What I learned from a Burmese man working at a food stand in Thailand
While I was grabbing dinner at a Turkish street food vendor in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I found out that the young man serving me was Burmese, which ignited my interest. This man is the member of a country whose government is burning homes, killing old men, young children, and committing any number of other human rights crimes. Naturally, I wanted to learn what this man thought of his government's actions, so first, to establish a baseline, I asked,
“Have you heard of the Rohingya in Burma?”
He said, “There are no Rohingya in Burma.”
I was surprised at this answer that I knew was false, but could one day be real.
“Yes,” I said, “there are Rohingya in Burma, I happen to work for a faith-based aid organization which helps them, and there is still a large population inside Burma.”
He said, “No, no more Rohingya in Burma.”
“Okay, why do you think that?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders and told me, “They had to leave Burma.”
I asked, “And why did they have to leave?”
He couldn’t give me a straight answer, so I continued.
“Do you believe the Rohingya are being forced out of Burma and that the government is doing it?”
“Mmhhmm yes.” He said, matter-of-factly.
Surprised at his coolness, I asked, “And do you know that the methods that the Burmese government is using to do that is burning villages and homes to the ground, mass killings, rape, and beatings?”
“Ehhhh, yes, I do,” he said, trying to look everywhere except at me.
“Why is the government doing that?” I asked.
We peddled around this question for awhile, and he didn’t have an answer for me except that “they [the Rohingya] had to leave.”
“Do you think that that is right?” I asked, hoping in this last answer I’d find some humanity.
“Yes,” he said nodding his head and shrugging.
I was shocked, but I asked one more question: “Do you think that it’s okay for an innocent man to have a rope tied around his neck and have that rope tied to the inside of his house and to burn the house down around him, only because he was Rohingya?”
Again, a “yes” was the answer.
One man’s words don’t reflect the feelings of the whole population. For all I know, he could rightfully be nervous about saying anything negative about his country’s government or any number of other variables.
Stores like this don’t often make the headlines or even the news, but experiences like this change you. Not that the interaction was traumatic or uncomfortable, although to some degree it was both those things, I felt like I was talking to a member of the 3rd Reich. It was a division of psychology that I had studied but never experienced, and now that I’ve experienced it I know that it’s real. As Christians, we are called to stand in the gap for the widow and the orphan. Even when politics complicate it, we need to be there.
Anders is currently interning under Steve Gumaer, the President of Partners Relief & Development. He’s a freshman in college and is pursuing a pre-med track with majors in Political Science and Economics.
