As you are aware, we have a desperate need and have been requesting prayer for the Karen refugees in Burma.  We received the following email about one week ago from contacts in Thailand:

"Dear friends,

Talked to some key leaders who were just coming back from a refugee camp inside Burma. Burmese soldiers have surrounded the camp, they are waiting for the Karen Buddhist Army to arrive.  The Karen Buddhist Army is still 4 hours away from the camp. We have extra boats ready to evacuate the people. Thailand agreed now that they would let the refugees in if the camp gets attacked. Food and meds are stored on both sides of the rivers. Thai fisher men are willing to help evacuate the refugees. But if shells drop on the camp, we are not sure if they still want to help. As for now, the people inside the refugee camp are not allowed to move into Thailand, they can only move to Thailand if an attack happens.  We have about 20 old men protecting the camp. We do not have any Karen soldiers in or around the camp.  We tried to get our 3 little ones out of the orphanage, but were not able to. Will try to get them out later this week. As you can imagine, this is still a very sensitive issue. We have small groups of people inside the camp who are praying 24/7. There are about 4000 refugees in this camp.

More news from this orphanage: these are the orphans who found shelter on Thai soil after they were attacked by Karen Buddhist Army in June. We bring food supplies every two weeks to these children. Last week the Thai border police visited our children. The kids and leaders were told to move back into Burma.  We will not allow this to happen, their old place in Burma is just covered with land mines, there is absolutely no way our children will return. On the evening of September 23rd and 24th, our children could hear mortars, shooting and land mines going off in the place inside Burma. The kids were terrified."

Just early Monday morning we received the following email, documenting the major medical needs of the refugees:

"Dear friends

Well, we had a very interesting last week. We want to thank you for your prayers, but most of all, we want to give thanks to our Mighty God for His grace and mercy on the children and leaders.  This is my week in a nut shell.

Arrived at camp on Tuesday afternoon last week. We brought boxes of fruit juices, noodles, some cookies and lots of meds. There were 15 kids who had malaria when we arrived. They got some meds from a nearby clinic and were all resting.  After we prayed for all the sick children we were leaving to stay in a nearby guesthouse and would return the next morning with fresh produce. Just about we were leaving a 19 month old baby got into a shock, could not breathe anymore. We got her in our truck and her mother and a bunch of others came along with us. It was about an 1 hour drive to the closest hospital. I was driving as fast as I could (all mountain roads), all other who jumped in my truck were trying to wake up the baby, some of them were crying, others were praying. None of the refugees had an ID and I knew I needed a miracle to pass the three military checkpoints!

When we came to the first check point there were 2 armed soldiers checking trucks/car. When it was my turn, I did not even stop but kind of yelled at them that I had a dying baby in the truck. They let me through!  There were two more check points, but no soldiers around. About 20 minutes before the hospital, the baby became stiff and was swallowing her tongue, someone was pulling out her tongue and tried to make her breathe.  We finally arrived in the hospital and went straight to the emergency room. I parked my car, not knowing if the baby was still alive.  The baby spent the next 3 days in the hospital, we still had some critical days/nights since her fever would not go down until Friday!

On Wednesday we drove back, delivered fresh produce and checked the other sick children. 3 were not doing well at all, they could not walk anymore and we carried them to our truck. Again, no ID's so we prayed all the way to the hospital. Again, God showed us His miracles and were not stopped at the military check points. About 30 minutes before arriving at the hospital, one of the girls who was 13 years old, passed out!  On arrival at the hospital she was put on a stretcher and went straight into the ER, the other two girls were put in wheel chairs.  The one was the worst case, I felt so sorry for her, she has never been in "civilization", only knows the jungles of Burma and the camp. Doctors were talking to her , but she could not understand them. I stayed with her the whole time she was in ER. I held her hand, was stroking her hair and prayed for her and told her how much Jesus loves her in Karen. She was getting weaker and weaker, her blood pressure was below 20. They did a blood test , cause she needed blood transfusion. Unfortunately , this hospital did not had her blood type. It was a race against the clock!  The nurse came to me and asked for her parents to come. Told them that she has no parents. I needed to sign a paper, stating that the hospital would not be accountable if she would die. I looked at the poor girl and she had a hard time to breath, they put her on oxygen. By then I called my Pastor in Holland, we needed some more people praying for all the children, we needed some major miracles.  Finally her blood arrived and she was hooked up on IV and blood transfusion.  In the meantime, the baby still was not out of the woods, still had high fever. The other two girls were admitted to the hospital as well and were on an IV.

Next morning, we drove back to camp, 4 children needed to have check ups, brought them back to the hospital and they seemed to be improving. Glory to God!  When we arrived at the hospital, the baby's father didn't look good at all!! Told him to be checked for malaria as well.  The baby's mother was taking a rest at our guesthouse, she was up for 2 nights in a row taking care of her baby. (fyi, she is 8 month pregnant of baby number 11). When the mother and I returned to the hospital, we found her husband in the ER, he was admitted as well.  She was getting hot and then cold again, so she checked if she had malaria, the test came in positive. The doctor gave her a bunch of medicines to take, she had an urine infection as well.  I checked with my friend who went on the Internet and contacted another doctor to see if these meds were okay to take in pregnancy.  Glad we checked, some of the meds she could absolutely not take.

Finally on Friday noontime, all patients were strong enough to go back to camp. On arrival, 3 more boys had malaria. As of today, 5 boys total have malaria.  Although this was a tough week, we never lost hope, we all knew, God is in control in the midst of this.  About 25 children (including the leaders) have malaria, we still need all your prayers. We found out that the place they are now is full of Malaria. It is too close to the river, the place has a lot of rocks where the mosquito's are "hanging out"." 

Early this morning, we received the following email:

"Fighting started on the river, have one of our workers in the camp, will take the kids out when river is safe."

As I continue to read the updates and acknowledge the severity of their circumstances I cannot give up hope.  I believe we can do something!  I believe God is calling the church in America.  I have been doing my best to get the word out about their plight, I have been striving to be their voice.  They have no voice of their own; their cries go unheard by the world.  I want to give them a voice to cry out for justice, freedom from oppression, and the most basic right of life.  Please forward this email on to people who will pray--to people who will speak out and cry out to our Living God on behalf of these people.  His name alone has the power to save!