Dave Eubank, founder of Free Burma Rangers, spoke during our chapel on July 27, 2011.

Dave shared some of his first-hand experiences behind the Burmese border. You clearly hear his heart for the oppressed ethnic minorities in Burma (Myanmar) and learn about what is being done to help them.

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Fourteen registered children, three Child Survival Program (CSP) mothers and one CSP father from the Rom–Prakun Child Development Center in Thailand were recently baptized.

Orasa is one of the youth who was baptized, and this is her testimony.

My name is Orasa. I now study at grade 11 at Mea La Noi Daronsik School. My family believes in God.

I have been attending the child development center for seven years and I gain useful knowledge there. The center equips and develops me in many areas and I meet many good friends.

When the church taught me about salvation and baptism, God softened my heart so that I wanted to have personal relationship with Him. A few days after the teaching I decided to receive Jesus Christ into my life. I confessed my sins and received my new life on that day.

Two days later, I was baptized in the river. It is my joy to walk with God.

I love going to church, I have joy, and when I begin to gossip about others, I feel that I am committing a sin. God always reminds me in doing things nowadays.

God loves His children and now I am a daughter of God. God takes care of me and I would like to show my appreciation for His provision.

Thank God for the church that opened the door for me and my friends to understand and receive Jesus Christ. From now on, I will serve God. Even though it is just a little thing, I am willing to serve and glorify him. I hope my life will honor God.

I would like to express my thankfulness to the staff at the church and thank you for my family to guide me. They help me know and understand God’s love.

The most important person I would like to say thank you to is my sponsor, Angela, who supports me. God bless you.

Orasa

This is the testimony of Nida, one of the mothers in the Child Survival Program.

Hello. My name is Nida. I am 19. I am a mother of a child who attends the Child Survival Program. I am very glad and very happy to write a testimony.

I came from a nonbelieving family. I am a minority in Burma and I moved to work in Chiang Mai. I met my husband there. I have been married for three years now and I have a child – her name is Nicharee.

My husband and I moved back to his hometown when I was pregnant. I was a Buddhist and my husband’s family were believers but not strong. They had never told me about God.

The Child Survival Program opened during my pregnancy and I had a chance to register. The reason they chose me is because I am very poor. I don’t have Thai citizenship so I cannot have benefits like Thai.

I am very grateful that I attend the program. It develops and trains me in many areas. They teach me to be a dressmaker, I know how to take care of my baby’s health, and I receive supplementary food.

My girl has good health and a good disposition. The best part I learn from the program is God’s love through the help of the staff. I learn to study the Bible, too.

At the beginning, I did not pay attention to the story of God or the Bible. I believed in Buddhist theory. But after I heard God’s story every week, I began to realize that I am a sinner and the only way to wash all my sin is through Jesus Christ.

I started to find out about the truth, and the staff told me that the church opened a class about salvation and baptism. After the class, I opened my heart to Jesus Christ to be my Savior. I was baptized a few days later.

I would like to thank God for Compassion and the Child Survival Program. I also would like to thank the donor who supports the program. I don’t have anything to pay back to you. I only pray that God will provide and bless you.

Nida

What is your testimony?

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Sudaphorn was born in poor family along the Thailand/Burma border. She had to drop out of school in 2002 for a job working as a housemaid in Bangkok.

Three years later she moved north to her husband’s hometown of Lahu village. The town is in the mountains in Chiang Rai, and is surrounded by hills, trees and blue sky.

Supaphorn felt like a complete stranger in Lahu village. She could not communicate with other villagers, not even with her husband’s family because they only spoke their tribal language. Their cultural traditions were different from hers, making her afraid she might do something wrong.

“I felt so lonely in this village. I did not know anyone in the village and I did not have any friends due to the language barrier. My family who I can count on is in another country, so they could not help me. I was so hopeless.

“I felt like Ruth in the Bible who lives in a country that is not her own with her husband’s family and faces hardships.”

Sudaphorn did not have Thai citizenship, so she could not travel out of town. She could only travel to places near her village. She also had conflicts with her husband’s family.

“After I moved here for six months, my mother-in-law started to say harsh words to me. Even though I could not understand the meaning I saw it on her face and expression. She was not pleased that I could not help them working in a field like other daughters-in-law. I knew that I could not do as she expected me to do as a daughter-in-law, but I did my best to please her and hoped she would gave me a chance to prove myself.

“I felt discouraged every time they chased me away. I wanted to run away from this place to go home to my mother but could not. I was stuck here. There was no one to help me through this situation.

“When I gave a birth, no one from my family, not even my husband, was beside me. I had to do everything on my own, such as doing laundry, raising my baby and cooking. I did not even have money to buy my baby just a pair of socks to keep her warm. I felt sorry and pitied myself that I did not have a chance like others.”

Sudaphorn could not read or understand the articles the health center provided regarding care for her baby. Even worse, her husband did not trust or listen to her, but believed instead everything his mother said.

When the Child Survival Program began in 2008, Sudaphorn was the only one who was not a local and could not speak the local language. The staff knew that it would be difficult for Sudaphorn, so they decided to register her so she and her daughter could receive benefits.

The staff conducted activities every week using Lahu language in teaching. At the beginning when Sudaphorn attended the program, the staff ensured that she understood the messages by talking to her after the class in Thai.

After Sudaphorn attended for a few months, she made friends with the mothers in the class, who helped her learn Lahu and translated for her when she did not understand the lesson.

Even though Sudaphorn did not fully understand Lahu, she loved going to the program. The staff taught her many useful lessons about her child’s development, provided supplementary food, taught her how to feed her baby girl, and encouraged her, which made her happy during this crisis period in her life. But Sudaphorn’s favorite time was Bible time.

The staff told stories of women in the Bible to the mothers each week. They wanted to teach and emphasize that the women in the Bible lived their lives differently, and that some were poor, some were not accepted by society, some lived a shameful life, some lost their beloved, but that they all had one thing in common: They trusted and obeyed God.

Even though the women faced hardship, God helped them thought the darkest times of their lives. The staff hoped that these mothers could learn and look up to the women in the Bible.

“It is very important to share the Gospel with the mothers in this village. More than half of the mothers consider themselves as a Christian but they don’t really understand about Christianity. Their forefathers were Christian, so they have a belief according to their ancestors. My heart cried out to bring those mothers to salvation,” says Wanreedee, the Child Survival Program coordinator.

Sudaphorn was an animist and had never heard a story about God or the Bible. This was the first time she learned about God. Sudaphorn began to understand Lahu. She listened with sparkling eyes, and she had interesting questions, asking staff about the women’s lives.

When the staff taught the mothers about Ruth, Wanreedee noticed in Sudaphorn a look of sadness, and her eyes were brimming with tears.

“I want to be like Ruth, but I cannot,” Sudaphorn said to Wanreedee after the class.

Wanreedee challenged Sudaphorn and told her that God was the only one who changed Ruth’s heart and that He could change hers. Aug. 19, 2009, was the day Sudaphorn opened her heart to Jesus Christ to come and change her heart.

After Sudaphorn attended church and learned the Bible with a pastor’s wife who spoke Burmese, God softened Sudaphorn’s heart. She opened her eyes to see His enduring love she longed for.

“In the past Sudaphorn had a root of bitterness with her mother-in-law, she was deeply hurt. After she had a personal relationship with God, she was able to forgive what her mother-in-law did to her. Sudaphorn has more patience with her family, and she is very enthusiastic learning the Bible,” says Nati, the pastor’s wife and Sudaphorn’s mentor.

“We spent time every day at my house, learning the Bible and singing songs. I am so happy that God has changed her life. Sudaphorn is like a daughter to me.”

Sudaphorn wants to emulate Ruth, saying, “One more way I want to be like her is to love and obey my mother-in-law.”

Says Wanreedee, “Sudaphorn has turned from a mournful to a cheerful person. The happiness is shown on her face. She now has many friends at the church because she is friendly, generous, and thoughtful.”

“God is so amazing,” Sudaphorn says. “He blesses me with many wonderful things and he answered all my prayers. God gave me a house where I live only with my husband and my baby. My husband begins to listen and understand me. My daughter is healthy and I gain some income by selling my embroidery I learn from Nati. I am very peaceful and happy.

“I would like to thank God for his love every day. His love is so great that I can love and pray for my husband’s family.”

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Ten-year-old Suppakit walks in the oppressive 100-degree heat along a narrow dirt path. His feet are cut up and blistered from frequently journeying on this path. Every day he travels on this trail just to get water from the Sop Moei River. He has to constantly be on guard and aware of his surroundings. The closer he gets to the river, the closer he is to his former home town in Burma, the place where his family fled.

Suppakit and his family are a part of the Karen tribal group, which is a minority group in Burma. Because the Burmese government oppresses numerous ethnic groups, his family lived in extremely difficult circumstances and eventually fled to Thailand. Now Suppakit’s family is recognized as a Burmese refugee family with limited rights in Thailand.

After the family settled down in Thailand, they built a basic house made from thatched bamboo and covered with leaves. The house appears to be unstable, but it is a common type of housing style throughout the village. But it hardly protects Suppakit and his family from the harsh weather, including strong winds and rain during the monsoon season.

“During the winter it is very cold here, and I have only a small, thin blanket to cover myself. Sometimes when it gets unbearably cold, I give my blanket to my little brother to keep him warm, and I make a fire and sit around it to get warm instead.”

The bamboo house is divided into two parts, a balcony and a bedroom. The house is no larger than 169 square feet. At night, the entire family, consisting of eight members, sleeps together on one old, thin fabric with torn pillows. Every night Supakit hangs an old, torn mosquito net over his mattress. There is no electricity. He uses a candle as a light during the night.

Suppakit bathes in the river because there is no bathroom in the house. It lacks running water. The only water source is the river. It is Supakit’s responsibility to carry water from the river to his home for the family’s daily use.

One of the many limitations of Burmese refugees in Thailand is not being able to own property. This means they can only option work as hired laborers. Hired laborers receive a wage of less than $3 per day, if they get the opportunity to work.

The typical meal for Suppakit’s family is rice, boiled vegetables and chili paste. They hardly ever get the chance to eat meat because it is a luxury they can rarely afford.

One evening Suppakit’s father, the family’s only breadwinner, was seriously injured when he stepped on a land mine near the border while collecting vegetables for the family. He lost one of his legs.

Soon after, Suppakit’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was admitted to the hospital in the local refugee camp. Suppakit did not see his parents for two years because his father left to take care of his sick wife at the hospital. While his parents were gone, Suppakit stayed with his grandparents.

Suppakit could not go to the refugee hospital because he did not have enough money, and being a refugee with no legal rights, he was afraid the soldiers would seize him if he traveled outside of his village of Nong Bua. Nong Bua is located in a very remote area, and is about an eight-hour drive from the city of Tak.

In Nong Bua village, many refugees are in the same situation as Suppakit. But in this small village, a church is dedicated to helping these families.

Most of the Karen Burmese refugees in Nong Bua are from a Buddhist background. They also have strong animist beliefs. They have a village headman who says he communicates with the natural and ancestral spirits on their behalf.

“In Nong Bua village, more than 70 percent of the villagers are Burmese refugees. The Sob Moei River divides the two countries. However, the distance isn’t great as it takes only five minutes to reach one country to the other. Most of the villagers are illiterate and they are living in very poor conditions. We want to do something to help them to have a better life,” explains Sudthida, a staff member at Nong Bua Church Child Development Center.

A few months after the child development center opened, Suppakit’s father took his son to the church and asked the staff to accept his son into the sponsorship program because he wanted his son to receive the help, guidance and education that he was unable to provide.

Nared Charoensriwanit, a Partnership Facilitator who works with the church, says,

“The church has plans to help refugee families like Suppakit in two ways. In the short term, the church provides them basic needs, such as food and necessary items that they use daily. Besides that, the center supports the infrastructure for building a house and distributes tools like knives, spades or shovels that are used in farmland.

“For the long term, the church will support and give knowledge to children on educational and vocational skills. We will emphasize agriculture, such as feeding domestic animals or growing crops.”

Sopa Marturongsa-nguan, the center director, adds,

“We hope to see those refugee children applying the knowledge and skills that they have learned to earn income when they grow up. We will teach them languages such as Burmese, Karen, Thai and English. As they live along the border, the language will be very useful to them to make a living.”

On week days, Suppakit attends a school near his village. The quality of education in remote areas is quite poor. The students in the classroom greatly outnumber the one teacher assigned to teach them. Also, the school lacks resources and materials.

In contrast to his life at school, at the development center Suppakit receives one-on-one attention from staff members and he gains much useful knowledge, encouragement and inspiration.

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The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) states that over the last four decades, 1.3 million refugees have emigrated from Burma to Thailand.

Thailand has been willing to help refugees by providing shelter, schooling and basic survival needs (e.g., food, shelter and medical care) via nine refugee camps along the border. Currently, Thailand hosts 112,000 registered refugees, of which an estimated 50,000 are not in a border camp.

According to the humanitarian group Free Burma Rangers, “The Regime’s army has built roads and camps in ethnic homelands forcing people to relocate or flee into the jungle. There is documented forced labor and the use of rape as a weapon … The Regime’s army lays land mines down to keep villagers from returning home and supporting resistance. They aim to dominate the population, assimilate them and exploit them.”

The Burmese refugees are mainly ethnic Karen and Kareeni. They’ve been in exile longer than many other groups in the world. Returning home seems unlikely.

Compassion Thailand has 13 child development centers located along the Thai-Burma border, where Karen children are receiving support through child sponsorship. But among these children, there have been many issues of non-citizenship and child rights.

We equip the center staff with knowledge and understanding about child protection, but one form of child protection training is offered by IJM. Every staff member from our 201 child development centers in Thailand attended IJM’s training last year. The training taught the center staff how to provide a safe environment for children, discussed forms of abuse, and addressed ways to educate both parents and children on how to treat one another.

The staff also learned how to recognize the physical and behavioral signs of child abuse, along with how to respond properly.

For the center staff working along the Burmese border, citizenship was another training topic conducted. Many of the refugees have not received Thai citizenship because they don’t know how to apply. The staff learned the proper procedures from the town baliff and a citizen specialist.

IJM is also helping Compassion Thailand through the legal process of obtaining citizenship for refugees. The centers along the Thai-Burma border are in the process of surveying and collecting the documents to prove that the children were born in Thailand and have a right to Thai citizenship. After the staff collect the documents, they send a report to the Compassion Thailand office and IJM assists our office staff with the next steps.

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His workmanship becomes ingrained within our being. He weaves stories into our lives. Stories of triumph, of sorrow, of sheer joy. Stories of hope.

Reading your stories of hope captivated me as well as resurrected a story of hope I have seen in my life, in a place before Compassion.

When He gave me this story, my life became enriched. My heart now scarred with such sacred radiance:

It was 5:30 in the morning. The rain fell. It poured. Then subsided. Then it trickled. And finally, poured again. It seemed as if it were trying to find its place. My heart was trying to find its place, too. The concrete floor I sat on came alive with the tapping of little feet entering the open room. I pulled my blanket close, and Patman falls into my lap. She is a 12-year-old Burmese orphan and has escaped into Thailand seeking refuge.

Though I had come to know her story, I still could not believe it. There is some kind of innocence still preserved. Some kind of purity still thriving. She opens her mouth along with the other orphaned children and begin to sing to their Father. The only Father they know.

I love the song, but not as much as I love how it sounds coming out of their mouths. They sing in unison. The sweet harmony lifting from their lips, in-between emerging yawns, finds its way outside of the tin roofed building and into the green field. Their small voices wake up the birds; they wake up the nearby pigs, the stray dogs. They wake up the widowed grandma sleeping nearby. Lastly, without caution, they wake up my heart.

Their song is beautiful but not like pretty, polished, rehearsed beautiful. It is hopeful, passionate, praise beautiful. I sing it too. I close my eyes and push my head against Patman to hear her voice. I forget about the bugs, the concrete floor, the brisk air and the reality that I will soon leave this place, but they will not. I want to sing as they did. I want to believe with such resolve that He truly is all I have. Everything, all of me, resting completely on His love. He is the bottom line. He is the portion.

“I love the mountains
I love the waterfalls
I love the blue skies
I love the flowers
Thank you God for making them
I love you God
I love you God
I love you God”

In this tiny orphanage a pastor had taken in the children whose parents had been killed in Myanmar (Burma) because of the war. Their rooms are crammed. They own nothing, all of it a donation to be shared amongst themselves. All of it with the fingerprint of the Lord’s provision. They have stories I was sure only movie producers could conjure up.

Patman allows her last few words to escape from her mouth to end the song, and then looks at me and smiles. I become weak. When I ask if I can pray, she questions back, “May I pray please? I love Jesus.” This is when I know, this when I see a Love that conquers the enemy. I see a faith that even the lies of poverty cannot defeat.

And this is what is so grand, He is writing stories like these all the time, in everyplace. Like in Guatemala.

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They’re called “throw-aways,” people whom the world has no use for. Children who don’t have anyone to feed them, youth with no identification papers, people with no options. So the world finds a use for them.

There are more slaves in the world today than there were in the entire trans-atlantic slave trade of the 1800s. Approximately 1.2 million children are trafficked each year into exploitive labor, such as agriculture work, prostitution, or child soldiers. 2 million children currently are forced to work as prostitutes.

When I first heard about this several years ago, I found it hard to believe. I was living in Amsterdam, and I’d walked many times down the narrow canals of the Red Light District, known for the prostitutes standing and advertising their wares in the windows.

It would make my skin prick to see the European and American businessmen grouped outside the windows in their button-ups and ties, jeering and leering at the women. Amsterdam is one of the destinations for young women trafficked into prostitution. Some of those women who keep the red lights burning in Amsterdam are slaves.

Around the world, the situation is bleak. In Asia, countries like India and Bangladesh and Burma and Thailand are from where many pimps get their wares. There are plenty of poor here, children no one would care or notice if they were to go missing. Little girls and boys whose parents can’t feed them, who are from minority races or tribes that aren’t valued in the larger society. The parents are offered money in exchange for their children. Sometimes the children are promised jobs working in restaurants or as maids. A better life. Many children aren’t sold, but kidnapped. As children walk, as they do each day, several miles to go to school or get water, they are an easy target.

Whether children are kidnapped or sold, some are then transported to brothels in big cities. They are abused and raped and sold as “companions” for western tourists over and over again.

Other children, in places like Africa, become soldiers, sex slaves of warriors, or workers in fields. I’d like to think that this only happens in faraway countries, but America is not exempt. Not only are American tourists some of the consumers of such “goods” abroad, human trafficking and sex slavery is alive and well in America.

What are we to do with the knowledge of such atrocities?

Abroad, Compassion promotes child advocacy. Country offices and projects promote advocacy and hold advocacy events to raise awareness of the value of children with parents and in the community.

For example, Compassion Honduras held events throughout the country this spring to educate children about their rights and how to respond to abuse and to educate parents, the church, the community, and local leaders about the value and rights of children.

When I first heard about these advocacy events, I didn’t really get it. Children are valuable — seems like a no-brainer, so why do we need an event to tell others that? But clearly not everyone knows and practices this message. Through community advocacy efforts, Compassion-assisted churches are bringing Christ’s message that children are infinitely valuable to transform communities.

Compassion International Asia has also developed a masters program in holistic child development to train and support those who work on the frontlines of children at risk, which is being implemented in seminaries throughout Asia.

At home, we can be child advocates ourselves, continuing to raise awareness of the needs and value of children in this country and abroad.

If you’re an American male, you can Take the Pledge to not participate in any way in the sex trade and protect the women and children around you.

If you want to learn more about human trafficking, visit International Justice Mission, one of Compassion’s ministry partners.

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