Partners Blogcast: "Their Children Are Starving"

Steve and Oddny Gumaer started Partners Relief & Development in response to the needs of refugees and displaced people from Burma. This blog is meant to be a more personal stream of conversation than newsletters allow for. The opinions expressed here may not be those of Partners Relief & Development.

Cold Season Military Offensives Have Started In Burma

By Steve Gumaer - Last week my wife, three daughters and I went to visit 15 new families who have recently arrived in a temporary camp along the Thai Burma border. One mother told us how their homes, schools, churches, and farms have been destroyed or burned down and how the Burma Army is abusing those villagers they catch, using them as human mine sweepers and forced laborers.

As they recounted their stories to us, I thought to myself, "These stories aren't that bad. No rapes or people being burned alive, no horrible torture stories or mass displacement. I have heard much worse than this." The moment I had this thought I realized how jaded my heart was in response to the nightmare these people and their children were experiencing.

They can't go home. Ever. Their ancestral villages and rice fields are landmined and occupied by the incomprehensible and brutal force of their own countrymen. Their kids are starving, fighting the cold season temperatures, and moving through the jungle in small groups as they seek to avoid the soldiers that seek to harm them. As of today, it is reported that 330 newly displaced people are fleeing such attacks.

Many of them, like the 15 families we were visiting, end up in camps along the Moi river. The boy in the picture at right is one of the latest arrivals. My daughters and I walked past him on our way out of the camp as he sat sifting dirt from small rice grains in order to have something to eat for dinner. Can you imagine how it would feel to be the father of this boy as he spirals into sickness and malnourishment? Can you imagine the pain of being forced to give up any hope of returning to your home, your place of birth, and the farms your great grandfather planted with his own hands?

God, I beg you to help these people.

I also appeal again to you who get this message. Keep praying that God would bring an end to the ongoing violence against innocent people in Burma. Pray for the relief teams who deliberately hike into conflict areas to minister to these people and help them.

It costs so little money to provide basic survival needs for them. Please look at our 5 alive web site page for details. The bottom line is that it costs us only $50 to give a family 5 everything they need to survive for a month. If you are able to join the effort, click here now to make a secure online donation.

Because of your generosity, Partners and the Free Burma Rangers have been able to supply rice, medicine, knives, cooking pots, mats, blankets, mosquito nets and stoves to those who are in desperate need of help. But our provisions are not nearly enough to satisfy the needs of these swelling numbers of displaced people.

Their misery has touched me. I feel challenged to care more, give more, and press on to demonstrate to them the compassion I have found in God. Join me in this revolution of love today!

Your Brother,
Steve Gumaer
CEO, Partners Relief & Development