Most Affected Areas of Burma

Here is a Bird’s Eye View of FPCR

Here is the church plant located at 709 to 719 So. Peachtree Road in Mesquite Texas. There are four buildings in the picture, but only three remain today. The large “L-shape” building houses the main sanctuary and the “classrooms” of FPCR. The total area of the property is between 3.5 and 4 acres, which includes a parcel of property off the picture to the left (west).

With north to the top of the picture, the wing that runs north-south houses the kitchen and class-rooms for FPCR, and the wing that runs east-west houses the sanctuary, utility rooms, etc. There is a small parking lot “inside the L” of the building and a larger parking lot on the south side of the building. The three remaining buildings were used by former occupants as storage (the building immediately to the south of the parking lot), a Boy Scout meeting area (the building just southeast of the tree in the picture, which building has been taken down and replaced with a gravel outdoor meeting area since the picture was taken), and a storage shed in the lower left of the picture.

Directions to FPCR are fairly straight-forward. From the LBJ (I-635), take exit #4 in Mesquite and travel west on Military Parkway until you come to Peachtree Road — there will be a traffic light there and you will see a McDonald’s hamburger shop on your left. Turn left at that light and continue for approximately 1/2 mile. The church will be on your right. You will be traveling from the top to the bottom of the picture above on the road that runs along the right side of the picture.

Morning worship services begin at 10:30 AM, with lunch at 12:00 and afternoon worship beginning at 2:00 PM. To find out more about FPCR, please visit our website at Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed

REB.

More News

I received emails from Rev. Hniar Ling Thang yesterday (11 May). He attached pictures, which I shall do my best to upload. Literally dozens of churches (as many as 100) were simply “washed away” in the flooding around Bogalay and Laputta. Six families in his congregation in Yangon lost their homes and are now staying with him and a friend. Here is a picture of an entire neighborhood that was “blown away” by Cyclone Nargis. As is evident in the pictures, these houses were not the most luxurious to begin with. However, they did afford the privacy of a home and now they are gone. In the bottom picture we see the hospitality of those who have nothing sharing even their “nothing” with those who have still less. The people of Burma subsist almost completely on rice with a bit of “curry” (non-rice) as a luxury. In the picture, the curry consists of vegetables and roots. It is customary for the people to eat sitting on the floor or the ground. Normally there will be a long bamboo mat, but apparently that has been lost in the storm.

If you are inclined to help, we recommend either World Vision, or if you wish to help our own people directly, we can bypass the problems at the airport. Leave a comment.

Finally, Some Good News

While the UN, Red Cross, and others are having a terrible time getting into the nation of Burma because of the recalcitrance of the military junta, World Vision has already begun distributing things necessary for survival.

If you would like to make a difference, there is an organization that is already in Myanmar on the ground. They can give genuine help rather than simply further lining the pockets of the Tatmadaw.

Click Here. In just the last few days, they’ve distributed over 38 tons of rice and 4,500 gallons of fresh water, making a life-or-death difference for over 100,000 people.

P.S. In addition to a one-time gift, the most powerful way you can help is by sponsoring a child in need in Myanmar. There are children waiting for a sponsor like you — especially now. Please prayerfully consider becoming a Myanmar child sponsor today.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice.

Doctors Without Borders, which had been running large H.I.V. and malaria programs in Myanmar, has about 80 staff members in the Delta region and is sending more in, said Frank Smithuis, the group’s head of mission. In a telephone interview from Yangon on Friday, he said the group was distributing food and medicine from the stores it already had in place.

In the United States, the White House welcomed the news on Friday that Myanmar would allow some American aid in on Monday. A Pentagon official said: “We will seek to work with our partners who can get the supplies to the people who need them. We hope that this is the beginning of broader support between the United States and Burma to help the Burmese people.”

The US is currently involved in joint exercises with Thailand and has the Essex strike group in the region. The Essex is capable of producing 50,000 gallons of fresh water per day and two other ships, the Harper’s Ferry and the Juneau, also in the region, are capable of producing 10,000 gallons per day each.

The Kitty Hawk Carrier group and the Nimitz are also in the region, and both groups have hospital and search and rescue capability.

It seems that our prayers are being answered, and I thank you all for your prayers.

REB

Editorial

I have been reporting on a daily basis the happenings in Burma since it was hit by Cyclone Nargis on May 3rd. Today is the 9th and the military junta that rules Myanmar is still not allowing aid into the country. They choose instead to tell people, “give us the aid and we will see that it is distributed.”

There is an editorial on the Burma (Myanmar) Blog site that compares this delay on the part of the Tatmadaw to Nero, who reportedly fiddled while Rome burned. There was political outrage when 31 monks were shot for protesting in the streets. There should be greater outrage when that same junta starves thousands of Burmese people and leaves thousands more susceptible to such diseases as cholera and typhoid.

REB

From The Democratic Voice of Burma

Residents of the former Burmese capital Rangoon said the government is selling food to victims of Cyclone Nargis, but the prices remain too expensive for destitute survivors to afford.

Rangoon authorities made announcements on the streets over loudspeakers that the government was selling food for disaster victims at the city’s tax-free markets, a local resident said.

“The announcement also said rice priced at 750 kyat for one pyi, cooking oil at 2240 kyat per viss and zinc sheets [for roofing] at 4500 per sheet were now available to buy at the township Peace and Development Council offices in Rangoon,” he said.

But for local residents who have been made destitute by the natural disaster, the provisions remain prohibitively expensive.

“Despite the government’s effort to help us by selling these materials at cheap prices, we can only sit back and watch as we have no money at all to buy these things as we are only daily-paid workers,” the resident said.

“Now all the businesses have collapsed and we are left empty-handed.”

Rangoon residents are suffering shortages of food, water and electricity, and blocked roads are making it difficult for aid to get through.

Cyclone survivors have complained that the government has not provided assistance to victims as they search for loved ones and try to rebuild their homes.

The Burmese government has said it would welcome international aid, but the lack of infrastructure and delays in visa processes have meant that relief efforts are moving slowly.

Planes Grounded In Bangkok

Three planes loaded with 45 tons of relief supplies remained on the ground Thursday, waiting to fly to storm-ravaged Myanmar to provide a small dose of assistance amid a mushrooming humanitarian crisis.

The World Food Programme planes sat on runways in Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand as the organization awaited permission to land from Myanmar’s government, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the organization in Bangkok, Thailand.

A fourth aircraft sat on the tarmac in Italy, awaiting clearance to deliver 20 tons of relief five days after Cyclone Nargis spawned widespread death and desperation in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

The official death toll in Myanmar is staggering: Myanmar’s military government says more than 22,000 people died when the killer cyclone battered country’s low-lying delta region over the weekend. The top U.S. diplomat in the country said the toll could top 100,000.

The four planes provide a potent symbol of a much-larger relief effort waiting to begin. Even as decomposing bodies litter ditches and fields, relief agencies say, the secretive military junta that governs Myanmar has been slow to issue visas to relief workers and grant relief flights permission to land. “It’s not been as good as we would have liked,” said John Holmes, the top United Nations humanitarian official. “It’s not been as good as it has been in other circumstances.”

Posted On Topix

A massive international disaster-relief programme for cyclone-devastated Myanmar was being hindered Thursday, five days after the catastrophe, by red tape for UN aid workers’ visas, officials said.

‘A few visas are coming through, but the general picture is that a significant number of the key staff have not got their visas approved,’ said Richard Horsey, spokesman for the UN disaster response office in Bangkok.

‘Clearly, this is a concern because it is very important that those staff with disaster response experience and coordinating can deploy as quickly as possible,’ Horsey said. ‘What you basically need to get is a logistical pipeline that is big enough and running smoothly enough to channel humanitarian relief from outside the country to the people who need it.’

Myanmar’s military regime has appealed for international aid to cope with the massive destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis, which smashed into central Myanmar on the night between Friday and Saturday last week.

According to the government, nearly 23,000 people were killed and as many as 42,000 were missing with most of the victims in the Irrawaddy delta. But Shari Villarosa, the US charge d’affaires in Yangon, and dissident groups on the Thai border said the death toll could reach 100,000.

Although aid has poured in from around the globe, the relief programme has been hampered by the government’s refusal to waive visa requirements for aid workers and tardiness in granting visas to even the most critical UN experts.

Our People Are Safe

Here is the letter I received from Dr. Thang Bwee this morning. I have not edited it, so the English is a bit broken.

                                                                                                               

Dear Dr Bacon,

Greetings to you in the Lord. Praise His name for His marvelous love and protection. Though it was terrify typhoon which destroyed several building, mess up everything and lost thousands of lives, we were kept safe under His wings.

Of course there were some little damages such as roofs of our buildings were opened up and living room became like bath room with heavy shower rain.

All Cashew trees from my farm where we have been last time were completely destroyed by this typhoon but none of us were hurt.

Anyway, everyone of us in the Church were kept safe. Nargis typhoon visited to Yangon for a few hours and mess up everything and gone through immediately.

It was from 2:00AM to 10:00Am on the 3rd of May. That morning was terrifying morning to us all.

People are now suffering with consequences of typhoon such as public transportation, communication and trading are stopped . No light, no water in the whole city of Yangon. Yangon  looks like war zone at this moment.The picture of Yangon is now different. People are keeping busy with seeking food, water and to repair their damages houses and buildings.

The prices of everything are rise up into two to three time than normal.

Please pray for the recovery which might cause us a lot and for this people to discover the love and the safety of God in the midst of this circumstances.

I hope you will surely see our situations in your daily news at this moment.

Gov’t Of Myanmar Reportedly Turns Down Aid From US

The U.S. State Department said Myanmar officials had turned down permission for a U.S. assessment team to enter the country after an initial contribution of US$250,000. “Let the United States come and help you,” President George W. Bush said Tuesday.

– SourceInternational Herald Tribune,