UNICEF: some 240,000 people infected with HIV in Myanmar

December 01, 2008

Approximately 240,000 people are estimated to be infecting with HIV in Myanmar, of which almost two third are young people, said a media release here of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Monday.

Besides, about 100,000 women are currently living with HIV, constituting risks for many new-borns to be infected with the virus, the release said on the occasion of the World AIDS Day which falls on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar National Strategic Plan (2006-2010) of the National AIDS Program has identified primary prevention of HIV among young people as high priority, it pointed out.

"While many challenges are still there, progress has also made in many areas," UNICEF resident representative Ramesh Shrestha noted in the release, underlining that students across Myanmar today are learning how to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and other threats to their well-being with more than one third of all townships in the country having prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services.

Commenting that more remains to be done, the release said the UNICEF will continue to promote knowledge on the prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people as they are moving onto adulthood, stressing the importance that they make informed decisions and avoid risk taking behaviors which may expose them to HIV infection.

According to the release, in Myanmar, UNICEF has supported the introduction of HIV/AIDS prevention and "healthy living" curriculum in primary and secondary schools nationwide, helping millions of children gain knowledge and develop skills that can help then stay healthy.

UNICEF also works with non-governmental organizations to deliver life skills training to those adolescents and young people who are out of school, the release added.

Source:Xinhua

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90880/6544026.html

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Myanmar refugees reinvigorate Tenn. church


By Bob Smietana, The (Nashville) Tennessean
SMYRNA, Tenn. ― In the rows of spinach and collard greens behind All Saints Episcopal Church, a quiet resurrection is underway.

The winter vegetable crop being harvested on the small farm run by All Saints serves a practical purpose: to help feed the 70 or so refugees from the Karen province of Myanmar who worship at the Rutherford County, Tenn. church. But it's also a sign of hope for this Middle Tennessee congregation whose declining membership hampered its ability to pay bills and threatened its very existence until the refugees arrived.

Michael Williams, the volunteer manager of the farm, believes God used the farm and the refugees to save All Saints.

"It's a classic example of the Advent story," Williams said. "We could not find God, but God found us. In this case, he appeared to us in the form of 70 people who came from Myanmar."

Eight months ago, the future of All Saints looked grim. It had been limping along since a 2006 church split, when the rector and most of the congregation left to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, one of several conservative rivals to the Episcopal Church.

The remaining 20 or so church members left behind couldn't afford to pay the mortgage on their building.

After 18 months, the church was on the verge of closing. It was a discouraging time, said the Rev. Michael Spurlock, All Saints' new rector.

"We were about to lose everything that we knew of the church here," Spurlock said. "It was like we were going down into the pit."

Then, some of the refugees who had once attended All Saints returned. Soon after, others from Thailand joined them.

'God gave us this land'

Members of the Anglican Church in their home country, the refugees were naturally drawn to the congregation after arriving in the United States ― since the Episcopal Church is a province in the worldwide Anglican Communion, all tied to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Karen group had come here mainly from refugee camps in Thailand, after being forced out of Myanmar ― once known as Burma ― by that country's military. About 135,000 refugees from Myanmar remain in those camps, according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium.

When former members of All Saints formed St. Patrick's Anglican Church in Smyrna, the Karen refugees initially went with them. But their bishop from Myanmar urged them to return to All Saints, where they were joined by new arrivals straight from the refugee camps.

At first the refugees overwhelmed the Smyrna congregation, Spurlock said. The members had few financial resources, and the refugees needed help with finding jobs, transportation, clothing and furniture.

"We had every excuse to pass them by," Spurlock said. "But we didn't. We reached out and we wound up saving the whole thing."

Not long after returning to All Saints, Ye Win, a Karen lay leader, asked Spurlock if he and other refugees could plant gardens on the property.

The church sits on 22 acres of former farmland, with a creek and about 12 acres of bottomland perfect for agriculture. While most of the Karen refugees now work at the Tyson poultry processing plant in Shelbyville, they had been farmers in Myanmar.

At the time, the All Saints property was for sale, and Spurlock told Win the timing was wrong for planting gardens. He feared the property might be sold before the refugees could harvest their crops. Still, the idea stuck with him.

One day in May, while working on a plan to restart the church, he took a walk on the church property, and the idea of starting a farm finally dawned on him. "God gave us this land for a purpose," he said.

Longtime church member Mark Orr agreed. He and his wife, Landra, have been attending All Saints since its organizational meeting about 12 years ago.

"I'm ashamed to say it, but we had to wait until God slapped us on the head, and said, 'I gave this land to you, put it to work.' "

Because All Saints receives financial support from the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, the church first needed permission from Bishop John Bauerschmidt.

In May, church members began planting radishes, squash, cucumbers and green beans, along with beans and chili peppers native to Myanmar.

Bruce Gentry, a Smyrna dairy farmer and member of the soil conservation board, volunteered to plow the land for them. Gentry, who once farmed the All Saints property in the mid-1990s, said that when he arrived to plow, about 60 of the refugees were there to help.

The summer crop was a success, growing more than 20,000 pounds of produce. Ten percent went to the Karen refugees, while the rest was either sold locally or donated to food pantries.

As the summer wore on, more donations rolled in. The church got a grant to buy a used Ford tractor and pump to aid in watering the crops. A farmer from Missouri, who Spurlock met during a hiking trip, offered to donate water storage equipment.

Proceeds from the farm will help pay for the church's land and will fund other outreach projects.

Setting an example

The agricultural operation is just one aspect of the church's ministry. There's also a Saturday morning class for the Karen group, which teaches English as a Second Language, along with life skills like driving. The church holds two services on Sunday, one in English and one in Karen.

One refugee, a priest from Myanmar named the Rev. Thomas Bu Christ, recently received a ministerial license from the diocese of Tennessee. The Karen congregation will probably be recognized as an official mission later this winter.

Once the Karen refugees get official standing as a mission, they'll add information from their services on the All Saints church sign.

"On the sign we'll have the English language and the Karen language," Win said. "That will feel really good."

Spurlock and other All Saints leaders hope that their church may one day serve as an example to other Episcopal congregations.

The denomination's aging demographics and theological infighting over the interpretation of the Bible, Christianity's exclusive claims of salvation, and homosexuality have taken a toll on Episcopal churches nationwide.

From 2003 ― when Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, was confirmed as bishop of New Hampshire ― to 2007, Episcopal churches have lost 148,197 members.

In Tennessee, Trinity Episcopal Church in Winchester and Holy Cross Church in Murfreesboro also split, with most church members forming new congregations ― Christ the King Anglican Church and Faith Anglican Fellowship.

This week, leaders of the Common Cause partnership, consisting of several conservative groups, will meet in Chicago to announce plans for a new Anglican province in North America to rival the Episcopal Church.

Some remaining members of All Saints have their own disagreements with the denomination. But leaving the church goes too far, they say.

"My position is that if you disagree with an organization, you can't change things if you leave," Orr said.

Williams says that church members are no longer anxious about the future. Rather than worrying about keeping the doors open, they've rolled up their sleeves and gotten busy in ministry.

"They saved this congregation," he said. "We are not a survival mode church anymore. We are a mission-focused church."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-12-01-tenn-church-refugees_N.htm