Okay, so yeah, too many pictures of me on the blog, so here's one of my favourite from Banksy who is one of my favourite artists. It's entitled "the elephant in the lounge" and was a live piece on display in L.A. for a week I think...

Alright, so yeah, that long hair would have been pretty hot in Cambodia, and probably increased my chances of failing my OSCEs (oh how I love the establishment nature of the medical profession!). So one of my tasks for today was getting the apparently much needed haircut.....so I thought I'd show it off online.

1 Week Left!

Ahem....alright, the picture above is a piece of work that I thought somewhat accurately symbolizes my current inner feelings (I guess it could also be interpreted as me about to eat a giant invisible sandwich but I'll let the viewer decide). 1 week from today I will be on a plane heading towards Phnom Penh! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed money to help me to go and to support the work of the Cambodian community health organisation TASK that I am going to be working with. So far we've received enough support so that we can give a donation of over 600 US dollars to their work! Depending on where you're coming from that may either sound like a lot or a little but at the moment with the global economic crisis, and the skyrocekting food prices in Cambodia, it will help a lot. The average monthly salary of a full-time TASK employee is in the range of about 120-140 dollars a month so this obviously will mean a lot to their work and hopefully will help them be able to spend money to provide the most basic of needs (food, shelter, medication) for some of the most vulnerable in Phnom Penh.

Although I'm really excited about going back to Phnom Penh, there's a whole lot to do before I go. I've got a final exam on Thursday (it's an OSCE - Objective Structured Clinical Exam) where they set up patients in several different rooms and stations, and you have about an hour and a half to rotate through and spend about 8 minutes with each patient and perform an assigned examination, take a history, or interpret some results of tests. In a way, it's actually kinda fun, but also can be pretty scary (for both student and patient I imagine!). Anyway, that's on thursday so I'm spending the next couple of days preparing for that. Then, as soon as that's over, I'm moving all my stuff from my current house into a new one, and then wrapping up everything I need to do here before I leave on Tuesday! One final thing that I'm trying to organise at the moment is a job for when I get back from Cambodia. I've planned on only going to Cambodia for 5 weeks this summer as I really need to spend some time earning money to try and subsidize all the expenses that come up during the year. I'll probably end up trying to do some temp work, but it would be really nice if something became confirmed before I leave, cause it would take that concern off my mind. So if you're thinking of ways to pray for me at the moment, that would be a good one.

Alright, well I guess that's it for now, I'll try and post once again before I leave. Thanks again for your continued prayers, emails and support.

The Latest soon to be Illegal Aliens...

Hi everyone, well I know I've been slow on the blogging front these days, (my big exams are on tuesday), but I thought I would share this with anyone who happened to check my blog. If you pray, we could really use your prayers at the moment because my brother and sister-in-law (and of course my nephew and niece pictured above) have been refused residency in Ireland and are now being told to leave by August. NOT GOOD! They're going to fight it of course, but we'll need a lot of people praying that they'll be looked upon with favour by those who make the big decisions.

It's hard for me to believe that my brother who has lived in Ireland longer than me, and who missed being born there by only 2 years could be any less entitled to live there than me. And also my neice who was born in Dublin at the same hospital I was (She's not entitled to automatic citizenship because of a recent unfortunate change in the law). Anyway, it makes me angry and upset, but I'm praying and hoping that their appeal will be heard and that they'll not only be allowed to stay, but be given permanent residency like my parents were recently awarded. Anyway, if you can spare a minute please pray for them. I know they really would appreciate all the support they can get.

Well, I'm enjoying the unvelievable weather we've been having in Southampton, by sitting in the dark recesses of the library, studying for the exams coming up in a few weeks. The weather is great though and really does a lot to lift my spirits. I was made for warm weather.

I've been feeling guilty that I haven't had a lot of time to look into what's happening in Burma (Myanmar) at the moment. There has been a cyclone which has killed a government estimated 25,000 people but local organisations on the ground reckon the toll could rise to over 100,000. This is absolutely huge! Just think with all the civil unrest in Burma this past year and then the massively high prices of Rice, this really couldn't have come at much of a worse time. The government is also not helping the situation by rejecting offers of foreign aid.

Please pray that the Burmese government would think of its people and would let in aid from the outside and aid workers to help organise and distribute the relief. I read a report today that only about 10% of those needing help have been reached so far by organisations already in Burma, so much more help from the outside is needed. If you're thinking of giving I'd reccommend tearfund as a good place to start, as they tend to work with local partners on the ground (www.tearfund.org).

Some other news which seems to be going unnoticed by some news outlets is the current situation in Lebanon. In recent days they have witnessed the biggest civil unrest since the civil war, and gunmen from Hezzbolah have taken over parts of the capital and have silened much of the pro-government media. Please pray for peace there.

In personal news, I'm eagerly awaiting to have these end-of-year exams over with --unlike those in America, the main important medical exams here (the 'Intermediates') take place after the third year rather than the second as in the US, so these exams won't be as intesne as my american friends are going through at the moment, but still I need to pass so that I don't have to cancel my trip to Cambodia in order to take the Resits.....that would not be good-. I'm really looking forward to being in Cambodia soon. I'm thankfull for all of those who have said they are praying for me and who have sent financial support. It's been a huge blessing and encouragment.

Car gets 100 miles per gallon in Wheaton

I found this clip online and was interested to see if this car was for real, I was pretty surprised when I realised I knew one of the inventors in the clip. Chris Ewert was a floor-mate of mine on 2-East in Fischer at Wheaton College. Anyway, it sort of blows the mind to wonder why companies haven't done this already? i'll try and not be yoo cynical.... have a look though.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=84623

It always hits the poor the hardest....

So I've been thinking over the past few months as we hear constant consumer news reports show that the price of basic food is gradually going up all over the place. More recently we've been seeing reports of the price of rice skyrocketing across the world. All this comes at a bad time economically when many western countries are looking at the prospect of recession and the value of global reserves (mainly held in USD) is rapidly declining. Whenever these types of situations occur it always hits the poor the hardest.

I just got this report in the most recent Servants Newsletter:

Cambodia: The inflation of rice prices (up to a $1 a kilo) has caused great suffering for the poor leading to chronic hunger and illness. The TASK AIDS homecare project has been forced to stop providing rice to patients and their families because the budget has run out. At the very time that those who are most vulnerable and least able to earn money are suffering servants is unable to help. Please pray urgently for this situation or contact one of the servants offices if you feel you can help in any other way.

Rice is a basic necessity of life in Cambodia. If people have no rice, they have nothing else to eat. This is an extremely difficult problem and those who are poor, displaced, and ill often have no social support in place to get them through it. It's even sadder to hear the double burden that now the agencies who had been providing food support (such as TASK's AIDS home care programme) have been forced to stop providing it because of lack of resources.

An encouraging thought from our Mother Theresa

This was read out at Church this morning and really encouraged me. I'm reading a book at the moment which is a published account of Mother Theresa's personal correspondance and journals. She is such an inspiring woman, who had a very deep relationship with God and a knowledge of his love for us. This piece is said to have been written on the wall of her room, and is adapted from a similar piece by Kent Kieth.

Do it Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical
and self- centred.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway!

Resurrected Blog...Cambodia bound...

Well, I decided many months ago now for several reasons to give Blogging a break. But I've decided, in the spirit of the recently passed Easter, to bring it back to life, if just for a little while. The main reason is that this summer, at the end of June, I will be heading back to Cambodia to work with Servants for 5 weeks (God willing), and I thought I'd bring back the blog so that people can hear about the trip and can pray for me if they desire to do so.

I've got just over 2 months of holiday this summer, and it is really the last time I'll have to be able to travel to Cambodia before my training eats up my holidays in constant rotations. I'm excited about the trip, and will be working again with the Teen Drug Users project (TDU) set up by TASK the local Cambodian NGO that Servants began over a decade ago. Addictive drug use has exploded in Cambodia over the past 5-10 years. Reports say that 50% of Cambodian urban youth are regular users of the destructive class of drugs Methamphetamines, locally known as Yama. Many children who live in the slum communities and on the streets of Phnom Penh, get through the day through sniffing glue. There are suprisingly few Charities or NGO's working with these kids and teens to help the find a better, healthier and more hopeful path in life. The government does not have any true drug rehabilitation programme, but rather a single reserved room in its youth prison as its main response to this overwhelming issue.

When I was in Cambodia before, I worked with TASK's TDU project in its begining stages. I did research into the beliefs and behaviours of these youth to see why and how they used these substances. Now I've got an opportunity to go back and help see how the programme is doing and how it can be improved. It can seem like such an overwhelming problem, especially as it's all intertwined with other huge problems such as the breakdown of social support, lack of opportunity, and great poverty. Please pray for wisdom at how to proceed with the TDU project, and how to best reach and help these kids.




One of the communities where the TDU works

Paul Farmer...an interesting article...

Many of you will know that the man Paul Farmer is somewhat of a hero for me (in the medical world). An anthropologist and doctor who spends half the year working from a clinic in rural Haiti, and part of the year working in Harvard, teaching in their medical school. He has been a voice for international health justice and helped get the WHO to support more just system of TB treatment. He also began the international medical development organisation Partners in Health. This is a small excerpt from an article he wrote for the University of Notre Dame magazine. Click HERE to read the full article.

If we fail to act
by Paul Farmer, M.D.



As a physician who has battled infectious diseases in Haiti, Rwanda and elsewhere, I know we are in the midst of a staggering wave of killing, one that brings to question all notions of moral values. The numbers alone are telling. Even if we consider only the big three infectious killers -- AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria -- we are faced with tens of millions of preventable deaths slated to occur during our lifetimes. A recent document from the United Nations suggests, for example, that more than 80 million Africans might die from AIDS alone by 2025. A similar toll will be taken, on that continent, by tuberculosis and malaria. Adding other infectious killers to the list, the butcher's bill totals hundreds of millions of deaths over the next few decades.

Have these numbers lost their ability to shock or even move us? What are the human values in question when we hear, and fail to react to, the news that each day thousands die of these maladies unattended? Where, amid all these numbers, is the human face of suffering? What values might guide our response to such suffering?

These are rhetorical questions, but not ones without answers. Much can be done to avert these deaths. Allow me to offer the example of Joseph, a patient of mine. On the afternoon of March 17, 2003, four men appeared at the public clinic in Lascahobas, a town in central Haiti, bearing a makeshift stretcher. On the stretcher lay a young man, eyes closed and seemingly unaware of the five-mile journey he had just taken. After the four-hour trip, the men placed their neighbor on an examination table. The physician tried to interview him, but Joseph was stuporous, so his brother recounted the dying man's story.

PhotoJoseph, 26 years old, had been sick for months. His illness had started with intermittent fevers, followed by a cough, weight loss, weakness and diarrhea. His family, too poor, they thought, to take him to a hospital, brought Joseph to a traditional healer. Joseph would later explain: "My father sold nearly all that he had -- our crops, our land and our livestock -- to pay the healer, but I kept getting worse. My family barely had enough to eat, but they sold everything to try to save me." Joseph was bed-bound two months after the onset of his symptoms. As he later recalled, "My mother, who was caring for me, was taking care of skin and bones."

Faced with what they saw as Joseph's imminent death, his family purchased a coffin. Several days later, a community-health worker employed by Partners In Health, a charity I helped to found, visited their hut. The health worker recognized the signs of tuberculosis and HIV and suspected the barely responsive Joseph might have one or both of these diseases. Hearing that their son might have one last chance for survival, Joseph's parents pleaded with their neighbors to help carry him to the clinic, since he was too sick to travel on a donkey and too poor to afford a ride in a vehicle.

Joseph was indeed diagnosed with advanced AIDS and disseminated tuberculosis. He was hospitalized and treated with both antiretrovirals and antituberculous medications. Joseph told his physicians, "I'm dead already, and these medications can't save me."

Despite his doubts, Joseph dutifully took the drugs. Several weeks later he was able to walk. His fevers subsided, and his appetite returned. After discharge from the hospital, he received what is termed "directly observed therapy" for both AIDS and tuberculosis, and was visited each day by a neighbor.

Joseph now speaks in front of large audiences about his experience. "When I was sick," he has said, "I couldn't farm the land, I couldn't get up to use the latrine; I couldn't even walk. Now I can do any sort of work. I can walk to the clinic just like anyone else. I care as much about my medications as I do about myself. There may be other illnesses that can break you, but AIDS isn't one of them. If you take these pills this disease doesn't have to break you."

What sort of human values might be necessary to save a young man's life? Compassion, pity, mercy, solidarity and empathy come immediately to mind. Thinking about Joseph's experience, and so many others, leads me to reflect on injunctions, first heard as a child instructed to read the Gospel according to Matthew, about "the corporal works of mercy." I'm sure I didn't pay much attention then. But three decades later, these injunctions -- feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the homeless; visit the sick; visit the prisoners; bury the dead -- strike me as worthy goals for those seeking guidance in diminishing suffering, whether due to disease or to violence. As important for a doctor concerned about the right to health care, the corporal works of mercy are a reminder of the radical nature of the values necessary to promote basic human rights. We need the tools of our trade -- in this case, laboratory tests, medicines, health care workers -- to save lives. But we also must have hope and imagination to make sure proper medical care, a corporal work, reaches the destitute sick.....

...Human rights and corporal works of mercy

For millennia now, philosophers and theorists have sought to understand why violence occurs and why we fail each other in the face of unnecessary suffering. Anthropology and other social disciplines have also grappled with these questions. Such reflection takes on urgency in many of the places in which I've worked. In Haiti, Rwanda and even Boston, service to the destitute sick reveals the sharp limitations of what can be done to allay misery without a broad understanding of why some people have so little while others enjoy a peculiarly modern surfeit. Without a right to health care, for example, modern medicine and public health become commodities to be bought and sold. Such arrangements will never suffice if our goal is to relieve premature morbidity and mortality -- the primary obligation, surely, of a physician.

I have seen the utility, but also the limitations, of a human-rights model. Conventional human-rights frameworks, only a couple of centuries old, have focused on civil and political rights, and human rights advocates may point with pride to certain victories. But defeats are as common, and they're more glaring now than ever.

A young Haitian man lies dying of AIDS, but without a right to antiretroviral therapy, what hope is there for his survival? What hope is there if he obtains the necessary medications but has nothing to eat? Writing from rural Rwanda, or from Haiti, leads me to reflect on the corporal works of mercy. As I've confessed, I didn't pay much attention before. But I now know that these injunctions -- again, feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the homeless; visit the sick; visit the prisoners; bury the dead -- strike me as worthy goals for those seeking guidance in diminishing suffering, whether due to disease or to violence.

There are spiritual works of mercy, as well -- reconciliation, forgiveness, comforting the afflicted, and praying for the living and the dead, to name a few. Cynics might argue, in the inelegant language of our day, that these are not readily "operationalized." These debates will go on, no doubt, indefinitely. But in the 21st century we cannot argue honestly that it is impossible to develop effective strategies for works of mercy. If we fail to link new human rights understandings to a broader movement for social justice, we will have no shortage of dead to bury. In that case, perhaps that is the only corporal work of mercy we will deserve to claim as our own.

Toilet conference opens in Delhi
By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Delhi


A World Toilet Summit has opened in the Indian capital, Delhi, with more than 40 countries taking part.

The four-day meeting will examine solutions and technologies that can be used to provide a basic need for nearly half the world's population.

According to estimates, 2.6bn people around the world lack access to a hygienic toilet.

The United Nations hopes to halve this figure by 2015 as part of its millennium development goals.

In India alone, more than 700 million people have no access to toilets which have proper waste disposal systems.

'Familiar sight'

"It is as important an issue as anything," says Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International, an NGO that promotes the use of low-cost toilets in India and is joint organiser of the summit.

"It is mostly the Asian, African and Latin American countries that lack basic sanitation. So that's what we will be discussing at the summit," he adds.

It is a sight familiar to anyone travelling around India by train.

Early morning, many Indian villagers head to the nearest railway track and squat by its side relieving themselves.

Others use their fields, the forests or any piece of open land that they can find.

Women are particular badly off - they either have to head out before dawn or in the night when it is relatively more private, but it means they are vulnerable to disease or even sexual assault.

The UN wants to remedy the situation by 2025.

But the problem is that it is quite expensive for most countries in the developing world to set up western-style toilets and sewage systems.

But there are alternatives.

Anita Jha, vice-president of Sulabh International explains, "We have several models of traditional Indian-style squat toilets. These range in cost from 700 to 3,000 rupees ($18 - $75) and also use very little water."

"That makes them very useful in countries with a water scarcity problem," she says.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7070494.stm

Published: 2007/10/31 07:17:29 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Saturday midnight update.....a non-philisophical post

(So I guess before I start, I'd just want to encourage anyone who reads this to keep thinking and praying about Burma, and keeping what's happening there in your conversations with others. The people who are working towards freedom desperately need international opinion to be with them.)

So today, as with most saturdays, I used the morning to catch up on the sleep that i'd missed during the previous week. This enables me to sleep only 4-5 hours a night mon-friday, and has pretty much been the system I've used for the past 5 years now....it's probably not the healthiest but it works.

After getting up and helping (just a little bit) to clean up the house and my room, I decided to get on my bike and find a garden centre. I'd been given directions by Dave from my church and I'd got them mixed up the saturday before, so this time, I was a bit more confident (armed with even more specific directions). I found a great big one at the top of this extremely large hill about 20 minutes cycle from my house. I'd been so focused on getting there that I really hadn't put too much thought into how I'd get what I bought back. I bought bulbs to grow garlic and onions (trying to experiment a little with this growing your own food stuff) but then also had to buy compost and a big enough pot to plant them in. The smallest and cheapest bag of compost they had was 25L, which in case you don't know....is REALLY FLIPPIN HEAVY!!! especially when you've got to carry it on your back on a 20 minute cycle ahead of you.

Not only that but I had to balance this 2 foot wide, 1.5 foot deep pot on the bar...let's just say I must have looked quite the sight (my friend Emma commented that just seeing me cycle in the first place would have been quite the sight enough.....thanks Emma). But I did make it back although slightly dripping in sweat and was glowing with pride as I arrived back to my house. My housemates obviously didn't recognize the enormity of my achievement as they didn't all stream out of their rooms to applaud me when I got home, as I was thinking they should ;)

Anyway, planting day will be tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes...I've been reliably informed that it's almost impossible to mess up growing the varieties of veg that i've chosen, so I'll take that as a challenge.

Tonight, the big event was the England v. South Africa final of the Rugby World Cup. I wasn't really interested in the match itself, but I thought it's a good excuse to hang out with people, and when England started falling behind by an ever increasing amount close to the end I actually felt a soft spot for them and could cheer them on. I didn't escape the night though without having loads of abuse about the Irish referee thrown my way. In all fairness he did make a lot of dodgy calls and missed a couple key ones as well. At one point, when the ref missed what seemed like an obvious foul on England, my friend asked sharply "why didn't the ref see that?" I said, "It's probably something to do with 500 years of occupation". Couldn't resist.

Anyway, it was a good day overall. School has been hard in some ways to get back into the swing of things. We're doing our Neurology course at the moment, which is really interesting, but also pretty challenging for being just back from the summer. We've had "Stroke" week, "Spinal Cord Injury" week and coming up this week will be "Multiple Sclerosis" week (we learn about a lot more than just those conditions, but the idea is that those topics give a broad and clinical context to what we're learning).

So did anybody else have a little chuckle when they heard about today's announcement of Al Gore's new Nobel Peace Prize? I have to say, this is more than a little disappointing. Not that I don't believe that the issues his recent campaign cause of Climate change isn't extremely important, it'll probably end up being one of the most important issues in my lifetime, but Al Gore? It's no where near April, so I don't think this is a joke...

Let's take a brief look at some other Nobel Laureates, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mother Theresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Muhamad Yunus.....Al Gore? I guess my problem is more that Gore hasn't been at his current gig very long. The others on the long list of laureates seem to have been committed to their causes for quite some time, often giving the majority of their lives, if not giving the ultimate sacrifice. Gore stopped being Vice-President 6 years ago, and he wasn't championing Climate Change much back then. Even Jimmy Carter, another recipient, had to work in Humanitarian work (in health charities, and Habitat for Humanity as well as others) for 20 years before being awarded his.

Most of the Laureates are true peacemakers, people who are required to sacrifice, to make unpopular decisions, decisions which put their careers and often their lives on the line. What has Al Gore had to give up? Has he championed his cause so much that he has given up his mansions to live in smaller more eficient more environmentally friendly settings? Has his life become harder in any way? Politically he has only strengthened his position, in what many of his critics think of being a far too "calculated" way (although I'm not THAT cynical..but close). Why not award the prize to someone in greenpeace who has given their lives to this cause before it became popular? or even to a leading scientist who is championing the search for evidence in the face of skeptics? Why give it to a politician who has given far too ambiguous an answer to whether he'll run for president or not? Why give it to some guy who was just behind a documentary? I'm sure Al Gore is a great guy and great politician in many ways, but this was just the wrong choice.

If Al Gore were to make clear that he doesn't have personal political ambitions as the motivation for his work, and if he was to truly reach out to the political right, to help them understand and put aside other differences. If he would make sacrifices and risk his reputation with his usual constituency, then maybe he could be in the running, cause this would be what a peace maker should do, right? Instead, he has gone about his work producing more controversy, and less peace....sorry, but someone made a huge mistake here.

Burma Petition, worth your time.....

These guys are close to reaching 1 million signatories for their petition. Once they get 1 million they will be taking out advertisements in major newspapers, trying to perhaps shame the Chinese government into accountability, sign up and help them out if you have a second.

Stand with the Burmese Protesters
After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising – and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns snowballed, bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun, but the protests are spreading...

When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. If the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could win. We're in a race against time-- targeting the dictatorship's main backer China in a global advertising campaign, delivering the petition to the UN secretary-general and sending the Burmese our support via radio--


To Chinese President Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed.

Click HERE for Petition.

I'm here now safe and sound in England. I got here two days ago and spent today in the first of a two-day conference on Law and Ethics in medicine. An interesting subject, but I have to say they really could have put forward the ideas in a more interesting and engaging way, they did try though, and perhaps it's just that this is our first day back from summer, so it is a bit hard to sit and concentrate through a 9-5 lecture day.

I just saw that a friend of mine posted this on her facebook. It's really interesting so I thought I'd post it to pass it on.

Click on the link below from the New York times. It's a selection of quotes that a human rights worker has put together from Iranian Blogs which all discuss the Iranian president's recent speech at an American university. It's quite interesting to see the diversity of opinions, especially considering iranian blogs are highly regulated and people suffer intimidation (and worse) for putting up politically divergent posts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/30parker.html?ex=1348804800&en=08865f976f371cfc&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Latest News From Myanmar/Burma

The following is an excerpt from an email written by an NGO worker in Myanmar/Burma this past week.

From Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

Dear Friends

It is with a heavy, crying heart that I write you from Yangon, Myanmar
(formerly Burma). (Don't worry about myself: I am fine and safe.)

I have just listened to CNN (which we can still receive here - emailing
is now difficult; I hope I'll manage to send this later on tonight)
showing the bloody response of the junta government to crack-down on
peaceful protesters.

Apparently, on Sunday, almost 100,000 people - lead by monks - were on a
protest rally. On Tuesday, the crackdown started. Even though the
government
killed about 3000 protesters during the crisis in 1988, the people
decided that they will not follow Monday's order of the government to
stop protesting. The non-violent protests of determined and courageous
people continued. On Wednesday, the government's response became more
violent (from the part of the soldiers and police) and today things have
apparently become worse. Several or even many people were killed,
hundreds wounded or/and arrested. All the Buddhist monasteries here are
now being watched over by the Army - the monks are effectively being
locked inside.

The protests started when the government stopped subsidies on fuel which
caused a massive increase in fuel prices (quadruple or even five times I
have been told). Food prices rose as a consequence. For instance, one kg
of rice cost Kyat 500.- in August. Now 1 kg of rice cost Kyat 650.-. One
chicken egg now costs Kyat 100, up from Kyat 25.- last month.
A factory worker earns around Kyat 20'000.- a month. He needs about Kyat
10'000.- per month for rice only (for rice for himself only, not
including his family). In other words, many, many, many people are
starving these days.

A colleague who lives here told me today that these days many
children are being fed rice water only, since the families have run out
of rice and money. Of course, during these days of violence, finding
food is even more difficult. Starvation is increasingly become a fact
here.

Yesterday we were in the new Government capital, a new-born city with
huge beautiful roads (with almost no cars on them) and large buildings
where the various ministries of the government are housed. The government continues to pour in millions of dollars to expand the new capital. The main reason for having a new capital is to be more secure against popular protests that are always strongest in Yangon (formerly Rangoon). The dictatorship junta is extremely rich. They lord over a country that is considered to belong to the three most corrupt and most
oppressive countries in the world.

I'm leaving for southampton next monday, so things are really starting to speed up here at home. We had a small birthday dinner for my mom tonight, it was good to have the whole immediate family together even if everyone was exhausted like we were.

I passed my drivers theory test today, got one question wrong (I don't know which one, they didn't tell me), but I was happy with that, so I should have my provisional soon enough then.

I've been thinking about loads of things recently, Burma and everything happening there has been on my mind a lot, I listened to a podcast from a conference in which a guy from the simple way community and another guy from camden house were discussing a Christian Ecology in Seattle Pacific University (if you want to listen to it, go to Itunes store and search for "shane claiborne" it's the only free thing that comes up. It's been making me think about the implications of the gospel in challenging the consumeristic nature of our society which is in a quiet marriage with our capitalism. I don't know what the answers are economically, but I know, as the two speakers tried to say, that although the problem is a societal one, it begins with a personal problem, greed and the desire for growth, to consume ever more. It inspires me to want to learn more about community gardening and growing our own food and other supplies.....and/or living on seasonal fruit and vegetables grown locally (not that I eat much fruit). I'm still not sure what I think the answer is. In a rapidly urbanizing world, can we really all grow our own food? With population growth increasing at a phenomenal rate is that sustainable? I really believe that the current system is broken, but I also believe that God can "redeem the city". I'm constantly struck at how in the Christian metanarrative, the opening image is one of a garden while the closing one is of a city, it seems to be the progression of human civilisation, but the city at the end, is a place of justice and dynamic peace, much unlike the cities that we know today.

I'm still thinking, and not acting nearly as much as I should.

It's been a hard and long week, and i'm happy to be at home.

Friends who are gone...

I'm writing this from a house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was in Chicago for the past few days and came out here to visit Benjamin (my roommate from college, and Sam, who did the HNGR programme with me). Yesterday (and I can't believe it was only yesterday), I received a phone call as I was touring around with Sam and Benjamin which informed me that another friend of ours had committed suicide the night before. This was hard news to take. I knew this friend wasn't doing well, and had tried to take his life before, but i wasn't expecting this now. This has hit me after learning of the death, again through suicide, of another of my friend's at the begining of summer. I can't explain why these things happened. And I don't think I need to, but it's still hard. Both these guys were great people, who made me laugh and forced me to think harder about certain things. I've changed my plane ticket to fly home to Dublin a little later so that I can stay here and be here for the funeral service. Please pray for comfort for his family, who have been through hell these past few months I'm sure, and for all his friends who loved him so much, who he left behind.

Ironically, I guess, but the email I received giving me the news I put in the post below about Angola and Bishop came from this friend.

i'm alive and well

I'm alive and much has happened since I’ve last posted, and I won't try and cover it all.

Recently I received an email from a friend that has really lifted my spirits. Some of you may know that I spent time in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA. If you've seen my wallet, I bought it from an inmate there who made it in his free time.
I spent a week there during spring break my 2nd year of wheaton, and then went back for several days during mid-term break the autumn of that year. Both times were incredible experiences for me. When you enter this prison, in many ways you feel that you are entering a monastery rather than a prison. The prison is currently renowned for its rehabilitation of inmates and also surprisingly and what made me want to visit the prison in the first place is that the christian community among many of the inmates there is vibrant and growing. There is even a full-time seminary on the premises (not run by government funds of course) that inmates can attend (as one of different educational options). I went as part of a group from wheaton who went under the chaplaincy office. Many people I told that I was going assumed that we were going to "minister" to the inmates there, but this was far from the truth, we were going there to spend time with brothers of ours (it's an all male prison) and most of us felt as we were "ministered" to by the men there.

What we found there was truly indescribable. I've rarely seen such christian community, men serving each other and showing each other such care. It's by no means a perfect community, and has many of its own problems with personalities, prison politics and the like, but there is an undeniable work of God going on there among these men. Many of these men are the worst of the worst criminals and have no hope of ever leaving Angola. I'd previously believed that men only "found God" in prison to try and show good behaviour before they appear before parole boards, but many of these men didn't think focus on leaving too much and were desiring how to seek out and serve god there in the prison community.

Angola is partly so incredible because of it's past. It did not used to be such a shining example. It was known as one of America's deadliest and bloodiest prisons. Many people were killed while inside, often brutally. One man who lived through that time is a Man now referred to as "Bishop Tanniehil". This man of God, experienced Angola in its dark days and now in its lighter times. He is one of those old southern speakers, with a deep Louisiana accent that I must admit was often incomprehensible to me. I've rarely seen someone light up a room the way he does. He is now well into his golden years and is recognised both by inmates, guards and wardens as a man of great standing. When he preaches everyone (guards and all) listen and respond.

The email I received was a press release received by a friend who was on those trips with me. This is what it said:

"The Bishop was "Met at the Gate"!

On Tuesday, August 14th, Eugene "Bishop" Tanniehill was pardoned by the Governer of Louisiana, released from Angola Prison, and met at the gate by Terry VanDerAa and Pastor Bert DeJong. After serving 47 years of a life sentence, the Bishop is the latest to receive a warm welcome by "the Church outside the prison walls" through the Meet Me at the Gate® program.

Terry brought the Bishop to the Koinonia House® National Ministries office and together they had what Manny Mill called "the biggest ALELUYA ever!"

Manny Mill is director of Koinonia House Ministries which assists former inmates in the crazy, and extremely challenging transition from prison life to life on the outside.

As strange as all this may sound to many, and i must admit Angola is an odd place, this is some of the best news i've heard recently. If there's ever a man deserving of a pardon it's this man, although most of us never expected the governor to approve this (he has been denied countless times), this is a huge answer to many people's prayers. I'm sure Bishop Tanniehill would appreciate your prayers for him in this time as he's moving out into the "real world" where he hasn't walked in 47 years.