Myanmar (MNN)–Myanmar’s people, ruled by a military junta, face a scenario “rapidly deteriorating”.
On Thursday, a delegation recommended that the United Nations Security Council adopt a binding resolution that will force the Burmese military to work toward peace and democracy in a timely fashion.
Under the military regime, hundreds of thousands have been forced into slave labor, child soldiers have been drafted and thousands murdered.
Operation Mobilization’s Dawn Greenfield works with Mercy Teams there and says it’s nothing short of ‘ethnic cleansing’ for the hill tribes. The conflict has sent thousands of refugees streaming into neighbouring countries.
However, the Karen and Hmong are, “…a people without a country, so they have absolutely no rights to education, no right to medical care, they cannot move.”
Trapped in a no-mans’ land, their desperation grows. And hope shines brighter against that backdrop. “[In] the area that we’re working in, we really felt the need to help the children with the education.”
Teaching English is their greatest tool to spread the name of Jesus in Myanmar. Open evangelism is not possible, so the school is the backbone of their ministry.
Greenfield say they will be laying foundations for a bigger school as early as January 2007. Mercy Teams is also looking for teachers too.
The school addresses a need–and the people respond because: “Thailand doesn’t want me. Burma doesn’t want me. Who does want me? When they hear the good news that God wants them, God thinks they’re special, that He thinks they’re unique, it’s an amazing message to a person who is so oppressed.”
