Danish emergency aid is being smuggled in to the needy Burmese through the Pai
River, which forms the border between Thailand and Burma.
There is a 2400 kilometer long border with Thailand. A large part of the river
is norrow, and easy to cross. Either the emergency aid will be carried forward
into the country or shipped further on mules, says Viggo Søgaard to the local Danish
newspaper Vejle Amts Folkeblad.
He coordinates emergency aid from Missionsforbundet, currently collecting money
for the victims in Burma, and has visited the border area between Burma and
Thailand several times.
A part of emergency assistance is financed by money, which are assembled into the
churchVestermarkskirken in Grindsted.
The emergency aid coordinator also say that over the past ten years, there has
been brought supplies from Thailand via the Pai River and into Burma without
the blessing of the dictatorship.
The organisation’s major asset is the large church network to help
Missionsforbundet to get the smuggled emergency aid distributed. Work to
transport goods from Thailand into Burma, however, can be very dangerous.
”There is a huge risk. Not very long ago was one of our team members-guard caugth
by the burmese military. He was interrogated and then shot”, says Viggo
Søgaard.
The Danish Missionsforbund cooperate with the particular organization Concerned
Christians of Burma. Here are 45 different teams, all trying to get supplies
trough to the suffering Burmese. The teams made up largely of Burmese from
various ethnic groups, but also a few foreigners take part in work to carry
goods from Thailand to Burma.
