Szmanda Visits Burma

Eric Szmanda (Greg Sanders) spent three days with refugees from Burma.

The US Campaign for Burma sponsored Szmanda's trip. He admitted that he had not known much about the situation in Burma until recently, but that he would now tell "anybody who will listen" about his experience. The refugees that he met were fleeing the Burmese military's attacks against the Karen ethnic minority. "It's time to say, 'Enough is enough,'" he told The Irrawaddy News.

Non-government organizations working on the Burmese border say that 3,000 Karen villages have been destroyed. "One and a half million people have been forced from their homes," Szmanda said. "[W]omen are systematically raped, men and children have been forced into slave labor." During his trip, he went to the clinic of Dr Cynthia Maung, a woman who has been called "The Mother Theresa of Burma." Over the past two decades, she has treated thousands of fellow refugees. Szmanda described his visit to the clinic as "one of the most inspiring and shocking things that I have ever seen."

Szmanda said that there is a lot that can be done. "The UN can do a lot on Burma, countries in this region can do a lot on Burma, the United States and Europe can do a lot on Burma, but they need to start to speak out, regularly and quickly and with urgency," he said. "I think that’s the most important thing that we can do."

The original article is from The Irrawaddy News Magazine Online Edition.

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