Thank you for your kindness in supporting Burma at this time.
We have to date raised just over USD120,000 which is just amazing and shows how concerned so many people are about what is going on in Burma and here is an update of how we are spending the money and on the general situation…
Our Pandaw clinic medical teams have been treating a number of gunshot wounds and have ramped up operations to extend to a broader area beyond the seven villages where they normally run day clinics.
With these funds we have been able to expand our usual GP clinics with free medications to a much larger geographical area and to more people across rural Burma, many of whom are now in dire circumstances due to the collapse of the economy.
As part of this we have also been handing out food parcels like those shown here, each of which costs USD8.
We have now delivered 500 of these and hope to roll out more using Pandaw crew members as volunteers.
With markets closed, all forms of business and trading shut down, and nearly all work opportunities finished, people are now suffering from real hunger.
I know just 500 parcels in a country of fifty-six million is a mere drop in the ocean, but it is better than nothing.
However, once we get the logistics up to speed (purchasing and delivery) I believe we can move a lot more.
We have also been helping the families of the fallen with cash dole outs. Many of these young men and women, were gunned down for no reason at all, often just because they were unlucky enough to have met a police patrol on their way home.
This is not just happening in the cities but in small towns and villages.
The lady in this photo lives just next door to our office in Nyaung U and has just lost a son
We are also using your money to support another medical charity, Medical Action Myanmar, who are based in Rangoon. Under a Dutch doctor they are doing good work in the suburbs which have become nothing other than killing fields.
They also are offering food relief to starving people.
They are highly organised and efficient so we will keep this support going. www.mam.org.mm
The situation in Myanmar, with an average of 100 civilians a day being arbitrarily shot, is now reaching the state of genocide. We have seen video clips of soldiers shooting into people’s houses and Kalemyo, a popular stop on Chindwin cruises, was shelled by artillery last week.
This is a genocide by the army against their own people.
We have been collecting images and video clips which you can see here. This content can be disturbing.
Those of you who have experienced our Chindwin cruises may remember Captain Phyoe, our expert Chindwin river master. He was arrested a couple of days ago in Monywa for joining in the CDM (Campaign for Democracy in Myanmar). We are in contact with the Monywa Lawyers Network to try and get him out but as he is charged with treason there is little hope. We are providing support for his family.
People are beginning to organise a resistance using home-made guns. Defections from the army, particularly from appalled young officers, are now occurring daily.
As the country slips into anarchy local people’s committees are forming in towns in villages to take over basic administration and maintain some form of order.
The ten main insurgent armies are rallying to the CDM cause and already there is talk of a unified ‘federal’ army made up the tribal groups, the people and defectors from the Tatmadaw.
It is hoped that the Tatmadaw will implode before such a force.
The United Nations have proved useless as Russia and China will use their veto. The Russians make lots of money in Burma selling the army tanks and MIGs. The Chinese have strategic interests like ports, oil pipelines, hydro schemes, mining and numerous factories that take advantage of cheap Burmese labour.
Some say the Chinese ordered up the coup, others that they certainly condoned it, and this has badly backfired in their faces.
They are being blamed by the Burmese for everything, Chinese factories have been burned down and the pipeline sabotaged, and the Chinese government have been evacuating their nationals on special flights.
This is probably the greatest challenge to China’s ‘Belt and Road’ yet. For Beijing this did not go to plan.
The western media coverage has been very poor, partly because there are few foreign correspondents in the country, but if you would like to follow events more closely I would recommend two websites irrawaddy.com and frontiermyanmar.net.
If you subscribe to Frontier you get a daily email update with all the latest news which I find very informative.
I wish we could be doing more and in the face of such barbarity feel very impotent.
But I really believe our donations are helping and not just materially but in terms of morale as it is important that ordinary Burmese people do not feel forsaken by the world as they go through this.
Thank you again for your kindness.
Paul Strachan
An edited report from the udpate from Paul Strachan Pandaw, by John Alwyn-Jones
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