sad. I then looked around\u00a0me at the huddled people, blue tarps and tin covered shacks and felt mad.\u00a0This is unacceptable. Most of these people have been up here for over a year\u00a0hiding from the Burma army.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kachin IDPs in high mountain hiding place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Crossing Kachin bridge through the mountains to IDP site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sick woman in IDP shack Kachin state<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning I read the Bible and prayed for a word from God. I read\u00a0from Psalm 103 and in verse six it says, “God works righteousness and\u00a0justice for the oppressed”. I thought that God acts through people like you
\nwho help the IDPs. You all, the teams here and all who help are God’s hands\u00a0and feet. I thank God for that and also that God will do something through us\u00a0all and unilaterally to help the oppressed.<\/p>\n

This is my prayer and my hope.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kachin and Lisu IDP relief program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The FBR Kachin, Taaung, Burmese-ABSDF and Arakan relief teams are doing well\u00a0on this mission and our focus is to the more difficult to reach IDPs. The\u00a0Kachin Independence Organization and Army have made all relief possible and
\nwe thank them. We are driving and walking to four different sites north of\u00a0Laiza between Pajao and Pang Wa. We are greeted with love and graciousness\u00a0everywhere. They live a cold, cramped and brutal life and it can seem the\u00a0world has forgotten them. When I asked the kids what they wanted, they all\u00a0cried out, “We want to go home!”. One man who was blinded and suffered\u00a0amputations by a landmine, when asked for how to pray for him, asked that we\u00a0pray for his fellow wounded and IDPs in hiding. All this before praying for\u00a0his own needs. He had a young wife and child and yet his main concern was\u00a0for others. One of the volunteer teachers in a IDP site said, ” We do not\u00a0trust the Burma army, they are liars, but we believe in God and know the\u00a0situation is in His hands.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
GLC braclet for landmine victim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In another place we were asked to pray, because\u00a0“God answers prayer and God is our only hope”. One lady who lives very close\u00a0to the attacking Burma army told us as she held her baby, “Yes I am afraid\u00a0but if I leave what will our Kachin soldiers on the hill above us do? Who\u00a0will feed them? Who will help them? How will they be encouraged? So as long\u00a0as I can I will stay with my family here. Please pray for me and all of us,\u00a0we need God’s help. We trust God.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
With Kachin amputees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Giving out family supplies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thank God for all of you who helped us get here, for the funds, supplies\u00a0and for all those around the world who are helping. Tonight in the hiding\u00a0place after worship, the pastor said, “God is in this, He will bring us\u00a0through.”<\/p>\n

We need prayer to do God’s work here God’s way and for healing for all those\u00a0sick on our team.<\/p>\n

Love and May God bless you,<\/p>\n

Dave, family FBR HQ and all\u00a0FBR teams here in Kachin state<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feeding IDP kids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Singing for over 2000 IDPs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n