နယူးဇီလန္က ဆိုင္ကယ္သရဲမ်ား ျမန္မာတုိင္းရင္းသားမ်ားအတြက္တိုက္ပြဲဝင္

Motorcycle mission for Myanmar

MATHEW GROCOTT

16/11/2011

WARWICK SMITH/FAIRFAX NZ

AWARENESS RIDE: A group of motorcyclists are riding through New Zealand to highlight the plight of border villagers in Myanmar.

Palmerston North has been made aware of the plight of the Burmese people through the rumble of motorcycle engines.
A group of motorcyclists rode into the city yesterday as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the military crackdown on villages in the Asian nation of Burma, also known as Myanmar.
At All Saints Church last night they spoke about the situation in Burma and met members of the city's Burmese community.
Among the riders was Stu Corlett who worked for Partners Relief and Development in the regions along the border of Burma and Thailand helping those who had fled their homes. He said that in the region he worked in, Shan, four out of 100 children attended schools. There was "virtually no" medical care for the four million people in Shan.
Partners was training Burmese people to be teachers and doctors for their own people, he said.
A military junta has ruled Burma for 40 years during which time it has cracked down on minority and opposition groups.
The Partners website estimated the military had razed more than 3200 villages, displaced more than 1.5 million people and murdered innocent civilians.
Mr Corlett said Partners was working with these displaced people both inside Burma and in refugee camps in Thailand.
He said he had met one Burmese woman who said she had to run to save her life on more than 100 occasions, first in World War II and then from her own government.
Mr Corlett said a number of New Zealanders were part of Partners' efforts in Burma.
Kiwis had a history of standing up for social justice issues, he said.
More information on Partners' work can be found at partnersworld.org.nz.
- Manawatu Standard