(Photo courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

Myanmar (PRD/MNN) — A picture is worth a thousand words.

Despite mud, rain, flooding, and landslides, a smile was found. It was spotted by a member of the Partners Relief and Development team as they were responding to a grim situation.   The team member captured a a smiling Rohingya boy standing beside homes destroyed by Cyclone Komen.  He was wearing one of the “I am loved and not forgotten” t-shirts that their relief teams distributed in the refugee camps near Sittwe more than a year ago.

It was timely. It was hopeful. It was needed. It was a reminder that a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name makes a difference. Here’s why: floods from a heavy monsoon season have cut through swaths of South and Southeast Asia in recent weeks, claiming lives and displacing millions.

Children are always amongst the most vulnerable following a devastating natural disaster. Save the Children estimates that up to 80,000 children are in need of urgent assistance for basic survival.

(Photo courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

Of the countries experiencing the unusual monsoon, Myanmar has seemingly been hit the worst. Partners Relief and Development says on top of everything else, Cyclone Komen swept through a refugee camp, adding to the misery there. Additionally, floods have inundated more than 1 million acres of farmland, damaging crops, and disrupting the planting season, and it hasn’t stopped raining yet.

You may have seen headlines about the Red Cross and other countries responding with aid. However, Partners Relief and Development reminds us that the Rohingya communities probably won’t get much help from the local government given the state of exile they already live in. In fact, Partners was the first relief organization present to respond to the immediate needs of the families and lives affected. The team distributed 27,950 kgs (about 61,619 pounds) of rice to over a thousand families.

(Photo courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

In addition to the food, the team provided bamboo poles and 3,300 sections of roofing leaves to help rebuild homes. They have also organized even more rice, tarpaulins, and building materials to be distributed over the next few days.

The ministry’s flood response is ongoing, and they are sending out even more relief team members to reach other flood affected areas in Myanmar that outside help still hasn’t reached yet.

Why does it matters? People are often attracted to the Christian community when those Christians live out the message of Jesus of a kingdom of justice and reconciliation. The Church is not merely an institution or organization but communities of Jesus that embody the values of the kingdom. Their teams show the love of God in Christ through actions and are ready to answer the questions about their motivation for action by pointing all who ask to Jesus and the Kingdom He proclaimed.

To help, go to give.partnersworld.org.

(Photo courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

Myanmar (PRD/MNN) — The floods that have swamped large areas of Myanmar are now estimated by the UN to have impacted more than 589,000 people.

The numbers are huge, but behind the numbers are vulnerable people who all have names, stories, and families. One of the stories belongs to Hafsa, a 27-year-old Rohingya widow with 5 young children who risked everything to get away on a boat.

Instead, she ended up spending 50 days just offshore in the hands of human traffickers, barely surviving starvation. In the end, the traffickers decided there wasn’t enough human cargo to make the trip worthwhile, so they released the passengers from Sittwe. By then, Hafsa’s 12-year-old daughter had contracted tuberculosis. The Partners Relief and Development team got her medical help.

Since returning to the refugee camp, Hafsa and her children said they had been staying on the property of some relatives. Really, they stayed with them for the first 20 days but moved to the nearby language-learning center because the relatives wanted her and the children gone.

After being virtually homeless for more than 2 years, now Hafsa and her children will be sleeping in their new home. This week, the ministry team finalized the purchase of a small piece of land with a house, which had been vacant since the previous owner fled to Thailand.

For the first time in a long time, this mom can afford to dream. She plans to open a small shop at the house and has already begun weaving fishing nets to sell. Pray that Hafsa and her family can have some peace and hope for a fresh start.

How does Partners see families like Hafsa’s transform? When they talk about mission with integrity, they mean both the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel. It’s more than evangelism and social involvement being done alongside each other. The message they live is compelling: people are called to love and repentance in all areas of life.

By helping Hafsa and her family, the team earned the family’s trust. When asked ‘why are you helping us,’ the team with Partners was ready with the hope of the Gospel. In short, Partners’ social involvement has evangelistic consequences as they show how the transforming grace of Jesus Christ works.

(Photo courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

Myanmar (MNN) — Southeast Asia is battling an ISIS insurgency. In Myanmar, militants are reportedly wooing Muslim ethnic minorities like the Rohingya.

“They’re reaching out to families, not just fighters, and they’re offering them a new narrative on what’s happening in the world,” Steve Gumaer of Partners Relief and Development told MNN last month.

In a few days, the Islamic State’s siren song might sound even better to displaced and at-risk families.

According to The Diplomat, UN cuts to its food assistance program in Myanmar are expected to begin in August. Rice will be cut by 10%, while other basic food items such as flour and oil will be reduced by 20%.

These reductions are part of wider UN cuts to food aid programs worldwide. In the first half of 2015, less than a quarter of their global projects have been funded, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator reports.

It’s the lowest mid-year percentage in the UN’s 70-year history.

“Reduction of food rations will take place for all IDPs [internally displaced persons] in Kachin, northern Shan, and Rakhine states,” an e-mail from the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) to The Diplomat reads in part.

Thankfully, Partners has been operating Emergency Relief programs in these same areas for the past few years. So far, they’ve been able to distribute nearly 50,000 emergency relief supplies to people in need.

Partners gave these Rohingya refugees their only shelter from the elements: green tarpaulins.
(Photo credit Partners)

Their help includes immediate essentials like rice, vegetables, clothing, and shelter, but Partners is also investing in long-term solutions. Because the crises are ongoing, ministry workers are helping IDPs start small but sustainable farming projects.

Learn more about their work here.

As they journey with Myanmar’s vulnerable IDPs, Partners workers are sharing the hope and love of Christ in word AND deed.

“We’re inspired by our faith to do more than just talk about God’s love. We demonstrate it through practical response: caring for the whole person by working to improve their spiritual, physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being,” a portion of Partners’ Web site reads.

The UN may be turning its back on Myanmar’s vulnerable populations, but Partners is committed to walking with them daily. They’ll need your help, though, as the needs of IDPs build.

Click here to learn how you can get involved and help Partners make an eternal difference in the lives of Myanmar’s forgotten people.

Here’s an example of one of the communities Partners is helping. The village (which cannot be named for security reasons) has existed for 50 years and is far from the city and also far from the main road. The road is dirt, so in the rainy season it takes an hour’s walk and another hour’s drive to get to the city. The 35 households in the village rely on highland farming, growing rice and corn; some also raise cows.

A school had never existed in the village, because the parents need their children to help with farming and also to take care of younger siblings. The political situation is changing in Shan State, so the local authorities encouraged the villagers to start a school. In 2014 the villagers started a school during the summer vacation. In order to get the children to come to school, the villagers formed a committee and visited every home to encourage parents to send their children to school.

(Photo Courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

The children who were under 12-years-old are taught in the mornings while those above 12 are taught in the evenings. A total of 59 students attend the school. There is one female teacher, supplemented by some part time volunteer teachers.

The Partners project committee decided to issue micro loans with 3% interest per month to interested villagers. In this community, there are now 59 children in school because of the profits from the sustainable businesses the community is running to provide micro loans. These loans also further protect the community as these low-interest loans enable villagers to avoid the threat of debt slavery that often comes through borrowing from loan sharks.

Why is a school such a big deal? Education is often the only way a child can escape the clutches of poverty. Without schooling, children will be forced to live in the same situation they’ve always been in, and no parent wants that for their child. In Burma, it’s especially important as the corruption of the government bleeds into the police and military forces, and Royhingya refugees flock to Burmese shores.

The community leaders of the village said: “Our village is very far from the city. It is a strategic location for ethnic armed groups. A few years ago, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Na Yai group, one of the Myanmar/Burmese proxy armies who are also one of the main drug producers (amphetamine, heroin etc.), set up an outpost camp close to our village. We have often been forced to relocate by the Myanmar/Burmese army in the past. We have had no opportunity for education for decades. I only can read and write Shan. We were encouraged to stay here and to have a school. The local authorities also pay a partial stipend for the teacher. We feel very encouraged that we have this project to run our school.“

Partners Relief and Development is able to distribute food and medical supplies to local areas in Shan State through the Sustainable Schools Program. You can help support the establishment of even more schools across Burma.

The Rohingya are refugees with no country and no hope.

Indonesia (MNN) — Over the last couple of months, we’ve reported stories of the Rohingya: people without a country, driven out of Myanmar. Refugee camps struggle to support their needs. Many are desperate, including young girls who begin searching for hope through prospective jobs. Many of them end up victims of human trafficking.

Partners Relief and Development is intimately involved in helping them.

Two weeks ago, a Partners team was in Aceh, Indonesia to see how they could help the Rohingya refugees who had just arrived by boat. They were heading to Thailand at the mercy of human traffickers. When Thailand closed their border to refugees landing on their shores, the traffickers were left with few other options. After abandoning their human cargo at sea, they fled to safety in speedboats.

The Rohingya refugees were left stranded, floating at sea with no food or water. Eventually they were found by Acehnese fishermen and brought to shore. Among the Rohingya refugees were 6 teenagers from the village Partners has been helping the most. One of them was killed at sea and his body thrown overboard. The other five arrived in Aceh and were living in a warehouse near the pier where they came ashore.

For three long years, Partners has been working with the displaced Rohingya living in camps outside Sittwe in western Myanmar. Much of their work has been with one particular group of unregistered people. They have become friends. This is the reason they searched among the refugees in Aceh for anyone from this group. This was how they found the five teenagers.

Through a translator, the Rohingya told their story. They had spent more than four months at sea. Many were were beaten and killed on the way. They were crowded in the hold below deck with hardly any food or water. They were forced to live in their own filth. They described how their friend had been killed. They shared the story without emotion. One of the girls was only fourteen.

The Partners team had very little to offer the refugees. They showed them pictures of their families and friends in the camps back in Myanmar. They then asked if they’d like to talk with them and let them know they were safe. They were given a phone and watched as they showed emotion for the first time. As the call was connected, the Partners team watched as they laughed and screamed as they heard their family members on the other end. It wasn’t clear what they were saying, but it was clear they were enjoying the moment: their first moment of joy in a very long time.

Today the Partners team is back at the camps near Sittwe. While here, they visited their families and showed them pictures of their children so far away in Aceh. They met the mother and sister of the 14-year-old girl, showing them pictures and also a video. Both began to sob.

Five months earlier, the 14 year-old was going to visit her uncle, just down the street. Instead, she left the camp with her 5 friends on a boat for Malaysia. Her mother didn’t see her again until she saw the video today.

What causes six teenagers to steal away and risk their lives at sea, at the mercy of human traffickers? Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have no rights, no hope, no future. Young people are taking risks to find hope. Those leaving know the risks. You know it’s hopeless when a 14-year-old girl would rather run away from home and risk torture and death at sea than to stay in a camp.

It’s enough to make a mother cry.

Because of that hopelessness, Partners is sharing hope–hope that comes from one place: Christ.

The Rest of the Story from Partners Relief & Development on Vimeo.

(Image Wikipedia)

Myanmar (MNN) — The spread of the Islamic State has reached South Asia. Experts warn the terror group could be recruiting fighters from the Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar.

Partners Relief and Development CEO Steve Gumaer doesn’t find that surprising. “When people are marginalized and people are as demoralized as the Rohingya, for example, are in West Burma, then they fall prey to the offer of community that [ISIS] is reaching out with.”

The people group has no country to call home. There is no government protecting them. They’re easy targets for the Islamic State. “They’re reaching out to families, not just fighters, and they’re offering them a new narrative on what’s happening in the world. ‘You have experienced being disenfranchised, like we have; we will give you a place in our society.'”

Violent clashes between the Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists have been ongoing in Myanmar for a number of years resulting in up to 100,000 Rohingya Muslims attempting to leave the country. From there, says Gumaer, “One of the concerns that leading thinkers have right now is those marginalized Muslims in South East Asia, in Burma. [They’re] only a step away from Indonesia and Malaysia where there’s already a clear recruitment strategy there.”

(Image courtesy Partners Relief & Development)

Their numbers would join those recruited from other Muslim areas of Southeast Asia, but why would they willingly perpetrate the kind of criminal activity they were trying to escape? Gumaer says most of the refugees have been driven to desperate measures for help. “I don’t believe most of them understand the violent roots and the radical form of Islam that they’re promoting.” He says most of the Rohingya they’ve worked with are dedicated to peace and they’re dedicated to a path that is the opposite of what ISIS is promoting. However, Gumaer adds, “I believe that once they end up in the hands of IS, they too will feel they’ve made a poor decision, but then they’re stuck.” The solution? Get in front of the problem. Make joining the Islamic State less attractive. “To stop it means to deal with the poverty, the denial of justic, and the suffering of those marginalized minorities.”

That’s easier said than done. Years ago, $30 marked the start of the Gumaers’ adventure of learning. Building relationships with partners on the ground, seeing where needs were, getting aid on the ground–all these elements were difficult. Raising awareness about the near-genocide happening has been a huge challenge. Gumaer says, simply, it’s a call for justice. “Our team looks at the announcement of Jesus in the world in Luke 4 as really marching orders. He’s announcing His mission when He says, ‘I have come so that the oppressed, the captives, can be set free.'”

Use this photo for your Facebook cover picture & encourage your family and friends to do the same.
(Photo, caption courtesy Partners)

Getting others to move past apathy has been perplexing. “We see the mandate of Christ where He says, ‘Setting the captives free, healing the sick, feeding the poor’ not as nice suggestions and not spiritualized truth, but we see them as simple fact.” Gumaer shares what happens when they show this kind of love to the Rohingya. “Without exception, the people we help want to know what our secret is. Our secret is that our leader has led us into this place where we love and care for our neighbor as we love and care for ourselves.”

Can fighting the growth of the Islamic State really boil down to pray, give, or go? “The Gospel calls us to so much more than our talk. It calls us to our wallets, our mouths, our cars, and our time. The answer to the question is that there is so much that people can do,” responds Gumaer. Click here to get started on your journey.

(Graphic courtesy Partners)

Indonesia (PRD) — [EDITOR’S NOTE: Partners Relief and Development reports a surprising response to the ongoing Rohingya crisis. The following was obtained directly from Partners’ blog.]

The situation for Rohingya recently arrived in Indonesia is complicated. It’s complicated because it’s actually very good compared to any of the alternatives. In one of the camps our team visited this week, they even experienced a carnival-like atmosphere complete with marching band.

These are definitely refugees but unlike anywhere we’ve ever seen.

The Acehnese are reaching out to the Rohingya in amazing ways. Mountains of clothing, food, water, medical help, and a marching band. The community is welcoming them into their homes. We are told the Acehnese are welcoming the Rohingya into their communities and resent any talk of outsiders moving them somewhere else. They want them to stay.

We are still helping, but we want you to know that the Indonesians are already doing a great job. Our relief team has bought and distributed large volumes of medicine, clothing, and hygiene supplies. We’ve also been able to purchase one of the community’s major requests–a playground for the children to play after spending months at sea in crammed conditions.

(Graphic courtesy Partners)

We will visit the rest of the camps in Aceh and will continue the assessment. It’s very likely that our help will not be needed long. We wish every country that had refugees and asylum seekers were as kind and generous as the examples we have seen over the past week. We’ll keep on assessing the need and filling gaps if we find them.

But in the meantime, the needs of Rohingya in Rakhine State haven’t diminished. The persecution and oppression continues in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Even today, there are new reports from people we trust of “floating camps” on the Andaman Sea where an unknown number of more Rohingya are suffering from abuse that is difficult to comprehend.

With your help, we have also organized more rice this week to communities near Sittwe that we have been helping since 2012. Join us in continuing to advocate for justice and peace for all people in Myanmar/Burma.

The future is still uncertain and many questions remain, but it gives us hope for a brighter future for the Rohingya when we have glimpses of kindness and compassion like we have seen in Indonesia.

Find out more at rohingya.partnersworld.org, or donate today to our ongoing efforts: give.partnersworld.org.

From the Partners Relief & Development team.

(Photo courtesy Partners Relief and Development)

[UPDATE: Praise God! Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia vow to NOT push boat people back into the sea! Click here for details.]

SE Asia (MNN) — There’s a lot of talk, but not much action in Southeast Asia.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees, commonly termed “the boat people,” are stranded at sea, dying slowly. The total number is unknown, but estimates range from 8,000 to 20,000.

How did the boat people come to be?

Foreign ministers from Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia are meeting in Kuala Lumpur today,  not to find a solution but to discuss how refugees got there in the first place.

In a statement released earlier this week by Malaysia’s foreign ministry, “Talks would focus on human trafficking and people smuggling in the region.” Boat people were reportedly “high on the list” of priorities for today’s meeting, but no specifics had yet been released at press time.

More high-level talks are scheduled for May 29.

“One of our goals is to bring enough international attention to this crisis so the countries–Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, in particular–[will feel] forced to do something to help these people,” shares Oddny Gumaer, co-founder of Partners Relief and Development.

You can help by sharing this story on your Facebook page.

Partners’ response

Right now, a small Partners team is at the water’s edge, ready to help boat people with emergency supplies and a message of hope only Christ can bring.

They’ve been trying to reach the refugees for days but kept running into obstacles, Gumaer reports; today, it appears they finally have access.

(Image courtesy Partners)

In order to reach the stranded Rohingya, they need your prayers.

“The Thai Navy has blockaded access to these boats,” shares Gumaer.

“They don’t want journalists or media or aid organizations to get to the boats, even if it is only to give the people water.”

Please ask the Lord for miraculous intervention so Partners’ team can reach the boat people. Ask Him to give the team wisdom and protection. Pray for endurance and strength for suffering Rohingya.

In the past, Gumaer says, demonstrations of Christ-like compassion have led to questions from the Rohingya, such as “Why are you helping us?” and “Why do you care?”

“When we have shared with them that we are Christians, and we are doing this because we believe that God loves them and that He hasn’t forgotten them, they say, ‘We really appreciate that; please continue to pray to your God for our situation,'” Gumaer shares.

Circumstances remain difficult for the Rohingya to follow Christ, and Gumaer says none have committed their lives yet. But they remain open to His people and their message.

Pray for softened hearts among the boat people. Pray that as the Partners team provides emergency help, the Rohingya will see Christ through them and that their eyes will be opened to His Truth.

Your response

Now that you know about the boat people and their plight, what will you do? While prayer is the first and foremost need, Gumaer suggests additional options.

GIVE

“All the money that we have, we are now spending to help these people,” she shares. “The more funding we have, the more people we can help.”

Help Partners save the Rohingya.

SHARE

Despite the best efforts of governments in Southeast Asia, word is getting out about the boat people. “They don’t want the world to know what’s going on,” explains Gumaer.

Use this photo for your Facebook cover picture & encourage your family and friends to do the same.
(Photo, caption courtesy Partners)

Make your friends aware by sharing this story on social media. Join the social chorus already calling for change by using #SaveTheRohingya in your post.

“By reading and sharing what they’re reading, and speaking about it, [people] are helping.”

If you’re reading this in the U.S., ask your elected officials to help the boat people.

“Contact your politicians and your senators, and tell them that you would like the United States to put more sanctions on Myanmar until they change their policies on the Rohingya,” Gumaer requests.

(Photo courtesy Partners)

SE Asia (MNN) — As governments talk, one group is rushing to the aid of Rohingya refugees in Southeast Asia.

An estimated 6,000 to 20,000 Rohingya from Myanmar/Burma took to the sea months ago to escape severe ethnic persecution. Now, countries in Southeastern Asia refuse to let them in, and time is running out.

In Jesus’ name, Partners Relief and Development is bringing food, water, and other relief supplies to refugees stranded at sea.

The back-story

Hundreds of Rohingya families took to the sea months ago to escape dire circumstances in Myanmar. When their typical escape route was cut off by Thai officials, the Rohingyas’ only option was to flee to the Andaman Ocean or Malacca Straits.

This mother is suffering from tuberculosis and without medical intervention is likely to die.
(Image, caption courtesy Partners)

“Muslims in Burma’s westernmost state of Rakhine face such extreme oppression that they feel they have no other option but to leave–in many cases by any means necessary,” Chris Lewa, Deputy-Chair of the Asia-Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) told the BBC.

As previously noted by Partners, the Rohingya have needed help for quite awhile. Yet time and time again, precious few take action.

Why is Partners helping?

Through holistic action, Partners demonstrates God’s love to children and communities made vulnerable by war in Burma. Learn more about their work here.

They’ve been coming alongside the Rohingya, an especially-oppressed people group, for the past three years. Partners has increased their efforts as Myanmar’s government did whatever they could to eliminate the Rohingya.

As Partners workers care for the Rohingya, doors open to talk about where that unconditional love comes from: Jesus.

What YOU can do about it

(Image courtesy Partners)

In a recent e-mail, Partners co-founder Oddny Gumaer asked supporters for help.

“We need your prayerful support now more than ever,” she wrote. “Please join us in our mission to let the Rohingya people know that they are loved and not forgotten.”

You can pray using the points listed at the right-side of this page, and support Partners’ response to the crisis here.

(Photo courtesy of Partners Relief and Development)

Myanmar (MNN) — Human trafficking abounds with poverty and violence. This is certainly true in Kachin refugee camps in Northern Myanmar as a result of fighting that “broke out in Kachin state in June 2011, and that broke a 17-year ceasefire. The Burma army attacked the Kachin army,” explains a team member working with Partners Relief and Development.

“That has meant that many villagers have had to flee for their lives and run to camps that are along the border with China.”

He says Kachin state’s rich resources are at the heart of the conflict. Once again, the desire for money has drawn out heavy violence in men.

Long-term conflict means creative, long-term aid

After the initial breakout of violence, Partners focused on relief efforts among the Kachin people. More recently, however, they have expanded their focus. The team member says, “We were involved in rescuing four girls over the last year through the group that we’re involved with.”

These girls are especially vulnerable to traffickers because in the Internally Displaced People camps, the men are often absent because they are off fighting and families struggle to survive.

Partners is still doing some of the relief work they started in 2011, but they’ve more recently partnered with a local Kachin organization to set up a community support network system.

The Kachin, who are 90% Christian, are encouraged through this network to live out Mark 12:31 — the command Jesus gives to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

“It’s a network throughout the camp of volunteers who look out for those that are struggling and those that need help. And then they help to coordinate the community to be able to provide some practical help for those people,” the team member says.

The biggest needs

The team member says the IDPs struggle most with getting adequate healthcare. Partners helps connect them with clinics and also aids families with loved ones in the hospital. They also speak to families dealing with domestic violence or assist in more practical everyday tasks like collecting firewood or providing basic supplies for new arrivals.

They are also working on integrating preventative practices to protect people from being trafficked.

There have been reports of increased violence in some parts of Myanmar.

The team member says it’s hard to tell.

“It is just continual fighting, really. It’s just this ongoing conflict that keeps on going and going without any end in sight, really. That’s really hard, especially, for those that are stuck in IDP camps and have nowhere to go.” He says many are without hope that the war will ever end.

So where do they find hope?

“Many of them are Christian, and a lot of them definitely turn to God to look for in these times of need. I think that gives them a lot of strength. And the pastors in the churches are very involved in the community,” the Partners team member says.

“But it is also very depressing for them, and that’s why we see some of these things happening like some of the domestic violence and some of the trafficking and some of these social problems occurring: it’s because it can be very difficult for people.”

Through this new community-support network, Partners hopes to encourage the IDPs to give back to their community, giving them and their community hope. You can help.

“Prayer is really important,” the team member says. “Whenever I go…I tell [the IDPs] that people in other countries are praying for them, and that really encourages them.”

Pray specifically for peace and for the people to be able to go back home. Pray also that in their current situation, they would know God’s love and trust and hope in Him.

You can also encourage your local government to draw attention to what is happening in Myanmar.