Light in the Darkness: Prayer on the Burmese Border

Published: August 28th, 2008

It’s just after 2 in the morning on the 9th of August 2008.  Around me are a dozen young people, teens and twenties with heads bowed.  We are praying.  Amongst us scuttle Geckos, unnaturally large, and slightly scary bugs.  Above us bats flying around our heads feeding on the bugs.  Around us, the Spirit of God is so thick, it feels like you can reach out and caress His invisible hand.  We are praying.  Outside, the biggest monsoon storm to hit the Thai / Burma border since Cyclone Nigris devastated the Irrawaddy on 02 May 2008 is blowing trees down, and washing sections of roads away.  We are praying.  Candlelight gutters in the wind.  We lost electricity just after midnight.  We are seeking God’s face.  There is not an electric light for miles.  We are in a darkness so total, it is heavy, even oppressive with the wind howling through the wooden slats of the roof.  We are in a small church in the mountains on the Thai / Burma Border, the youngsters are Karen refugees, each one displaced by the Burmese government’s policy of ethnic cleansing that has gone on, virtually unnoticed to the rest of the world, for almost 60 years.

Candles flicker and prayers are muttered in Karen as those around me lift up their prayers to God.  Some are orphans, having lost their parents years before to conflict, displacement and disease.  Some have siblings in the local orphanage, but are unsure where their remaining family are, having become separated by the constant conflict forced upon their people by an oppressive and illegal government in their homeland of Burma.  Some have seen loved ones murdered by Burmese soldiers, their villages burned to the ground and littered with land mines.  Incidents of mutilation and torture are widespread in the east of Burma.  All those around me want to go home.  All want peace.  All love God with an intensity and passion that is startling to experience.  Their youthful, innocent faces lifted up to the Father in praise and worship, illuminated by their love for Him and flickering candlelight.  They are a light in the darkness, the cloying oppressive darkness that feels like more than a lack of physical light, but a spiritual darkness of the fear, uncertainty, and oppression that arises from the evil perpetrated by men intoxicated by power and corruption, and intent on genocide. 

Coming from the UK, where life is safe, where education and health provision is a given, seeing the faith and honest urgency of prayer in those around me moves me to tears.  It has been an emotional 24 hours of prayer.  It’s been an emotional week.  Each time I look back at my time with the Karen my heart breaks and the need to do something, anything becomes overwhelming.  But what can we do?  So small, so insignificant compared to nations, governments and armies.  The previous day Laura Bush, President George Bush’s wife, and their daughter Barbara visited Mae La Refugee camp a few miles from us, and where all the young people around me are registered.  Official news reports that Mae La is home for 30,000 Karen Refugees.  A reliable source informs us that the figure is nearer 65,000 having grown from 10,000 in the early 1990’s.  65,000 people, living, learning, being born, growing, and dying in a tiny strip of land, scraped from the jungles, with not a square metre wasted.  Some will never see home again, being carried back into Burma by family members to be buried in the land they love.  Some have never seen their homeland, having been born in the jungles as their mothers fled the soldiers, or were born in the camp without a home, with no apparent hope for a future.

But one should never lose hope.  Hope is centered on Christ.  He is our hope and our salvation.  Amongst the Karen and others who have been oppressed by the Burmese dictators hope is a currency. A weapon against despondency and death, jealously guarded, nurtured and grown wherever possible.  The Karen are proud, strong, and beautiful, with a history closely linked with our own country; from the first explorers and missionaries through to fighting as loyal and brave allies against Japanese Forces in the Second World War.  The Karen continue to fight to defend their homes and families, and the Karen National Liberation Army is one of the few military bodies involved in Burma who have not been critised for human rights abuses.  In addition to self defence forces, the minority groups of Burma actively seek to help their people through non-conflict forces, such as the Free Burma Rangers.  These 'Rangers' enter conflict zones, unarmed, to provide support, medical treatment and guidance to those fleeing the Burmese army within Burma.  They bring help, hope and love to people in the war zones of Burma, and have treated Burmese soldiers found injured despite their comrades being tortured and killed whenever captured by these same forces.  

Around 40% of the Karen are Christians, the remainder being Buddhist or Animist.  The Christian Karen actively develop discipleship and evangelistic programs, frequently sending newly commissioned pastors into Burma to serve their people hiding in the jungles.  The courage of these missionaries, to venture into warzones knowing that capture may mean torture goes beyond our simple fears of speaking to someone we do not know, fearing rejection for our faith.  This outreach through mission is in the most challenging of circumstances, where capture can really mean death.  Is it any wonder that the last 100 years has seen more Christians martyred than any other time?

We had been visiting, teaching and supporting the small church, Bible school and primary school at Noh Bo since the start of the week.  No matter how early we rose we would be greeted with the sound of young people singing, mainly in Karen, but occasionally in English.  What was clear was that each song was a song of worship to Jesus, from early morning devotions, at 5am, to after dark, the young people would lift Jesus’ name in praise and worship.  Individually, in small groups, or corporately.  Whether washing, working, cooking or cleaning, someone would be lifting praises to heaven.  Constant prayer is nothing new to the students of Noh Bo.  It is part of their reality, not the optional extra many western Christians may see it as.  Prayer and fasting plays a regular part of school life, even in times of plenty.  The students are enthusiastic at the suggestion of an extra day of prayer, beginning on the 8th of August, the 20th anniversary of the 1988 Democratic Uprisings in Burma, and timed to coincide with a 24-7 event back home in Gosport, Hampshire, by the newly formed Solent 24-7 Prayer Fellowship.  They feel linked with others by this endeavour, that others care and are praying for them speaks powerfully.  One of the major problems for the Karen is the time since the oppression started. 60 years of quiet death, anonymous suffering away from the world’s notice.  It is an unfathomable amount of time during which some have kept hope, but many have not.  Knowing others around the world care and pray for them gives hope that something will one day be done.

Through the subsequent day of prayer we experienced some real moves of the Spirit, with worship, teaching, and prayer running constantly throughout.  God is good, and His Spirit was powerful despite the darkness.  His light was shining throughout the night, and spoke to these people forced to live in a strange land.

You may read this and wonder what you can do to help.  How we can make a difference despite the overwhelming odds of facing a military dictatorship that has a standing army of half a million, including 50,000 children? A dictatorship that is content to stand in front of international condemnation and allow hundreds of thousands of their own people to perish due to natural disaster, and who pursue the destruction of minority groups through ethnic cleansing.  Well you can make a difference, the first and foremost is to pray.  God is bigger than any country, government, or dictator.  God can make a difference, whether for individuals or groups.  Jesus was sent to restore sight to the blind and set the captives free.  We in turn are called to do the same.  There are many organizations that are focused on supporting the oppressed of Burma.  The charity I work with, is focused specifically on the Karen, however a swift Google search will result in numerous websites.  Another is ‘Partners’ who we often work closely with in country and who are represented throughout the world.  You can support us or any of the other charities (we are always seeking fundraising help!), or you can lobby your MP in the UK.  The UN have still not imposed realistic or effective sanctions against the Burmese Government, and continue to purchase goods that originate from Burma and continue to fund the dictatorship.  Burma is the second largest producer of opiates after Afghanistan, and the largest ‘employer’ of child soldiers in the world.

The production of drugs that are bound for our streets or employment of child soldiers alone should be sufficient to bring action from any sensible and upstanding democratic government, however without pressure, our politicians and leaders appear to do little.  So we do have a role.  To lobby our government, to act with courage and stand up for the powerless and disadvantaged, the persecuted and displaced.  As Helen Keller said…

“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker”

And we are called to pray, pray, pray… as is the motto of the Free Burma Rangers calls us to do…

Love each other.  Unite for Freedom, Justice and Peace.  Forgive and don’t hate each other.  Pray with Faith, Act with Courage, Never Surrender!

Jeff Hatcher is 37, and has been married to Karen for 15 years.  They have two sons, Josh is 11, and Toby is 7.  Jeff has served in the British Armed Forces for 20 years, and is a qualified social worker.  He loves reading, worshiping, soaking in God’s presence, loud rock music, computer games, and spending time with his family.  They are 2 of the 5 trustees for Borderlines, a small UK based charity that aims to support the displaced Karen people of Burma through humanitarian aid and educational provision.  Jeff first experienced 24-7 after reading Red Moon Rising in 2007, and the bug just keeps on biting!

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