Sitting under a tin roof with rain pouring down, the noise was almost too loud to chat. Rivers of water gushed down the street, turning yards into swamps. This was the beginning of several months of rainy season, and this is a typical experience during this time. Despite the pouring rain, we had a dry place to stay. However, our friends shared stories of the many people nearby who are not so fortunate.
Just minutes from where we were, the military decided to take over an area for another base. This area had 190 homes… and the military ordered each family to leave, warning them that if they stayed their houses would be burned, and they could be jailed. Just like that, 190 families lives were uprooted, with nowhere to stay and all of the investment in their house and land lost.
In the many villages across Inle Lake, even before the earthquake most of the monasteries and community buildings were packed with IDPs – those who fled areas of conflict, and are staying in this area, hoping that there will be peace in their hometowns before fighting reaches the areas they have fled. The number of IDPs in this area is so many that even the walk ways to the monastery – any area with a roof – is packed with families. At night rows of people sleep on bamboo mats on the concrete floors. With the rain having started, tarps have been hung along the walk ways and along openings to the buildings.
However, as the wind blew rain into the open building where I was sitting, I knew that water was finding its way between tarps and across the floors. The same floors these families sat and slept on. It is hard to imagine spending several months of the year in a small space surrounded by dozens of families, trying to keep the area dry, with no place to stay permanently- just hoping that the conflict will end and it will be possible to return home. This is the story for so many people across Myanmar – there are an estimated 3.5 million people displaced in the country due to conflict. Many more have fled to neighboring countries. Join us in praying that the oppression could end and this country could experience peace.
