Nargis Relief: Week 3

First, I would like to apologize for the delay in updating. I’ve been in Singapore and didn’t update.

Now, as for the third week that I spent in Myanmar, I look very fondly on this week. For the first few days of the week we simply rested. After the week that was Bago, we needed it! We had done so much travelling around in between villages, churches and pagodas and gotten so little sleep (in addition to the fact that both Christer and Zeke were intermittently sick throughout the week), that we needed at least a few days to catch up.

When Wednesday arrived, we went to the other side of the zoo from Methodist English Church to the Office of the Methodist Committee for Nargis Relief and Rehabilitation (MCNRR). There we learned of the ministries that the Methodist Church (Lower Myanmar) is doing in the delta area one year later. Many charities and organizations in the beginning banded together to drop materials or do short term mission work, but that is not the goal or the method of the MCNRR. They are really trying to heal the Nargis affected areas holistically—body, mind and spirit. They have helped to builded over 40 houses in villages and helped to provide materials for villagers to return to providing what little income they could before the cyclone. They have sent, on several occasions, trained counselors to help villagers with the unbelievable amount of emotional damage left in the aftermath. They, after having met these needs (in other words, after having acted out the gospel) present the gospel message to them. They are involved in education. Actually, a few students from my college, Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, raised enough money to fund most of a school for a village in the delta (go Vince and Hilary!). Also, we participated in medical mission work providing free medical care for villagers. All in all, the MCNRR is doing a very good job of reaching out and helping the people who are in need in the delta and doing in a committed, long-term, and holistic manner.

So, as we went out to Nay pyo daw, Shanguin, Seinyati, and other villages we saw the face of Christ. I am reminded of Matthew in which Jesus, after having separated the sheep and the goats, says, “Whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done it for me.” I hope that I can continue to keep that mindset in social justice as I step back into my padded American world. But the idea for all of us to keep in mind is that we absolutely CAN make a difference, Hilary and Vince helped build a school. What can you do? Support a world vision child. Find out what kind of outreach your church is already doing and take a more active role. As American’s we have power and resources that others in the world could not even imagine, we have a responsibility to take that seriously.

A few pictures in case you missed them on Facebook

Blog Two from Myanmar: Bago - June 8-14, 2009

What a week that was. Perhaps the most intense week of the entire trek, week two began with a rest day. Following Monday, the day of rest, we sat out very early (but not quite as early as we had planned) for Bago, a city of 250,000 about 2 hours away. Now to describe the transportation. We used Zeke’s car on the treacherous Myanmar roads. Once one leaves Yangon, there is a sort of a highway that extends to Bago. It is about as wide as an interstate in the US except that the median is replaced by a row of trees. If there were any lines it could probably hold 8 lanes, so it is very wide, and not in the best of shape (there are pot holes everywhere. They told me that sober people swerve all over the road to miss the pot holes. Its the drunk people in Myanmar that drive straight and ruin their cars). As for how the people of Myanmar use the road, it is understood that a place on the road is not given—it must be won. So as we weaved in and out of the way of tour buses and trucks with full loads of people in the back, and around pot holes and cows with the windows rolled down, I remembered my love of road trips.

After arriving windblown and weary from all the jerking about, we immediately started assessing the preschool of Christ Methodist Church in Bago, a church in the Chinese district (more on Myanmar Methodist Polity in a later post for those who care). The assessment consisted of interviewing the principal and around four teachers as well as completing a checklist of various items we found to be essential for a preschool of this sort including hygiene, discipline, and labeling. Then we went to a Methodist church and World Vision supported boarding house. Later, we watched pirated movies and slept.

The next day I met a most intriguing woman. She is 23. Her name is Lei Bo Mu, and she is the pastor of two different congregations which used to be the same church. Both of these churches meet in houses and both of them make her job as a young clergywoman less than easy. I was actually impressed with her courage and completely flabbergasted (yeah, I just used that word. Deal.) at how very “American” I thought her problems sounded. How many times have you you heard the following story before:

The pastor wants to reach out to one or more marginalized groups (youth, young adults, the poor, etc.), but can’t because of opposition in the church. The older people in the church, who have attended the church for their whole life, can’t seem to let go of the idea of the church as it was 30 or 40 years ago and do not seem to see that the church is dying of old age around them.

This seems to be a typical model of the death of a church in the United States, and it even reaches as far as rural Myanmar. Which leads me to one of the themes which emerged in my trip—The impact of the US and more broadly of the West reaches deep into the furthest reaches of every country on this planet whether we like it or not. We need to take that influence seriously. I heard Lady Gaga and saw posters of Avril Lavigne in the middle of nowhere Myanmar—do you think they even realize. All any of the villagers wanted to know about was Obama and what I thought of him. I thought I was just voting—no biggie—, but I was wrong.

Throughout the week I saw so many giant golden Buddha statues that I could not believe that the poor were continuing to donate everything they had to the pagodas. The French definitely would have protested and killed someone by now. I learned about Buddhist culture and I experienced the love of God that the Christians in Bago have. I preached about unity in a tiny church on Sunday morning and I later spoke briefly on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives at a Youth Rally.

Coming up next post: Cyclone Nargis villages

Give me some feedback! Too long? Not enough detail? Are you even reading?

A Post At Long Last

Note: I wrote this post on approximately June 1^st. I never got it posted because of the internet censorship that I will speak of and because of time. This will be the first of several retrospective posts on Myanmar. Following that I will blog about Malaysia where I have only just arrived.

First, I would like to apologize for the absence of an update. When I arrived I discovered that the internet is much more difficult to find and to use than in the United States. I was mentally prepared for this possibility, but I wasn’t practically prepared. First, the internet is hard to find. Wifi is but a distant memory now. Once you find it, it can be costly. Of course, it is not really all that costly in terms of the United States—only 2000 kyats (said chats with a long a) which is the equivalent of 2 dollars—, but on a limited budget getting on everyday or even every other day adds up. Second, the government controls internet usage and has blocked blogspot, so I offer my apologies again.

Well, on to greater things! I have few words to express the immensity of the beauty and power of my experience this first week, especially when compared to my troubles before arriving. So, in order for you to understand how freeing this first week has been I will present you with a list of my problems before arriving:

1. I was scheduled to fly straight to Singapore on May 18^th and visit Alicia Ong, Quack, and Isaac Chua for around a week but was forced to reschedule my flight and miss that first week going straight on to Myanmar May 28^th because my passport with Myanmar visa did not return to my house until Thursday May 21^st.
   
2. This next one isn’t really that bad, but it definitely affected my psyche. On the way from Houston to Moscow there was a VERY loud two year old Russian boy who would scream the scream of 1000 dying cats if the Chinese Malaysian woman who works in Cincinnati who was sitting beside me did not make faces at him. Needless to say I got no sleep.
   
3. When flying from Singapore to Yangon we had to land in Phuket, Thailand (quite a small, boring, and cold airport I should interject) because the pilot said we had a leak in our right wing. Well, when we disembarked it turned out he had candy-coated it a bit. Our engine had leaked most of its oil and was actually on fire when we landed. Really? Come on! We had to wait in the airport for nearly 8 hours waiting for a replacement plane to take us to Yangon.
   
4. When I arrived I realized that I had forgotten to withdraw the full amount of money that I had intended to. Cultural note: there is no banking system here. This means there are no ATMs, banks, credit cards, credit card machines, or wire transfers. So I was very, very much in trouble.
   

With all of this hanging over me I landed in Yangon International Airport at around 6 pm local time. Then I began to experience the culture. What a beautiful, colorful, unique, and diverse country! In this first week I have attended two house church meetings, learned enough Burmese to get around town decently, visited the giant and interesting Schwedagon Pagoda (Wikipedia it and be jealous), developed an tool for the assessment of the Methodist preschools of the Methodist Church (Lower Myanmar), assessed two preschools, led worship and gave testimony in a huge beautiful Methodist church, eaten more amazing Chinese, Burmese, Indian, Chin, and Shan food than any one person should, and attended the Global Day of Prayer event for Yangon. What a week!

There is too much to write about here but I will share a few points with you.

On arrival, both Audra and I expressed interest in the Buddhist culture here in Myanmar. Theravada Buddhism is the state religion. As such, there are Pagodas (Buddhist temples) and monasteries (and therefore monks) everywhere all the time. To reflect this interest Bishop and Dr. Mawia have decided to add a religious studies element to the internship and we will be adding a Buddhist studies and Methodist studies objective in each area we travel to. This opportunity excites me greatly!

Second, Myanmar is good for the self-image. I have been complemented and hit on here. It is entertaining and awesome. The most entertaining story of them all occurred two nights ago when the interns and Caroline Mawia (Christer and Hilary’s mother) went out to a Thai restaurant. There was a grovery store next door and I needed water so I went over. When I was checking out the most wonderful and amazing woman helped me. She smiled and giggled the entire time she was ringing up each item. When finally the total came up she pointed to it because she could not speak English very well. As I handed her the money (2000 kyats for a 1200 kyats total I believe) I said thank you in Burmese, “Kyei zu beh”. She laughed and smiled because white people/foreigners in general seldom take the time to learn Burmese. Then in the most fantastic, wondrous and magically broken English I have ever heard she said, “You are… so… beautiful.” I promptly said, “Thank you”. I then took a bow and pranced out. (Follow up: I encountered this situation at least 6 more times in Myanmar including the immigration agent on the way out. Myanmar is awesome)

Last, (if you are still reading I commend you) on Sunday morning I had the opportunity to share a testimony after leading in the contemporary worship section of the worship service at Methodist English Church. I will put of pictures of this church because it is beautiful. I think its beauty comes in its age and simplicity. It does not try so hard to be beautiful like many American churches. Anyway, I had an opportunity to share with the Myanmar Christian community a message not of fatherhood but of brotherhood. So often Christians from the united States come expecting to fix and lead the church in Myanmar. They do no need that. They need brotherhood and support. You have no greater faith or clout than any other person who bears the image of God (that’s everyone folks!). This was an encouraging message for me and thankfully it fell encouragingly on the ears of the congregation that morning.

Coming up next week: visits to Buddhist pagodas and a trip to another region, Bago. There we will experience a different part of the lower Myanmar Methodist Church and assess more preschools.