Cyclone Path Leads to Our Hill Tribe Friends
We’ve all heard by now the tragic numbers coming out of Burma / Myanmar. I have been following this story with the same sense of helplessness that the rest of the world feels, but added to that mounting loss of human life and the frustration that the inept government in charge is too insecure and isolated to know how to accept a helping hand... I have a slightly more personal concern.
If you follow the path of that deadly cyclone, you’ll see that it reached the northeast border of Thailand.
There on this map, just under the "MAY 4" in the tip of Thailand, is where this 7-day cyclone finally dissipated. That is where we were in late January with the medical team when filming the building of this grass hut . That location is described in the opening of this interview taped just
Twelve Weeks Ago on the Myanmar Border.
It was this friend who took me to the airport when I needed to return home unexpectedly for my mother's final days. His was the last familiar face I saw until disembarking in Grand Rapids. In this interview three days before, he was explaining, in part, how the five million Akah Indians originally from China migrated south in the 19th Century to Burma, Thailand, Laos, and beyond.
In light of the tragic Cyclone news from that corner of the world, it seems strange to hear him speak of the short window of opportunity we had (before the rain season began in March) to safely travel in that mountain region. I have not heard a report, but because the hill tribes are far from sea level, I'm guessing that they may have endured only the loss of the simple thatch-roof shelters they call home.
If only the government of Myanmar was as open to outside humanitarian help as Thailand has been these past two decades.
Sad that it may have taken this deadly storm to bring about the needed changes in the land formerly known as Burma.
Here is a before and after photo of the region now submerged by water in Burma. The hill tribes our medical team works with are no where near the flooded area, but since the cyclone continued on into the northern mountains of Thailand, it is possible that the huts we saw suffered damage similar to that seen in some of the disturbing footage in the links below.
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Update: Friday, May 9, 2008.
Another Friday update: Biting the hand that feeds you.
Disturbing video images in the villages hit by cyclone. More similar footage here.
May 14, 2008: Video Update from Burma one week later.
If you follow the path of that deadly cyclone, you’ll see that it reached the northeast border of Thailand.There on this map, just under the "MAY 4" in the tip of Thailand, is where this 7-day cyclone finally dissipated. That is where we were in late January with the medical team when filming the building of this grass hut . That location is described in the opening of this interview taped just
Twelve Weeks Ago on the Myanmar Border.
It was this friend who took me to the airport when I needed to return home unexpectedly for my mother's final days. His was the last familiar face I saw until disembarking in Grand Rapids. In this interview three days before, he was explaining, in part, how the five million Akah Indians originally from China migrated south in the 19th Century to Burma, Thailand, Laos, and beyond.
In light of the tragic Cyclone news from that corner of the world, it seems strange to hear him speak of the short window of opportunity we had (before the rain season began in March) to safely travel in that mountain region. I have not heard a report, but because the hill tribes are far from sea level, I'm guessing that they may have endured only the loss of the simple thatch-roof shelters they call home.
If only the government of Myanmar was as open to outside humanitarian help as Thailand has been these past two decades.
Sad that it may have taken this deadly storm to bring about the needed changes in the land formerly known as Burma.
Here is a before and after photo of the region now submerged by water in Burma. The hill tribes our medical team works with are no where near the flooded area, but since the cyclone continued on into the northern mountains of Thailand, it is possible that the huts we saw suffered damage similar to that seen in some of the disturbing footage in the links below..
Update: Friday, May 9, 2008.
Another Friday update: Biting the hand that feeds you.
Disturbing video images in the villages hit by cyclone. More similar footage here.
May 14, 2008: Video Update from Burma one week later.
posted by .Tom Kapanka | 12:05 AM
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