Earlier this week cyclone Nargis tore through the southwest of the country killing up to an estimated 60-100,000 people so far and affecting 1.5 million people by the disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water, or shelter. One of the poorest countries in the world, the cyclone has devastated the lives of an already impoverished and oppressed people. The country’s ruling generals are facing mounting criticism over their handling of the crisis and their reluctance to allow international aid teams into the country.

A beautiful country in South East Asia, Myanmar (Burma) lies to the west of Thailand, Laos and China. This ancient “Golden Land” has been struggling to overcome 50 years of military rule, human rights abuses, and ethnic strife. The military Junta (SPDC) in control of the country has been accused of systematic human rights violations including murder, torture, the forced relocation of 500,000 urban dwellers into “model villages” which are overcrowded, fenced in, and patrolled by armed guards and the forced conscription of civilians to serve as anything from porters to human landmine detectors. In an effort to overrun the ethnic Karen, Shan, Kachin, and Mon insurgencies in the country, the junta has destroyed an estimated 3,000 villages in the past 12 years. Over 500,000 people have been displaced and thousands have died, many to malaria, which is responsible for 42% of all deaths in the region. The consensus is that when the people are cut off from water, shelter, nutrition and medicine the Junta figures that nature will finish the job.

The SPDC has placed Aung San Suu Kyi, the secretary general of the oppostion The National League for Democracy (NLD) under house arrest where she remains today. The Noble Peace Prize, UNESCO Simon Bolivar Prize, and Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought award winner has been under house arrest three times from July 1989 to July 1995; from September 2000 to May 2002; and from May 2003 until the present.

Last year when Buddhist monks and civilians protested peacefully against 4 decades of military rule, and for free expression and democracy, they were met with bullets and a violent crackdown from the Junta.

My girlfriend and I had the chance to travel in Myanmar (Burma) for a month in 2006. Catching a flight from Chang Mai in Northern Thailand we flew over the northern mountains along the setting sun into Mandalay, the country’s last royal capital. Myanmar was a very unique place and in many ways has changed my life. The genuwine warmth of these people and their deep history and culture has made a very deep and lasting mark on us. Some of the nicest people I have ever had the privilege of meeting, it’s really sad to see the country and it’s people suffering so much after so many years. This cyclone just added a massive hardship on these people and they deserve all the support they can get. Time will reveal the thread of these hard days and define the future for The Burmese and their country.