Shady Grove Middle School

8100 Mid County Highway

Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Rangoon, Burma

May 16, 2008

Dear Fellow Karen & Well-wishers

With heart-broken and deepest sympathy for our Karen Baptists from Labutta, Pyapon, Bogalay Townships, I would like to convey some sad information to you and your church members.

I have visited Labutta Township from May 7-12. I went through Bassein and some villages of Ngaputtaw Township. Nargis cyclone had destroyed almost all our Karen villages and churches which are located in Labutta Township, Pyapon Township, Bogalay Township respectively. The most effected area is Labutta Township. More than 5,000 Karen Baptists died and over 20,000 are homeless. From Bogalay, Pyapon, Daydayeh, Kyaik Latt Townships, over 2,000 Karen Baptists died and 40,000 are homeless. Ngaputtaw Area’s Karen Baptist Churches lost only buildings, but the people’s lives are spared. The wind speed of this destructive cyclone was 140 mph and it took 15 hours, and had crossed Hinegyi, Ngaputtaw, Labutta, and the rest of Ayeyawaddy Division. This deadly cyclone destroyed not only our Karen villages, but also Brumese and Rakhine villages severely killed not less than100, 000 people and left more than 2,500,000 people homeless. Now, only at Bassein camp we have over 3000 homeless and desperate cyclone refugees. We also have over 10,000 people who are taking havens in other camps like, Maubin, Myaungmya, Yedwinyegan, Pyapon, Yangon, Labutta, Kawlaylu, etc. The Bassein Myaung Mya Sgaw Karen Baptist Association and Home Mission Association had arranged motor boats to convey pure water, salt, clothes, and rice to the effected villages and brought back homeless people to safety places. Now, this opportunity was closed down and the remnants in these villages have to depend on God alone.

My village- Kannyinaung was totally uprooted by strong wind, high and speedy tide or waves. My two sisters, my brother-in-law, my niece, and my grandson were carried away by this violent cyclone and died with my beloved 60 villagers/church members. When I went back there, I could not even see my father and mother’s house and the church building. Over 20 pastors and ministers died with their church members and most of their bodies could not be found until now. I have seen many dead bodies, including buffaloes, cows, etc, were floating along the rivers and some corpses, and dead bodies of cattle were stuck on the banks of the rivers and in the rice fields. Since sea waters has flooded all the rice fields and villages, farmers and villagers will surely face big problem to cultivate their rice fields and to get pure and sweet water for drinking and daily usage. Many people are now suffering from mal-nutrition, down hearted, trauma, grief, diarrhea, depression, hopeless, dehydration, etc. Their urgent needs are rice, pure water, salt, medicines, mosquito-nets, clothes and shelters to cover them from heavy rain.

Please look for some ways and means to help meet their needs. Please also ask your church members to pray earnestly for them. God alone can provide and fulfill the enormous needs of these people, human cannot. Please convey this information to other Baptist churches and our Karen Baptists. Please make many copies of this letter and distribute it to your friends and co-workers. Helping the victims of Nargis cyclone will not finish within a few months. I think it will take several months or, a year or 2 years. As I am one of the advisors of the Relief Committee of the Bassein Myaungmya S.K.B. Association, I would like to request K. Baptist churches and other Baptist Churches to extend their love and sympathy by helping the needs of our desperate brothers and sisters who are facing immeasurable problems and dangers. You can send your contribution to the Bassein Myaungmya S.K Baptist Association office and the Yagon Home Mission K.B.Association, or KBC. My telephone number is 01-552459 & 095027630.

May God use you mighty in helping these victims effectively and generously.

In his service,

An eye-witness

Advisor

Relief Committee

BMSKBA

Aids from other countries

You might heard and see many stuffs, things arriving in Yangon. But all are controlled by the Military Government. These things rarely reaching our Karen villages. Some portions might reach Burma villages but not to our Karen villages. Unless our Karen help the Karen victims, nobody will not. That is why many Karen victims don’t want to return to their villages, but they were forced to return. (just a few minutes from Bassein, I heard that all cyclone refugees at Bassein were forced to leave and return to their villages. At No.3 S.H.S Camp, some Bamas who refused to return were forced by soldiers to leave Bassein.)

Children

We heard some rumors about the children, the orphans that the government would like to keep them in their camps or orphanages called “parathitta” If our Karen Christians orphans were forced to be like that, I am sure, they will become Buddhists, soldiers, prostitutes & sold-out, etc.

Reconstruction

The Vinton Memorial Hall/Church and over (100) Karen Baptist church buildings were totally destroyed by the cyclone. To reconstruct these churches, first, we need the permission from the government. Nowadays, to obtain the permission to erect religious buildings, especially, the church building is very hard or, not permitted. Second, the expenses to do the construction are very high. Since many houses were severely destroyed, the victims will need shelters crucially. In Myanmar during June, July, August, September, usually we have heavy rain. After the cyclone, I have seen 80% of thatches (roofing & covering material) were destroyed. 90% of schools were also destroyed. The victims who went back to their villages have to make their temporary tents by themselves.

Rehabilitation

The works of rehabilitation is the hardest one. Since all their rice fields, buffaloes, cows, fishing nets, fishing boats and properties were gone, to continue their normal lives and earn their living is a very big problem. The government has no interest for the victim’s rehabilitation. Unless international countries are involved, our problem will never be solved. Through they have plough machine to do the cultivation, another problem is getting diesel or fuel. Enormous aids will be needed for rehabilitation.

May 10, 2008.

An Emergency letter from Honor Nyo

(Formal General Secretary of the Karen Baptist Convention)

Calvary Burmese Church

 755 8th street, NW

Washington, DC 20001 

http://dvb.cachefly.net/nargis/comments_sinpon_1305.wmv

On a personal level, my mother was born in Burma and has relatives still living and Rangoon. From the stories she has told me, I feel that the Burmese people are very poor but hardworking and optimistic about life, nevertheless the junta has exploited them ever since 1962.  In addition, the earthquake in Sichuan Province, China has overshadowed the gravity of the Burmese situation. Further, China has the situation under control and has the ability and the finances to help the victims. In contrast, the victims of Cyclone Nargis are also being victimized by its own government with no help. Therefore, it is very important that we do not forget the Burmese who have lost more than twice as many people as the Chinese. There may be more victims in the, in the hundreds of thousands, in Burma in the coming weeks from disease and starvation.

The government in Burma should not be allowed to sit back and let its people suffer. We need to get help to the people of Myanmar quickly and without interference. Calvary Burmese Church in Washington D.C. is accepting donations to go towards helping the Burmese citizens. The church will send the donations to a national church worker in Burma who will personally buy the supplies and deliver them to the refugees. As stated in the video, the victims have stated that the only help they receive is from such individuals; not from the government.

Before the three Anglo-Burmese wars in the 19th century, Burma was an independent kingdom. The Anglo-Burmese wars were fought due to Burmese resistance to British takeover. In 1885 the British won the third Anglo-Burmese war and Burma was added to the British Empire and became a province of India.

From the late 19^th century to the mid-20^th century, Burma was under the control of the Crown and a part of the British Raj. Burma’s population and economy grew rapidly thanks to the British colonization, but educated Burmese began to protest the British rule and advocated a separate and independent Burma. During the colonial rule, rich landlords were able to get away with just about any crime they wished to perpetrate. In the early 1930’s Saya San, a former Buddhist monk, led peasants in an unsuccessful rebellion against the British authorities. Around the same time, students at Rangoon University formed the All-Burma Student’s Union which held protests for independence from the British. The students within the Student’s Union addressed each other as Thakin (meaning national leader or master [of our own land]), a term that was generally only used to address the British. The leaders of the Thakin movement were Thakin Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and Thakin Nu. In 1937 Burma was separated from India and given a partial self-government, but the Burmese were not satisfied and wanted independence.

During World War II, the British began to arrest many Thakins for allegedly having ties with the Japanese. The arrests caused many members to flee the country. In August 1940, Aung San and 29 other Thakins took refuge in China and were offered aid from the Japanese in liberating Burma. The Aung San and the other 29 Thakins recruited Burmese soldiers with money from the Japanese to form the Burmese Independence Army (BIA). The group underwent Japanese military training and became known as the Thirty Comrades or the Thakin Thirty. The combined Japanese and Burmese forces drove out the British by March 1942.

The Japanese proceeded to declare Burma an independent nation, but they created a puppet government with the Thakin nationalists in control of the country. Aung San and the Thakins soon realized that Japanese rule was no better than British rule and resentment began to grow towards the Japanese. Aung San began to negotiate with the British and a Burmese uprising against the Japanese was planned to coincide with the Allied invasion of Burma. The Allied forces invaded Burma and with the help of the Burmese people, regained control of the country.

After the war was over and the British had been placed back in power, the Burmese and the British argued whether Burma should be an independent nation or a colony. After negotiations, the British agreed to give Burma its independence. Aung San was planned to be the leader of the new country by both the British and the Burmese but he and most of his cabinet were assassinated on July 19, 1947, just under a year before Burma became fully independent. The blame for the assassination was placed on a rival politician and former prime-minister named U Saw. U Saw was tried and found guilty of the event and executed. As Burma regained its independence, Thakin Nu (U Nu) became prime minister and took control of the country. A final regime change came about in 1962 with a coup d’etat led by General Ne Win. His seizure of power instituted a military dictatorship that remains today.