Rangoon, Burma: November 11, 2001: During our wait, I’ve been trying to learn some Burmese phrases that will help me out socially. Ma Lay and Daniel told me that phonetically Ming gala ba means “hello” in a formal setting, and Par ma rar is “hi” for informal greetings.
Je’zu din bade is the formal “thank you,” while O ah a is “thanks.” (I have an easy mental crutch that helps me for the formal thank you. When I want to say thank you, I think of the crucifix and say, “Jesus’ dying body” for Je’zu din bade. But no one knows how I remember it so quickly.) May pal hoe me means “enough,” Saw means “Let’s go,” and an kam me ma means “good taste or good eats.” I practice my little phrases as often as possible, and it’s fun to see how it delights the locals when a Scotch-Irish fellow tries to speak their language.
Following breakfast Daniel and I got together for a time of devotion. We both realize how important it is for us to get approved and set a precedent for outsiders being allowed to move about in the restricted part of Burma. Except for 1996 and this current trip, Daniel himself failed to get permission to enter the country.
At exactly 10:25 a.m., the phone in the hotel room rang. It was Ma Lay. She had been at the defense minister’s office since early morning. Somehow during all the political craziness and upheaval of the government replacing cabinet members, the defense minister had signed my papers. He accepted the responsibility for an American going into the restricted area to do needs assessments. It was nothing less than a miracle!
The rest of the day, I kept thinking how strategic our trip has already been. To me it seems extremely symbolic that Project C.U.R.E. would be the group allowed to enter the restricted area. Once again, we’re privileged to be at the right place at the right time walking through doors previously shut and locked. With the precedent set, it won’t be as risky or difficult for officials to give us approval for future trips.
Being part of the Myanmar miracle has brought back the same feelings I experienced when Project C.U.R.E. entered venues where everyone else was previously turned away. I thought of Pyongyang, North Korea, and how our entry there resulted in enormous success. I thought of my most recent trip to Beijing, China, where the head man of the federation became my friend, and how he extended to Project C.U.R.E. access to China like no other organization I know. Similar miracles took place in Baghdad, Iraq; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Havana, Cuba; Khartoum, Sudan; Nouakchott, Mauritania; Congo, Africa; Cambodia; North Vietnam; and so many other difficult places.
I’m so thankful to God today in Rangoon, Myanmar, for permitting me to be just a small part of God’s benevolent enterprises.
Monday, November 12
It was fun just to watch Daniel and his excitement this morning as we checked out of the Central Hotel and prepared to go to the airport. He was like a little, eager kid. He knew that for only the third time since he was eighteen years old, he was going home to the villages of his childhood. It all was becoming another big step toward the fulfillment of his dream to return to his home country and bring help and hope to his people.
Ma Lay secured all our travel permits and our tickets on Myanmar National Airlines from Rangoon to Myitkyina. We arrived at the Yangon International Airport in time to catch our flight, which landed at the funny little airport in central Kachin State at 12:30 p.m. Although Myitkyina has a population of nearly two million, the city is undeveloped, with mostly dirt streets and open markets, and people rely on their own water wells and outhouse sewer systems. As one of the main British colonial towns, it still bears the English stamp of town planning and government buildings.
One of Daniel’s sisters, who lives in Myitkyina, warmly greeted us at the airport. Many friends assisted us with our luggage and helped get us settled in the small Pant Sun Hotel on a narrow side street.
Our important assignment for this afternoon was an arranged meeting with the head military government official in Myitkyina, Colonel Myint Thein. We were now his responsibility, and he wanted to know as much about us as possible. The ranking officer obviously had experience outside northern Burma and knew English quite well. He wanted to use his English to impress us and also to show respect to me as his English-speaking guest. But Daniel was also eager to let the officer know that he was Burmese through and through and was one of Kachin State’s own. Daniel insisted on talking to the colonel in Burmese, while the officer tried to keep the conversation open by speaking in English.
Daniel wasn’t sizing up the situation well at all, and Colonel Thein began getting irritated. Ma Lay was looking at Daniel, obviously surprised at what was happening. I knew we were walking on thin ice when I realized that Colonel Thein had decided to stop competing with Daniel and just talk in Burmese. He was insulted. But the problem came when I realized that the colonel was asking direct questions about Project C.U.R.E., and Daniel was trying to field the questions without any information base. I suspected he was giving incorrect answers regarding the kinds of medical goods we could supply, and about our standard methods and procedures for working with a recipient country. It was sadly important for him to give a solo performance and try to supply all the answers, even though he didn’t have the information.
I perceived what was going on and just relaxed in my chair and smiled. But inside I was thinking, Oh my goodness, this is the first time I’ve worked with Daniel in tight quarters, and he doesn’t have the foggiest idea about teamwork or strategic selling. I’m dealing with a runaway locomotive, and the Lord is going to have to make something good happen out of what is shaping up to be quite bad.
The meeting ended with the head man still a bit on edge. Everyone is so skittish and suspicious in Burma, and my fear was that we had done very little to put those anxieties to rest and just build a simple basis of friendship and confidence. As we walked out of the building, Daniel was still telling me how his uncles had occupied certain offices at the headquarters building, and how their influence had been so important.
I crawled back into our car and thought, Cut Daniel all the slack he needs. Be patient with a man who is so eager to see something good happen for a people he loves and for a country to which he is just reestablishing after nearly thirty-seven years of absence. It’s natural that he would be overly aggressive and eager for success. It will be my responsibility to ease the situation wherever possible and do even more to make good friends of these leaders.
Myitkyina is located along a low river bottom, and the climate is hot and humid, with tropical plants, eucalyptus trees, banana trees, acacia trees, and gorgeous jungle flowers everywhere. It reminded me of so many places I had visited in Cambodia, Vietnam, and northeast India. Many of the people reminded me of the colorful people I had met in Nepal.
Tuesday, November 13
Daniel and I are eating all our meals at the home of his sister. The food is wonderful. About five ladies busily work over open wood-burning fires or prepare vegetables or homemade noodles. Almost all the meals, including breakfast, consist of large individual bowls of noodles with meats, local vegetables, and spices cooked in.
Our hostesses were nervous until they saw that I could handle chopsticks with proficiency, and that the American guest was going to fit in just fine. One just doesn’t see many Americans, ever, in that restricted part of northern Burma.
This morning the ladies fixed something extra special for us. They had deep-fried bread sticks, which we dipped in honey and ate with our tea. In northern Burma two kinds of tea are always served at the end of the meal. First, we had Burmese tea, greatly influenced by the British. It’s a black tea served with lots of milk and sweetened with honey. Then we finished with very strong green tea served in cups fashioned out of bamboo stalks.
I was informed that the honey was “cliff honey.” On the rock face of a high cliff in the jungle, there is a certain very large bee that builds its hive and deposits its honey there. Over the years the natives have figured out a way to harvest those hives. They build a smoky fire below the nests for a couple of days to drive the bees away. The bees are very dangerous, and a sting from just one or two can cause death.
Once most of the bees have abandoned the hives, a local honey hunter climbs down the cliff as far as he can from above and attaches a rope equipped with knife blades to a tree or rock outcropping just above the hive. Then from down below, another honey hunter moves the ropes along the face of the cliff, forcing the sharp knives to cut the nests from the rocks, sending the honey-laden hives down to the ground near the fires. Those hives are quickly gathered and transported to the nearby towns or villages to be sold in the open markets. The natives claim there is no finer honey in the world than cliff honey.
Daniel, Ma Lay, and I had to return to Colonel Thein’s office this morning. Thankfully the second meeting went a lot better than the first. I complimented the officer on his good use of English and chatted awhile about his personal background and duties. It seemed like he was dropping his guard a little and wasn’t quite so edgy and suspicious.
This afternoon, the three of us drove out of Myitkyina toward the China border. We followed the river, where individuals and families were out panning for large nuggets of gold. From high up in the Himalayan Mountains, the river washes the gold down, especially in the spring, and many people make their living from simple operations of removing the gold from the gravel. Likewise, the highest quality jade is found in the northern part of Burma. Rubies and sapphires are also mined in large quantities in Kachin State. I already knew about Burmese rubies, the finest in the world, from my days with Jackson Brothers Investments. It’s a special delight to be in the remote and restricted part of the world that yields so many high-quality treasures.
As we arrived back at Daniel’s sister’s house, it was getting dark. The front yard was full of bicycles, and lots of sandals and thong shoes were neatly assembled on the steps and the ground outside the front doorway leading into the home. People had been gathering throughout the day for an evening meeting. Friends and family members also gathered to greet their long-lost Daniel.
Next Week: Barefoot Doctors travel from afar to meet us