Saving Lives in the Forgotten War Zones of Burma

http://www.christianfreedom.org/cfi-news/1-latest-news/292-saving-lives-in-the-forgotten-war-zones-of-burma.html

CFI News
Written by CFI Field Staff
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 18:21

MAE SOT, THAILAND -- It took five days for the medics to carry Saw Eh Pley to the clinic in Baw Peh Village, Burma. In this part of the Burmese jungle, medical care is hard to find.

Ethnic Karen men, women, and children will walk -- or be carried -- for days and weeks to reach one of Christian Freedom International’s field clinics in Burma’s forgotten war zones. CFI’s clinics in Karen occupied areas treat hundreds each month with life-saving medicine and care.


Local Karen refer to the CFI clinics as “Freedom Hospitals.” The make-shift, bamboo clinics stand as beacons of hope in places where hope is difficult to find.

Naw Beh Say Paw, 24, is a Karen medic at the CFI “Freedom” clinic in Baw Peh Village. “The oppressed Karen people of Burma need our help,” said Naw Beh Say Paw. “Many die from malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea, malnutrition, gunshot wounds, and landmines.”

Today Saw Eh Pley is fortunate. The medicine he needs for his malaria is carefully administered by the CFI medics.

“I joined with CFI health workers at Freedom 2 Hospital,” explained Naw Beh Say Paw. “As I am a medic for this Freedom Hospital, I try my best to look after the patients. As CFI love us and support us with medicine and help our people I too will try my very best in the future to work for CFI and my Karen people.”

“CFI helps us by giving us monthly support of foods, medicine and whatever needs the medics and patients have,” said Naw Beh Say Paw. “CFI also provides medicine and training for the backpack teams.”

CFI is a major provider of vital medicine to the persecuted Karen and Karenni people of Burma. CFI has also pioneered the effort of delivering medical aid to those living life on the run in Burmese jungles through a “backpack medic” program. CFI’s backpack medics risk their own lives to bring healing -- and hope -- to hundreds of suffering Karen and Karenni men, women, and children who are too sick or injured to travel to a field hospital.

The military junta of Burma maintains a policy of horrific human rights violations against its own people. Especially targeted are the mostly Christian Karen, Karenni, and Chin.

Burma, called Myanmar by current military dictatorship, has one of the most repressive governments in the world. The regime known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) seized power in September 1988 after harshly suppressing massive pro-democracy demonstrations. The SPDC maintains a policy of brutal repression and violent restraint on all opposition. Tens of thousands of Karen, Karenni, and Chin have been displaced from their homes by the junta.