Myanmar (Burma) is roiling. In recent weeks, nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from northern Rakhine State (western Myanmar) to neighboring Bangladesh. The underlying tensions driving this mass exodus are somewhat complicated, with roots going back decades. There are three major groups there who  have a history of fighting violently with one another: Rohingya Muslims (immigrants from Bangladesh, who are denied rights to citizenship though their ancestors have lived in the country for a century or more), Rakhine Buddhists (the majority group there, some of whom still want independence from Myanmar, and who also resent the presence of the large Muslim minority), and the Burmese military (mostly Buddhist soldiers). 

The recent flare up, which has received extensive media attention globally, stems from the military's harsh, ongoing retaliation for the latest killing of a dozen or so soldiers by Rohingya militants (the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) in August. Homes are being burned, numerous villages destroyed, many hundreds killed, and thousands of people displaced (on top of the 120,000 displaced people already living in squalid camps as a result of previous conflicts).  Those still in Myanmar or who cannot squeeze into overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh are living in makeshift tents,  starving , and lack many basic necessities. Their predicament is grim.

Kofi Annan, former U.N. General Secretary, published an insightful  final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State this past September 2016, before the latest surge of violence. In it are his penetrating observations of the causes and challenges to peace that face the people there. Now the situation is far worse. This past week, the current High Commissioner of Human Rights at the United Nations, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, condemned the treatment of the Rohingya as a classic example of ethnic cleansing, a charge vehemently denied by the Myanmar government. However the actions of the military will ultimately be judged, the problem has been steadily worsening over the past five years, and has recently taken a dramatic turn for the worse, with no resolution in sight.

 

If you're at all like me, you know what it is like to reel back in horror from such destruction and suffering. You want to do something to help, but the problems--not only in Myanmar, obviously, but throughout the world, including for those suffering from recent weather-related catastrophes in the USA, Mexico, and the Caribbean--may seem too massive, intractable, or overwhelming. Further, as in the case of the Rohingya, sometimes there are few if any reliable ways to send or get relief to those who need it. As a result of these and other challenges, you may become paralyzed or simply want to retreat into the perceived safety of your own little world. Yet, as you also well know, as understandable as any of these responses may be, they can't be where we end up.

 

As Christians, we know we are called to keep caring about those who suffer and keep doing whatever we can to help. Helping the helpless, and extending a hand to the needy and powerless, is part of what it means to be Christian. Philosophically, counteracting evil with good is Christ's way of responding to injustice in the world.  The Apostle Paul expressed the concept concisely when he said, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21). 

I don't have any illusions that whatever I do, or that we do together, will overcome all the evil in the world. Yet, continually infusing good into a troubled, darkened world remains our best and most powerful counter-force to the destructive powers wreaking havoc globally. None of us can do it all, but each of us must do whatever we can, wherever and for whomever we most feel called to serve. (See chapter seven, "Overcome Evil with Good," in my recent book, Saying Yes to God .)

 

Soon, 125 students will crowd into one or more of my three classes for the start of the next semester at Myanmar Institute of Theology (M.I.T.). Our school is over 400 miles from Rakhine State, over a range of mountains. Not many of my students come from there or will ever travel there. However, many of them come from other regions in Myanmar where their people have suffered persecution, discrimination, war, hunger, intense poverty, and many other kinds of suffering due to numerous causes. Upon graduation, all will scatter throughout Myanmar to bring the light and love of Christ to hundreds of villages and cities, where hope is in short supply. We're teaching them to do what they can to share the Gospel, build up their churches, develop their communities, promote peace, and build bridges to Buddhists, Muslims, and others along the way.

 

I'm frequently asking the students questions, such as, "How does Jesus's teaching on peace apply in a war-torn nation?" "How does Paul's teaching on grace, love, and Christian community relate to the challenges the churches face in the impoverished Chin Hills? ...in the internally displaced people (IDP) camps in Kachin State? ...in the jungles and villages where the Karen people are struggling to survive?" "What is the real relevance of Christ and the Christian faith on the many mission fields where hundreds of students and recent college and seminary graduates volunteer for months, and sometimes years?"

 

Teaching the Bible and Christian spirituality to future ministers and offering leadership workshops for pastors does not stop the violence in Rakhine State, end the war in Kachin State, or develop villages throughout the country. Yet, it prepares current and future leaders to do what I could never do on my own. Teaching and coaching  is what I can do, and so I pour myself into doing that as well as I can. None of us can solve all the world's problems, but each of us must at least try to do what God has called us to do, wherever we can do it.  

 

Thank you for your interest, prayers, and support, which enable us to do what we are doing. Please especially pray for God's blessing on my teaching and ministries once I return to Myanmar on September 26, that it may be effective in grounding future leaders in their faith and relationship with God, and in preparing them to face the many challenges everywhere present in Myanmar. 

May God free you from feeling overwhelmed by the evil and suffering in the world, and may your commitment to doing good keep rising to meet the growing needs all around us. As a representative of Christ, you're needed.

 

Serving Christ with you,

Timothy C. Geoffrion