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.
