Happy Independence Day

This evening I spoke with a man from Burma. He is from Shan State but his grandfather is from Nepal and his father, moved to Northern Burma for a better education (when it was the best in all Asia). He is 27 years old now and I’ll only refer to him as J to protect his identity. That is in fact why the picture of him is blurred.

J has been living in Chiang Mai for several years now. He is a tailor and a very good one. In 2008, Ryan and I by chance, walked into his shop in search for a good deal on a suit. His shop was the first we stopped into. We were very guarded about who to trust. As you might know, tailors in Thailand are as common as 7-11’s, Buddhist temples and taxi drivers. This by no means was going to be the only shop we went into that day. Instead it ended up being the only shop we’ll ever enter as long as it continues to run.

After some talking and half-hearted negotiating, J asked me about my shirt. I was wearing a Peace Love Life shirt which reads “BURMA” on the front and in the native Burmese script it says “Peace Love Life.” He asked if I knew it what it said and of course, I did. He smile and said “I am from Burma.” In about an instant, our guard was completely destroyed and a new friendship was to begin.

J took good care of Ryan and I that day. We came in several times for fittings and got our clothing tailored perfectly. Through our conversation with J we realized we knew a lot of the same people working in Burma, primarily, the team from Partners International.

After we got our blazers and suits, I convinced an Australian couple to come in and buy a suit and custom dress. My Aussie friends we headed to a wedding in a few months and were also expecting. J was kind enough to design and tailor a dress that would fit perfectly no matter how big her baby grew in her stomach.

Does this give you an idea of the kind of man J is?

J’s story is intense! He is from Northern Burma. He ran from Burma over 10 years ago. He spent time in Thailand illegally. He got his migrant papers 6 or 7 years ago but still works under the table (you’re not allowed to work good paying jobs as a migrant). He’s been in jail several times for being in Thailand illegally. He speaks several languages: Nepalese, Shan, Thai, English and Burmese to name a few. His family still lives in Burma. He has had to pay thousands of Thai Baht to avoid arrest and deportation. He’s not allowed to drive a motor bike in Thailand and if he does, he has to take all backstreets and allies for fear of checkpoints and being forced to pay more money. He’s tried leaving Chiang Mai to visit friends in other parts of the country. When he does he often pays off police officers up to 2,000THB(Baht) $60USD) only to be turned around and sent back to Chiang Mai also paying at least another 3,000THB avoiding jail and deportation.

Tonight, I went to say hi to him. Every time I do it ends up being hours of him telling stories. I couldn’t do it justice here. I recommend you visiting with him sometime. The stories where I see the most pain are about his father.

His father moved them to Northern Burma for a better education. They didn’t want to live in the hill tribes any more and they knew they needed a better education. At one time, before this military junta was in power, Burma had a wonderful education system. You can see it still in the refugee camps at times. Some people speak perfect english others are doctors and some are extremely talented musicians.

With a military in control of this control, everything in Burma has fallen into shambles. There is so much separation between all the ethnic groups. The military are all looking out for themselves rather than the good of the people. SSA (Shan State Army) make deals with the Burma Army and get paid to not fight them. The Burma Army runs around with no consequence and terrorizes villages all over. No one can stop them.

J started to explain how his father would try and please both sides, the SSA and the Burma army. The people were always caught in the middle. I could see J tearing up so I started talking. What I said was, “it seems like an impossible situation and something no other country can fix.” J perked up and agreed, “Bryan, what you say is right, ‘my neighbor cannot fix the problems in my household, only my family can do it.”

America cannot solve Burma’s problems or Iraq’s problems. All we can do is build relationships and love people. Beyond that, we create more problems like dependency and apathy by just dropping tons of cash in a country.  By sending in troops we miscommunicate our intentions and cause fear and fear is what ultimately leads to distrust.

J isn’t fooled by the hype. He isn’t apathetic as he is realistic. He has no home. Officially, he is a migrant with very few rights. He sleeps in Chiang Mai but how will he eat if he cannot work?

I don’t need much to remind me of the freedom I have. Fittingly, the 4th of July is this weekend. Never more am I in awe of George Washington stepping down willingly to set the example of government should look like. Even though we have several looming problems in America and all western countries, none compare to places like Burma, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I won’t patronize you with a cliche closing like “let’s not take for granted our freedom…” but rather encourage you to simply find hope somewhere in your life and maybe even be the inspiration of hope in someone else’s life. All J has to cling to is a hope that one day he will be free to live, raise a family without the ever present fear of death and have a place to call home.