(Photo courtesy of Vision Beyond Borders)
Myanmar (MNN) ― A little over a year ago, on May 2-3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the nation of Myanmar, killing thousands of people. Today, survivors are beginning to rebuild their lives, but not with much help from the government.
"Thankfully the people are resilient and thus are able to bounce back," said Patrick Klein of Vision Beyond Borders. "But it's really from Christian organizations they're getting help; it's not from the government.
VBB is able to bring aid into the country of Myanmar and deliver it to the people. Just recently, VBB harvested 3,000 acres of rice for the people of Myanmar.
VBB distributes supplies through local churches, Klein explained. "What we've done is use local churches as distribution points. And so people will come to the church to get rice, blankets, medicine, whatever they need, and then at night we'll have Gospel meetings right there in the church," he said.
"We try to do it through the local church, to keep building up the local church so they can become stronger."
As a result, many Buddhists are becoming Christians. So far, they have been able to worship in relative freedom, especially in the cities. Even in the cites, however, 50 churches were closed a couple of months ago for not registering with the government.
Life for Christians can be more difficult in the country. Many of the new converts are also counted among Myanmar's 60,000 orphans. They face special challenges, as the people often send them to be cared for in the Buddhist monasteries in the Delta area.
At the monasteries, the kids "are being told they have to renounce Jesus Christ and become Buddhists," Klein said. "They've lost their parents, they've lost their home, they've lost everything, and then they're being put in Buddhist monasteries and being told they need to renounce their faith in Christ."
One little boy was sharing his faith with a monk. "He said, ‘The god you serve is dead, but the God that I serve rose from the dead,'" Klein related. "The monk slapped him across the face and said, 'Don't ever say that again.'"
The challenge to the children's newborn faith also represents an opportunity for American Christians to "take care of widows and orphans in their affliction," Klein said. VBB is constructing orphanages to house thousands of children in Yangon.
"I believe this is a great opportunity for the church, especially in America, to step up and really help these kids, to get them into a good home where they're loved and they can grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ," Klein said.
You can help fund the construction of the orphanages and the daily needs of the children who will eventually live there.
