The Amazing Project - Stepping Back to Burma

Last December, Law La Say (our Program Coordinator), Alin (our Kachin Addiction Worker living in Mae La Camp) and I took a journey to Myitkyina, which is the capitol of Kachin State, in northern Burma.

 Kachin State is renowned for its gemstones including the famous Mogok Rubies and of course, the much sought after Jade. Jade is mined south of Myitkyina in the mountains by workers, who are paid poorly or paid in Heroin.

 Yes, Heroin. Kachin State has the highest rate of Heroin addiction in Burma. Law La Say and Alin managed to visit one the shooting galleries (places where people go together to buy and use heroin) outside one of the mines. They secretly filmed the addicts and sellers. We can’t show you this on GlobalGiving because of the danger of doing so, but we can tell you that used needles are everywhere and at least 60% of the population is addicted to heroin.

 The reason for our journey to Kachin State was to share our experiences and exchange information with the local Organizations that are trying to deal with this epidemic of drug abuse. We were able to meet with highly organized community based groups, who have put a lot of infrastructure in place to treat drugs addicts, from the Kachin communities.

 Like the Karen people, the Kachin have been oppressed and murdered by the Military Regime of Burma for decades. Even as I write this report, the Burmese Army is attacking villages in Eastern Kachin State. 20,000 people in the area have been forced to flee into China and Thailand, as a result of these attacks.

 We found we had a lot in common. The difference perhaps was our 17 years of experience of treating addiction in the Karen Refugee Camps vs. the Kachin’s long experience with the fallout of heroin addiction.

 In the spirit of friendship and cooperation, we shared our Addiction Training Manual, in Burmese language, with the community based Organizations we met. We have offered them the potential of training, for their workers, about our non-medical, culturally based detox. Their current detox systems are also non-medical but offer little intervention to mitigate the withdrawal symptoms.

 To this end we are currently building a Training House next to our Treatment Centre in T’ree Poe Kwee Village in Hlaing Bwe District, Karen State, Burma. We hope to be able to offer Addiction Worker Training to other Ethnic Groups in Burma either at our Training House or through our Mobile Training Teams.

 Until there is genuine peace in Burma, we will continue to cooperate on the ground as we can with all the oppressed groups, as we can.

 A big thank you to all of you who make this work possible.

From all of us at DARE Network

Links:

• DARE Network Website