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Feb 21, 2013 (English Version)
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Feb 22, 2013 (English Version)
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FBR: Attacks Against the Kachin Are Sporadic but Displacement Is Constant
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Attacks Against the Kachin Are Sporadic but Displacement Is Constant
24 February 2012Kachin State BurmaDear friends,
Thanks for all the help all over Burma and up here in Kachin state. Here there is sporadic fighting and shelling, but the Burma army is strengthening its positions and for the IDPs there is constant displacement. The Burma army is resupplying after two months of airstrikes and ground assaults. On this mission the Burma army has been close all the time and have built more camps and crept closer to Kachin positions and communities since we have been here. We have reconned them in many places and they look well supplied, well fed, well armed and motivated. They look like they are ready to attack again. In spite of this God is our hope and we feel reinforced by your prayers and help.
Burma army in new position 250 yards away
We are now high up in the mountains and the Kachin and Lisu families here live in cold, brutal squalor with little sanitation. I feel sad and angry when I see this. People are not supposed to live this way. In the IDP site we are in
now at over 7,000 feet, I stepped into a plywood and tarp hut to pray with a sick woman. She had an IV in her and was very feeble and coughing. When I prayed with her she grabbed my hand and said, “Thank you, thank you.” I
walked out into the windy, dusty pathway and felt sad. I then looked around me at the huddled people, blue tarps and tin covered shacks and felt mad. This is unacceptable. Most of these people have been up here for over a year hiding from the Burma army.
Kachin IDPs in high mountain hiding place
Crossing Kachin bridge through the mountains to IDP site
Sick woman in IDP shack Kachin state
The next morning I read the Bible and prayed for a word from God. I read from Psalm 103 and in verse six it says, “God works righteousness and justice for the oppressed”. I thought that God acts through people like you
who help the IDPs. You all, the teams here and all who help are God’s hands and feet. I thank God for that and also that God will do something through us all and unilaterally to help the oppressed.
This is my prayer and my hope.
Kachin and Lisu IDP relief program
The FBR Kachin, Taaung, Burmese-ABSDF and Arakan relief teams are doing well on this mission and our focus is to the more difficult to reach IDPs. The Kachin Independence Organization and Army have made all relief possible and
we thank them. We are driving and walking to four different sites north of Laiza between Pajao and Pang Wa. We are greeted with love and graciousness everywhere. They live a cold, cramped and brutal life and it can seem the world has forgotten them. When I asked the kids what they wanted, they all cried out, “We want to go home!”. One man who was blinded and suffered amputations by a landmine, when asked for how to pray for him, asked that we pray for his fellow wounded and IDPs in hiding. All this before praying for his own needs. He had a young wife and child and yet his main concern was for others. One of the volunteer teachers in a IDP site said, ” We do not trust the Burma army, they are liars, but we believe in God and know the situation is in His hands.”
GLC braclet for landmine victim
In another place we were asked to pray, because ”God answers prayer and God is our only hope”. One lady who lives very close to the attacking Burma army told us as she held her baby, “Yes I am afraid but if I leave what will our Kachin soldiers on the hill above us do? Who will feed them? Who will help them? How will they be encouraged? So as long as I can I will stay with my family here. Please pray for me and all of us, we need God’s help. We trust God.”
With Kachin amputees
Giving out family supplies
I thank God for all of you who helped us get here, for the funds, supplies and for all those around the world who are helping. Tonight in the hiding place after worship, the pastor said, “God is in this, He will bring us through.”
We need prayer to do God’s work here God’s way and for healing for all those sick on our team.
Love and May God bless you,
Dave, family FBR HQ and all FBR teams here in Kachin state
Feeding IDP kids
Singing for over 2000 IDPs
The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.
For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org
© 2010 Free Burma Rangers | Contact FBR
To unsubscribe from this email list, please respond to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line, or send email to mailadmin@freeburmarangers.org.
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Feb 25, 2013 (English Version)
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Feb 26, 2013 (English Version)
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Feb 27, 2013 (English Version)
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Feb 28, 2013 (English Version)
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[Altsean-Burma] February 2013 Burma Bulletin
Dear Friends,
Please find attached the February 2013 issue of ALTSEAN Burma Bulletin.
The Burma Bulletin is a short month in review of events in Burma,
particularly those of interest to the democracy movement and human
rights activists.
In the February 2013 issue you will find:
* Discrimination and abuses against Muslims and Rohingya
* Rohingya exodus
* Clashes in Kachin and Shan States
* Ojea Quintana visits Burma
* Massive military spending proposed
* Land confiscation protests
* List of Reports
* Much more...
The February 2013 Burma Bulletin is also available online at:
http://bit.ly/XGWA4J
You can also receive daily Burma updates by following us on Twitter
http://twitter.com/altsean and facebook http://on.fb.me/PlngAO
Yours, in solidarity,
ALTSEAN-Burma![]()
Please find attached the February 2013 issue of ALTSEAN Burma Bulletin.
The Burma Bulletin is a short month in review of events in Burma,
particularly those of interest to the democracy movement and human
rights activists.
In the February 2013 issue you will find:
* Discrimination and abuses against Muslims and Rohingya
* Rohingya exodus
* Clashes in Kachin and Shan States
* Ojea Quintana visits Burma
* Massive military spending proposed
* Land confiscation protests
* List of Reports
* Much more...
The February 2013 Burma Bulletin is also available online at:
http://bit.ly/XGWA4J
You can also receive daily Burma updates by following us on Twitter
http://twitter.com/altsean and facebook http://on.fb.me/PlngAO
Yours, in solidarity,
ALTSEAN-Burma
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Mar 01, 2013 (English Version)
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Mar 05, 2013 (English Version)
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Mar 06, 2013 (English Version)
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MTV WORLD STAGE LIVE IN MYANMAR FEATURING JASON MRAZ TO AIR ACROSS MTV INTERNATIONAL ON MARCH 8TH
On March 8th, 2013, check your local listings to watch ‘MTV Worldstage: Live in Myanmar’ on MTV channels around the globe. A one-of-kind concert that will go down in history where 70,000 people gathered in Yangon, Myanmar on December 17th, 2012 to raise awareness to end human trafficking and exploitation.
http://mtvexit.org/
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Mar 07, 2013 (English Version)
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Mar 08, 2013 (English Version)
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FBR: Kachin Update - Photo set two; Attacks Against the Kachin are Sporadic but Displacement is Constant
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FBR Report: Kachin Update – Photo set two; Attacks Against the Kachin are Sporadic but Displacement is Constant
Kachin State, Burma8 March, 2013
One of five camps for displaced Kachin that was visited on this trip
Kachin girl in high mountain hiding place
Kachin pastor points to Burma army position close to IDP camp
Kachin nurse at IDP clinic
Kachin man wounded by the Burma army
Kachin kids sing with Rangers
Kachin and Lisu Rangers lead worship for children in IDP camp
Kachin and Arakan FBR Relief teams give out food to children in IDP site
IDP lady receives food
Flying the Kachin flag at an IDP camp
Here is an update from Kachin State;
We see here that although now there is sporadic fighting and shelling, but the Burma army is strengthening its positions and
for the IDPs there is constant displacement. The Burma army is resupplying after two months of airstrikes and ground assaults. On this mission the Burma army has been close all the time and have built more camps and crept closer to Kachin positions and communities since we have been here. We have reconed them in many places and they look well supplied, well fed, well
armed and motivated. They look like they are ready to attack again. In spite of this God is our hope and we feel reinforced by your prayers and help.
We are now high up in the mountains and the Kachin and Lisu families here live in cold, brutal squalor with little sanitation. I feel sad and angry when I see this. People are not to live this way. In the IDP site we are in now at over 7,000 feet, I stepped into a plywood and tarp hut to pray with a sick woman. She had an IV in her and was very feeble and coughing. When I prayed with her she grabbed my hand and said, “Thank you, thank you.” I walked out into the windy, dusty pathway and felt sad. I then looked around me at the huddled people, blue tarps and tin covered shacks and felt mad. This is unacceptable. Most of these people have been up here for over a year hiding from the Burma army.
The next morning I read the Bible and prayed for a word from God. I read from Psalm 103 and in verse six it says, “God works righteousness and justice for the oppressed”. I thought that God acts through people like you who help the IDPs. You all, the teams here and all who help are God’s hands and feet. I thank God for that and also that God will do something thru us all and unilaterally to help the oppressed.
This is my prayer and my hope.
The FBR Kachin, Taaung, Burmese-ABSDF and Arakan relief teams are doing well on this mission and our focus is to the more difficult to reach IDPs. The Kachin Independence Organization and Army have made all relief possible and we thank them. We are driving and walking to four different sites north of Laiza between Pajao and Pang Wa. We are greeted with love and graciousness everywhere. They live a cold, cramped and brutal life and it can seem the world has forgotten them. When I asked the kids what they wanted, they all
cried out, “We want to go home!”. One man who was blinded and suffered amputations by a landmine, when asked for how to pray for him, asked that we pray for his fellow wounded and IDPs in hiding. All this before praying for his own needs. He had a young wife and child and yet his main concern was for others. One of the volunteer teachers in a IDP site said, ” We do not trust the Burma army, they are liars, but we believe in God and know the situation is in His hands.” In another place we were asked to pray, because ”God answers prayer and God is our only hope”.
One lady who lives very close to the attacking Burma army told us as she held her baby, “Yes I am afraid but if I leave what will our Kachin soldiers on the hill above us do? Who will feed them? Who will help them? How will they be encouraged? So as long as I can I will stay with my family here. Please pray for me and all of us, we need God’s help. We trust God.”
I thank God for all of you who helped us get here, for the funds, supplies and for all those around the world who are helping. Tonight in the hiding place after worship, the pastor said, “God is in this, He will bring us through.”
We need prayer to do God’s work here God’s way and for healing for all those sick on our team.
Love and May God bless you,
Dave, family FBR HQ and all FBR teams here in Kachin state
The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.
For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org
© 2010 Free Burma Rangers | Contact FBR
To unsubscribe from this email list, please respond to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line, or send email to mailadmin@freeburmarangers.org.
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Chronic Problems for Burma’s Health System
BURMA
Chronic Problems for Burma’s Health System
A woman comforts her husband at a hospice for cancer patients in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)
RANGOON — In a tiny clinic on the outskirts of Rangoon, a patient is complaining that she has too much snot up her nose. The young doctor picks up a torch to peer down her nostrils and says he cannot see a problem, but the patient pulls out some x-rays taken by a local hospital and says she worries there may be a cancerous growth.
Rather than ply her with medication and a raft of further tests, Dr Win (name changed) sits her down and explains that the problem is not serious. It takes 10 minutes, but she leaves reassured.
In Burma’s under-resourced health system, this approach is almost revolutionary. Hundreds of doctors operate private evening clinics around Rangoon and other cities, but for many, the priority is to cram in as many patients as possible and dole out medicine, regardless of whether it is needed.
“Most patients just want an injection when they come here. They don’t care if it is really needed. That is the mindset that has developed,” said Dr Win. To keep the patients happy, many doctors simply administer placebos, such as vitamin or glucose shots, he says.
“The doctors know it’s unethical, but they do it anyway. They do not have time to talk to their patients and really explain. They just want the patients to keep coming back because they need the money.”
Dr Win is something of a rarity, supported by an international charity that tries to improve the quality of local care in Burma by paying doctors a salary so that they do not have an incentive to charge for unnecessary treatments, and encouraging them to spend more time talking to patients. Having operated in Burma for years, it has preferred to stay anonymous and out of government control.
Burma’s evening clinics exist because government doctors need to boost their meager salaries after-hours. The chronic lack of investment across the health sector—particularly in education—can lead to dangerous consequences.
“I have seen many cases of misdiagnosis and bad treatment,” said Dr Win. “One patient came to me recently with a dog bite. The previous doctor had not given him a rabies vaccine and had stitched the wound, which you must never do. It was badly inflamed and infected. He could have died.”
An even more serious concern is the quality of the medicines. An estimated 70 percent of drugs administered in Burma are unregulated.
“It is much cheaper to get medicines from the black market through border trade, so many doctors do that to save money. Their customers are very poor so they have no choice, but it can be very dangerous,” said Dr Htin Paw, CEO of the private Sakura Medical Center in Rangoon.
A UN report in 2009 found that Burma had one of the lowest health expenditures in the world, spending just US $7 per person, or 1.8 percent of its annual budget. This has improved to some extent, with the government reportedly earmarking 3.9 percent of its 2013-14 budget to health.
But it will take a long time for Burma’s crumbling government hospitals to make up for past under-investment. In the meantime, the shortfall falls on the patients.
“It cost me 700,000 kyat [about $800] for my wife to give birth to our child,” Kho Nai, a resident of Ahlone Township in Rangoon, said recently while waiting at a local clinic. “I even had to buy a razor blade so they could shave her. Every time we go into the hospital waiting room, they just want more and more money. Even the porters are asking for money just to push the trolley or sweep the floor.”
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has called on the government to start making proper budget plans for health.
“The government claims that it is sharing costs with the patient. In reality, the patients have to pay for everything,” said Phyu Phyu Thin, a member of Parliament for the NLD.
“They should have a plan for the whole year. At the moment, they buy the medicine all in one go, so they run out very easily and it is hard to buy more. We need to start ordering our medicines from foreign countries, or we will continue to have many problems.”
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Mar 11, 2013 (English Version)
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[Altsean-Burma] Burma's facade: An update on conflicts, displacement & human rights violations
Dear Friends,
ALTSEAN-Burma has released a briefer titled �Burma�s facade: An update on conflicts, displacement & human rights violations.� This briefer, which covers the period from October 2012 to March 2013, includes the following developments:
- Regime authorities continue to commit serious human rights violations against Rohingya in Arakan State, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture, the rape of women, and restrictions on religious freedom. The regime also tightens restrictions on freedom of movement, and refuses to consider citizenship rights for Rohingya
- From December, the regime dramatically intensifies military offensives against the Kachin Independence Army. The Tatmadaw uses fighter jets, helicopters, artillery, mortars, and cluster bombs during military operations. Tatmadaw attacks claim several civilian lives.
- Over 115,000 predominately Rohingya IDPs remain displaced in Arakan State. Rohingya IDPs continue to endure terrible conditions in camps. Thousands of Rohingya boat people die during perilous journeys in search of safety in Southern Thailand or Malaysia.
- Regime�s determination to stifle freedom of speech and freedom of assembly persists. In numerous cases, the authorities respond to peaceful protests with arrests and excessive use of force.
- Severe restrictions continue to characterize Burma�s media environment, with the regime replacing its notorious Censorship Board with a similar body tasked with monitoring publications and suspending/revoking publishing licenses.
- The USDP-dominated Parliament approves massive military spending, with over 20% of the total budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year allocated to military expenditure and only 4.4% and 3.9% to education and healthcare respectively.
- Burma continues to rank poorly on international surveys measuring perceived corruption, risks posed to investors, and transparency in the financial sector. The regime�s push for the development of Special Economic Zones continues to adversely impact local communities.
You can also receive daily Burma updates by following us on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ALTSEAN and Facebook http://on.fb.me/PlngAO
Yours, in solidarity,
ALTSEAN-Burma
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Mar 12, 2013 (English Version)
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Army Prevents Kachin Peace Marchers from Reaching Laiza
Army Prevents Kachin Peace Marchers from Reaching Laiza
By ZARNI MANN / THE IRRAWADDY| March 12, 2013
A group of five monks and 15 activists walks through Rangoon at the start of a two-month march to Kachin State on Jan. 21, 2013. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
Dozens of Kachin peace activists and monks on a march to Laiza from Myingyan in Magwe Division have been prevented from reaching the besieged stronghold of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) by Burmese government forces.
The peace campaigners set out on the march to urge the government to stop the fighting in Kachin State, where conflict between the Burmese army and the KIO’s armed wing has raged since June 2011 and intensified near Laiza toward the end of last year.
They were stopped by government troops based near Nan Lae Creek, about 14 km from Laiza, and warned to turn around.
Aung Min Naing, a member of another group marching to Laiza from Rangoon, said: “They [the Myingyan marchers] were told not to proceed with the march because there is no government security after that point and there are landmines in the area.
“They are camping at Lan Nan bridge, about 14 km from Laiza, and are discussing the situation with the military.”
The group, which includes nine Buddhist monks and 11 women, set off from Myingyan on Feb. 7 and reached the frontline on March 9. They have reportedly refused offers of food from the Burmese army, despite having little of their own food left to eat.
“We worry about them as they do not accept food from the army, although the food they brought with them has almost run out. We hope we can give them the food and other supplies they might need when we reach them,” said Aung Min Naing from the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina.
“However, we do not know yet whether they will be able to proceed or not, as the mobile network coverage is bad in the area,” he added.
“We think we will also experience the same problem when we reach there. But if they [the army] said there are landmines, it means there will be a high risk of traveling in the area.”
He added: “We wonder why the army did not help the activists to clear the landmines and escort them on their way to Laiza. If people really want peace, they should provide security and support to those who walk for peace.”
Ye Htut, the spokesperson for the office of President Thein Sein, wrote on his Facebook account that the local military authorities have advised the marchers against continuing, adding that the government is currently in talks with the KIO to end the fighting and is allowing humanitarian supplies into the city.
The activists who marched from Rangoon said they will head for Laiza on March 15.
Kachin leaders rejected calls from the government for an immediate ceasefire during talks in the Chinese border town of Ruili on Monday.
An estimated 100,000 Kachin villagers have been displaced as a result of the conflict, many of whom are currently taking refuge at camps on the Chinese side of the border.
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