July 18, 2008

Archbishop's account of Myanmar bravery shows people's woes

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Yangon says the human resilience shown by community rebuilding in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis wreaked havoc in May, killing more than 130,000 people, has given hope to the church.

"The faith of our people is astounding. There are not many complaints against their creator. The churches are full again with these simple faithful people," Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon told Ecumenical News International in an email message. "Our people are telling us that they can heal one another. Death courted them voraciously on that fateful night, but most of them are choosing life, refusing to be vanquished by the fury of nature or the neglect of men."

Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, was lambasted by Cyclone Nargis on May 2 which devastated the country's central coastal region, including its rice-rich Irrawaddy Delta and the former capital of Yangon. Aid agencies believe up to 140,000 or more people may have been killed.

The country is ruled by a military regime, and information from the country is scarce and people there are often afraid to talk, but the country is still desperate for aid say relief agencies. The flow of aid is not helped by the role the ruling military plays in its flow a number of agencies outside of Myanmar report in Asia.

"Killer waves forced many parents to choose one child over another," the archbishop said. "In the camp in Aima, a woman narrated how she had to let go her new born child and saved another aged one," he told ENI. "She made the choice, since the new born had not been emotionally bonded … She let her go so that the other child who had friends and known love and expressed it could live."

The archbishop continued, "In another place, two girls saved their little brother and one died in that ordeal. The boy was tied to the back of one of the girls and the two were being dragged by the waves. The elder one pushed the two towards the shores while she herself was devoured by the waves." Bo recounted the words of the girl who was saved: "Whenever my little brother smiles, a tear rolls down my cheeks for the sweet sister who is no more with us."

He said that some people had lived for a whole month among rotting bodies, debris and the suffocating stink of decay. Yet, despite their deprivation, there is a sense of gratitude at life and many people have consoled others, Archbishop Bo said.

"We are moved to tears when we see these people back again in their fields. The church walked with them in their moment of brokenness. We broke bread with them in their villages without homes and churches," he said.

Meanwhile, a group of church leaders from Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Myanmar who met in Bangkok on July 5 at a meeting organised by the Christian Conference of Asia, a regional ecumenical body, called for creative ways of involving churches in extending humanitarian aid and sustainable development to affected areas in Myanmar.

Prawate Khid-arn, the general secretary of the church grouping, said after the meeting, "People in Myanmar with their socio-economic and political realities still need help and support from us."

In Sydney, on July 15, Tujai Maris, a member of a group of 34 pilgrims from Myanmar said he had travelled to the World Youth Day in Australia, "To see our leader, to see the Pope." The Catholic News Agency reported that the group had to overcome obstacles getting visas to get there.

The pilgrims told of the difficulties faced by the church in their country, such as not being permitted to build churches and needing special authorisation from the government to celebrate their faith.

Myanmar has a population of about 50 million people, the majority of which are Buddhists. The Catholic Church has 650,000 faithful, while the Myanmar Baptist Church has 1.1 million members.

Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance, said in a recent report that "there are huge unmet basic needs for the victims of the disaster".

The report said, "Many families are living under makeshift shelter … made of clothes, branches of trees or even under debris." The document stated that "most of the water sources are completely destroyed or contaminated with human and animal carcasses" It says there is a dire shortage of proper facilities for storing drinking water.