Partners Relief and Development works in Myanmar (Burma) to bring relief amid conflict and disaster, promote healthcare and education, and spur development.

The conflicts in Burma have internally displaced 500,000.
(Photo by Partners Relief and Development)

Partners points out that there are 5,000 children in the Burma army. Burma ranks 5th worst of healthcare systems worldwide. Education participation is as low as 4% in some areas, and an estimated 500,000 people are displaced by the ongoing conflict.

Monday marked three years of resumed conflict between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Military after a 17-year ceasefire. The war is focused in the Kachin state and northern Shan state. Radio Free Asia says that 6,000 Kachin marched 10 miles to a prayer meeting to commemorate the anniversary.

The Partners Web site posts, “As sanctions are lifted, foreign investment increases, and media around the world praise the government for its reforms, statistic after statistic and reports from our team on the ground paint another picture: there is a lot that is not well in Burma, and the world must not forget this.”

A report by Fortify Rights, a human rights group based in Southeast Asia, was released Monday proving that Partners is not alone in their concern.

The report claims that Myanmar security forces have “systematically” tortured civilians they claim are aligned with the KIA. It documents testimonies detailing the extreme physical and emotional abuse of 60 civilians by the Myanmar authorities.

Often times, victims of this abuse were intentionally led to believe they were going to die, and then they were set free.

CNN quotes executive director of Fortify Rights, Matthew Smith: “The torture that we’ve documented is not a secret practice.” Quite the contrary, Smith reveals that the abuse is a very obvious message to the Kachin people, who are mainly Christian, not to have dealings with the KIA.

CNN also reports that Myanmar President Thein Sein denied the report’s accusations, saying it is not the government’s policy to torture.

Partners indicates that much of the damage done by these attacks is permanent and that survivors haven’t received adequate medical care.

While the 71-page report can be dark and depressing, it can also be used as a platform from which to raise awareness.

Be a part of the movement to bring the eternal peace of Christ to these people. Join with Partners to make a healthier Burma. Click here for more information.

Our primary prayer may not be for peace in Burma because there is a greater battle going on inside the hearts of all parties involved. Pray for the strengthening of our brothers’ and sisters’ faith, for their protection, and that the country would be transformed by the spreading of the Gospel.

Are you going to overlook this violence like the rest of the world wants to do?

Here is a link to the full report by Fortify Rights, or visit their site here.

Pray for Burma.
(Photo Courtesy of Vision Beyond Borders)

Burma (MNN) — You’ve run away from home because it’s no longer safe. The refugee camp was supposed to provide protection, but now it’s under attack. So when you’re turned away at the border, you have no idea how you’ll escape the violence of your country.

This is the situation for hundreds of thousands of refugees in Burma. The Burmese army continues making war on ethnic groups after three decades of violence. The past few weeks highlight violence between the army and the Kachin.

We talked with Dyann Romeijn, a spokesperson for Vision Beyond Borders, to hear the latest from Burma.

“While there’s been 500,000 killed, it hasn’t been overnight. It’s been a slower type of genocide, so it doesn’t garner the media attention that the rest of the genocides tend to gather. But it’s occurring nonetheless,” she explains. The attacks are primarily against the Karen, Kachin, and Shan states of Burma.

According to Romeijn, over two million have been displaced from their villages, and 250,000 people have fled to refugee camps. These Internally Displaced People (IDPs) are not necessarily safe in the camps, however.

The Burmese Army continues to attack the groups in the refugee camps. Any ceasefires are temporary and used as a time to replenish, restock, and reestablish their army’s position. The fighting heightens in ferocity after these short breaks.

The persecution may be slow, but it is steady.

The fighting is not due to religion, or at least not primarily. It is a fight about ethnicity. It is important to note that over 90% of the Kachin people are Christian. Yet, the Buddhists and animists among them are persecuted as well.

When the safety of IDP camps is compromised, the ethnic groups often try to flee to neighboring countries.

Romeijn says, “In Karen state, they’re able to go into Thailand which has been a safe haven for them, and Thailand has allowed them to stay there in these refugee camps. But China is blocking a lot of the refugees from Kachin state as they try to come across the border.”

VBB ministers to the refugees in Burma. They work with contacts on the ground to provide necessities like food and medicine. VBB assesses spiritual needs as well by providing Bibles to the people.

They also have been working in children’s homes to provide an education to orphans and children living in the camps.

Romeijn says, “That’s the amazing thing, when you go over there with teams and you see these kids; and despite all the difficulties that they have seen, they’re very happy. They’re very content. They get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and they read their Bibles. They actually pray for the soldiers that persecute them. It’s amazing to see their love and the depth of their forgiveness and the reality of their Christian walk.”

Just because the media isn’t heavily covering the situation in Burma, it doesn’t mean that help isn’t needed. Help VBB raise funds for Bibles, medicine, and food.

Above all, Romeijn reminds us that we need to be praying. “I honestly believe it’s a spiritual battle,” she says. Your church can request a documentary and a prayer guide which can keep your congregation aware and informed of the situation in Burma.

Teams can also go visit these people to pray with them and comfort them and provide them care that follows the example of Christ. Click here for more information.

“The Gospel is rampant in the refugee camps,” Romeijn says. Continue to pray that these people will share the love they find in Christ with others, and that they’ll keep their eyes on Jesus through all trials.

Image courtesy Christian Aid Mission

On July 4, 1776, thirteen colonies that would eventually become the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain. Nelson Mandela, figurehead for equality in South Africa and eventual president of that nation, was born to a Tembu tribal chieftain in 1918.

Boris Yeltsin, the first popularly elected president in Russia’s thousand-year history, took the oath of office on July 10, 1991.

It’s no different in Burma.

Earlier this month, the primarily-Christian Chin people had their first-ever meeting with the European Union. Christian Aid Mission, your link to indigenous missions, says Burma first heard the Gospel 200 years ago in July.

At the EU hearing, officials took a look at key challenges facing the ethnic Chin, including significant human rights abuses.

According to the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), one of the groups who testified in the EU hearing, approximately 100,000 Chin refugees in India face substantial challenges. Over the past two years, more than 100 violent sexual assaults have taken place in Delhi alone.

“In a sense, what is happening in Chin State is a barometer for the rest of the country,” CHRO Program Director Salai Za Uk Ling testified at the hearing. “Serious human rights abuses by the Burma Army continue with impunity, including sexual violence.

“We want to shine a light on the root causes, such as ethnic and religious discrimination, and the urgent need to deepen the reforms.”

According to Christian Aid, indigenous missionaries are shining the Light of Christ in Burma’s spiritual darkness.

“I was born and brought up in a Christian family. My grandfather became a Christian many years ago amid much hostility,” said Sya*, a modern-day Chin church planter supported by Christian Aid. “By 1988, I made a commitment to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He prepared for me.”

While traveling extensively throughout the country, Sya saw young people respond eagerly to the Gospel with a desire to teach others. He established Myanmar Rural Mission to equip young missionaries with practical knowledge and field experience.

Today, the group supports 22 native missionaries who bring the Good News to remote villages. Myanmar Rural Mission focuses on people groups including the Koki, Lahu, Akha, Tedim, Shan and Meitei.

Despite nationwide reforms over the past three years, Burma is still lacking religious freedom. Buddhism remains firmly entrenched and fervently protected by political and military leaders. As a result, missionaries who lead Buddhists to Christ may face imprisonment or even death.

Pray true religious freedom will come to Burma, so believers can share Christ without fear.

Internal conflict between Burma’s government and minority ethnic parties began soon after the country gained independence in 1948. Multiple ceasefire agreements have been signed and just as quickly broken, creating a seemingly never-ending environment of civil war.

Pray the Burmese government and separatist groups work out peace agreements and end the bloodshed.

The Chin people are one of Burma’s largest ethnic groups, and the majority of them follow Christ. To help indigenous missionaries encourage their fellow believers and bring God’s Word to those who have never heard it, click here.

Ethnic groups have been clashing with Burma's government since the country gained independence in 1948. Many people only know life as a refugee; they've never had a safe place to live.

Steve Gumaer and his wife, Oddny, started Partners Relief and Development in 1994 after seeing the plight of Burma's refugees firsthand.

"There's between one and four million Internally Displaced People in Burma," says Steve Gumaer. "Our work, in total, reaches somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 refugees and displaced people each year."

Partners helps people in several refugee camps along the Burma-Thailand border, as well as inside Burma. They have work established in the Chin, Kachin, Rakhine, Shan, Karen and Karenni states.

"All [are] running medical programs, education programs, and in times of acute crisis, we also support teams who go in and deliver material provisions for those people who are hungry and don't have shelter," Gumaer says.

See a complete profile of their projects here.

On World Refugee Day, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer statistics of it all. There are over 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people worldwide, and 80% of them are women and children.

Gumaer shares the story of one refugee to help bring the crisis into focus.

In the early '90's, when Steve and Oddny began working in Burma, they visited a refugee camp in the state of Karen. They came across a little 4-year-old girl whose story epitomizes the plight of Burma's people.

It begins with governmental destruction. Burma's army demolished an entire village, leaving nothing behind but rubble and dead bodies. Or so they thought.

"When the pro-democracy defense militia went to find out what happened [to the village] and find survivors, they only found this one little girl," Gumaer recalls.

From there, militia carried the young girl to a nearby refugee camp, where they asked a woman named Rose to care for her.

"That woman told my wife and I the [little girl's] story, and looked up at us and said, 'Steve, can you please tell your friends in the West about what's happening to our children so that we can do something for them?'" says Gumaer.

Help tell your friends by sharing this story on Facebook or Twitter.

The Gumaers aren't alone in sharing Christ's love and hope with Burma's refugees. Vision Beyond Borders (VBB) has a thriving ministry to these oft-overlooked people.

"We work both inside Burma and in the refugee camps in Thailand," says VBB's Abigail Zimmer. "We actually have a team over right now ministering to the kids in the orphanages in Burma."

Zimmer recently visited a camp helped by VBB and says refugee kids aren't letting circumstances hold them back.

"They have big plans for the future," says Zimmer. "A lot of them you talk to want to be service workers, or they want to go back into Burma and minister to the Burmese there, or they want to minister to the people in Thailand; I mean, they want to help people, and it's so neat to see that!

"They could be bitter, they could be angry and unforgiving, and they aren't. They're forgiving, and they want to help. They want to reach out and help the people around them."

In Mark, Jesus tells His disciples to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation." It's one thing to talk about the plight of refugees; it's another to do something about it.

"One way love is shown is just by presence," Gumaer states. "The very best thing that we can give the refugees that we interact with is the dignity of our friendship, the pleasure of our friendship."

Is it time for you to "go?"

Partners and Vision Beyond Borders both have opportunities. To get involved with Partners, contact Andy Pasma at andy@partnersworld.org. 

"He coordinates a number of teams each year, with strategic relationships," explains Gumaer. "We try to focus on those churches that are really interested in a long-term involvement with our outreach to the refugees."

Click here to see when VBB is taking another team to Burma.

Whether you go or stay, take time to pray for Burma and its vast refugee population.

"I have really been praying that the Lord would protect [refugee kids] from the bad that's out in the world," says Zimmer. "There are people out there that could definitely do them harm."

Pray for wisdom for those that go to share the love of Christ with refugees. Pray that "both the team member and the refugee would be changed by the power of love through that engagement," Gumaer requests.

Over the next few months these trainers will run 10 training sessions in 10 different communities. The 400 teachers that will attend the sessions will then provide schooling for thousands of kids. Thus–the multiplication effect. With 13 students graduating, thousands of children will be impacted.

Some of the teachers will be involved in Partners Relief and Development's Sustainable Schools program. This program was started in 2009, and since then they have seen hundreds of teachers trained.

This year, Partners is working with RDFSS (Rural Development Foundation of Shan State) to provide sustainable schooling options for the area. The shortage of schools in the area is having a major effect on allowing children to go to school. Many of the communities do not have funds to support the teachers or the cost of the schooling.

So field workers with Partners have looked at 47 different communities and have figured out an income generation development project in each of these locations. Working with the communities, projects will be formed such as pig farms, maize plantations, fish farms, community shops and other context specific ideas.

The end goal is to get the projects to be self-sustaining. Which means the communities will learn to run and fund these projects by themselves.

Pray that more children will be able to go to school because of these sustainable schools. Give thanks to God that the 13 Shan students who graduated are willing to share their knowledge with others.